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D'backs try to cure home woes in opener with Rockies

Apr 28, 2014 - 2:31 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Arizona Diamondbacks will try to solve their Chase Field struggles Monday night when the Colorado Rockies come to town to begin a three-game set.

On Sunday, the Diamondbacks suffered a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies to drop their home record to 2-13. Brandon McCarthy set a career high with 12 strikeouts, but the offense managed just six hits.

On a positive note, it marked the fourth consecutive quality start for a rotation that ranks last in the majors with a combined 6.15 ERA and a 5-17 record.

"It's been pretty good, been much better," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said of the rotation. "We just need to get synced up and play a total game in all aspects of the game. We haven't been able to do that. If it's a tight game, we have to find a way to win it."

Meanwhile, Colorado has won four of its last six games, including Sunday's 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Josh Rutledge hit a three-run homer, while Charlie Blackmon, Justin Morneau and Nolan Arenado combined for six hits and four runs.

Right fielder Brandon Barnes continues to hit everything in his path as he is hitting a major league-best .545 since April 18. The Rockies leadoff man collected three more hits to go along with a pair of RBI in Sunday's win.

"I feel good about where we're at, about where we are with our starting pitching," manager Walt Weiss said after the game. "Take two of the top three starters out of any rotation in baseball and see what happens. It's going to be a challenge. We're doing OK because of guys like Jordan Lyles and Franklin Morales."

Monday's series opener pits a couple of southpaws against one another in Colorado's Franklin Morales and Arizona's Wade Miley.

Morales has given up only a pair of solo home runs over his last two starts, which covered a span of 13 innings. Most recently, he held the San Francisco Giants to one run over seven frames in Tuesday's 2-1 victory at Coors Field.

His counterpart, Miley, gave up three runs in five innings for a no-decision against the Chicago Cubs in his last outing. Miley is 7-0 lifetime against Colorado, and that includes a 5-3 win April 6 when he went eight innings and allowed just two runs.

"I don't know," Miley said when asked the reason for his success against the Rockies. "My mentality is the same against these guys as it is against anyone else. I was just trying to keep the ball down. You know down is good against this team. They're an aggressive team. That's a really, really good lineup over there. You don't want to make mistakes to those guys."

The Rockies opened their home schedule against Arizona earlier this month and won two out of three in that series.