 was battling his mechanics a little bit early, but man, as the game went on he got stronger and crisper. He threw some really dynamite changeups. His slider got better. As a true pro he made some really good in-game adjustments.'' Cueto (8-8) held the Diamondbacks to two runs and five hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked two.''We worked together but for the most part I let him dictate the rhythm,'' Cueto said of Hundley. ''He knows a lot of the batters so I let him kind of call the pitches that he wanted me to throw.'' Hunter Pence hit a solo shot in the Giants' five-run fourth inning off starter Zack Godley (8-9). San Francisco has won five of its last seven games.The second of Jarrett Parker's two doubles thumped off the left-field wall and drove in Posey in the fourth, and Hundley crushed Godley's offering off the facade of the second deck for his ninth home run. The Giants led the rest of the way.''Made a pitch up and away to a guy who is a really good bad-ball hitter,'' Godley said.Hundley drove in his fourth run of the game in the eighth with a single. The Giants scored three runs - two unearned - off reliever Jake Barrett in the inning, though Jeremy Hazelbaker took away a hit from Joe Panik with a diving catch along the right-field line.Godley was charged with five earned runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five with three walks.Arizona was charged with four errors for the game.''It was a very good celebration last night. I'm not totally surprised by the day today, to be totally honest with you,'' Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. ''Yesterday was such an emotional high I felt like this could have been a letdown. It was just a day where everybody was a little bit fatigued, emotionally, physically from yesterday.'' The Diamondbacks fielded a lineup of reserves and recent call-ups, save for Drury and Godley. Lovullo said before the game that he would return to the regulars on Tuesday as the team looks ahead to hosting the NL wild-card game.The entire team enthusiastically celebrated getting into the postseason late Sunday afternoon.''Tomorrow we are going to crank it right back up, and it's business as usual,'' Lovullo said.PITCHING PREPPINGLovullo said ace Zack Greinke, Wednesday's scheduled starting pitcher, will not get the call that day as the Diamondbacks line him up to pitch the wild-card game on Oct. 4.As for the bullpen, Lovullo plans for regular usage leading up to the wild-card game, with pitchers competing for a spot on the postseason roster.SELLING OUTThe wild-card game sold out in an hour after tickets went on sale Monday morning.''That was a very nice sign that we're doing things right,'' Lovullo said.TRAINER'S ROOMGiants: Manager Bruce Bochy said RHP Matt Cain, who threw a bullpen session before Monday's game, could pitch once more this season, as could Cueto, who is lined up for Sunday. ... OF Austin Slater (groin) will see a specialist about his injury. ... Reliever Josh Osich left the game after facing one batter, Jeremy Hazelbaker, who lined a single off Osich's side. Bochy said Osich was fine.Diamondbacks: C Jeff Mathis (broken right hand) is working toward a possible comeback before the regular season ends. Mathis and Greinke have a notable rapport.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Matt Moore (6-14) is 1-1 against Tuesday's opponent, the Diamondbacks, this season.Diamondbacks: LHP Robbie Ray (14-5) looks to go to 6-0 in his last seven starts, which would include Tuesday's.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Little on line as D-backs, Giants open 3-game series 7h ago• 3 min read PHOENIX -- Torey Lovullo may be new to the job he holds, but not to the current situation.Lovullo said he plans to let his experience as a coach with the Boston Red Sox guide his strategy for the final week of the regular season as the Diamondbacks prepare for their first playoff appearance since 2011.On Sunday, the Diamondbacks clinched home-field advantage in the National League wild-card game, to be played Oct. 4. The winner of that game will almost certainly meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the five-game NL Division Series that begins Oct. 6. The Dodgers hold a five-game lead over the Washington Nationals with six games to play for the right to meet the wild-card winner.Theoretically, there is not much for Arizona to play for when it begins the final week of the season with a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants on Monday at Chase Field.Lovullo sees the final week of the regular season through a different lens.He was manager John Farrell's bench coach in Boston last season, when the Red Sox dropped five of their last six games, losing home-field advantage in the American League Division Series before being swept by Cleveland in that series.The Red Sox clinched the AL East with five games remaining but lost the final two games of the season to Toronto as the Blue Jays snuck into the wild-card game."I have a very good memory of what happened," Lovullo said. "The Red Sox walked into a very hot team in Cleveland. That team was not overlooked. The Red Sox were preparing the best they possibly could. I think there was a clinching effect, and the Red Sox were not playing their best baseball down the stretch."There's something to be said for clinching early. Not that the team got complacent. John worked hard to make sure the guys were ready to challenge themselves. I just think that the two teams on the field playing in that five-game series were performing at different levels." While details have not been firmed up since the Diamondbacks did not clinch until their 3-2 walk-off victory over the Miami Marlins on Sunday, it seems safe to assume that there will be few lineup or rotation deviations for last regular-season series against the Giants and the Kansas City Royals."It is a natural concern of mine," Lovullo said. "I want to think of the best strategy to make sure that these guys absorb what happened, enjoy what happened, celebrate what happened, and then get ready for the next step."We wanted to check box number one. (Now) we have to make sure that we are still playing the type of baseball that we want to play all season long, from start to finish." The Diamondbacks (90-66) clinched the top wild-card berth at 2:04 p.m. MDT on Sunday, when Milwaukee lost to the Cubs. The St. Louis Cardinals had lost earlier.Arizona will make its first appearance in a wild-card game and its sixth playoff appearance. The Diamondbacks won the NL West in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2011 and won the World Series in 2001."This is just the beginning," said J. D. Martinez, whose two-out, bases-loaded single in the ninth inning ended the Sunday game."This isn't it. It gets better. Every one gets bigger. Every one gets more celebration, more bottles. From the day I got here, they've been talking about making the playoffs and doing something that hasn't been done in a while." Martinez has 27 homers and 58 RBIs since being acquired from Detroit, including the 18th four-homer game in major league history.On Monday, Arizona right-hander Zack Godley (8-8, 3.20 ERA) will start against the Giants for the first start this season and the second time in his career. He pitched five innings of one-run ball vs. San Francisco in a September 2015 start, and he yielded three runs in one inning of relief against the Giants last year.Godley is 2-1 with a 2.77 ERA in his past four starts overall.Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto (7-8, 4.49 ERA) will start the series opener. He beat the Diamondbacks is his only start against them this season, although he allowed four runs in five innings of that April 4 game. He is 10-3 with a 3.40 ERA in 14 career starts against Arizona.
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