The Diamondbacks may be out of playoff contention, but Paul Goldschmidt could be turning his breakout season into an MVP one. Goldschmidt looks to continue his offensive barrage with another strong performance against the Colorado Rockies in the middle game of this series Saturday night.
Arizona (77-76) lost for the ninth time in 13 road games Friday, falling 9-4 at Colorado.
Goldschmidt, however, continues his rise as one of the league's best hitters. The first baseman is batting a team-best .309 and leads the league with career highs of 35 homers and 121 RBIs, ranking second in team history to Luis Gonzalez and Matt Williams, who had 142 in 2001 and 1999, respectively. Goldschmidt's home runs are also the most by a Diamondbacks player since Mark Reynolds hit 44 in 2009.
An All-Star for the first time this year, Goldschmidt has been particularly impressive over the past 10 games, batting .513 with four homers and 14 RBIs. He's 13 for 25 (.520) with seven extra-base hits, including three homers, and 12 RBIs in seven games against the Rockies. He went 2 for 4 Friday with a home run and two RBIs.
The Diamondbacks give the ball to Trevor Cahill (7-10, 4.12 ERA), who is 4-0 with a 2.79 ERA over his past seven games. A victory Saturday would give the right-hander his longest winning streak since going 7-0 over nine starts bridging 2010 and '11.
Cahill's current run continued despite some struggles in Monday's 2-1 victory over the Dodgers. He tossed five scoreless innings before allowing a run, walking three and leaving with one out in the sixth.
"Just lost it in the sixth," Cahill told the team's official website. "I was trying to throw it down the middle and couldn't locate. Everything seemed fine as far as mechanics -- it just kind of didn't go where I wanted it to go."
Cahill is 1-4 with a 4.54 ERA over his last six starts against the Rockies (71-84), going 0-3 with a 4.88 ERA in four at Coors Field.
This time, he'll contend with a team that is hitting .325 with 29 runs in the past five games. The Rockies have homered six times over the past two contests, including four in the series-opening win.
Troy Tulowitzki has five hits and six RBIs in the past three games, homering in each of the past two. He has a .432 average with four homers and 12 RBIs in 13 meetings with Arizona this year but is 2 for 11 with a homer off Cahill.
The Rockies are scheduled to turn to Collin McHugh (0-2, 7.94) in place of Jorge De La Rosa, who is expected to miss a second straight start with a nagging thumb injury. McHugh is 0-1 while allowing seven runs over 10 innings in two starts since being acquired in a trade from the Mets in June.
The right-hander was solid in his most recent outing Monday, yielding one run in five innings of a 6-2 home win over the Cardinals.
