The D-backs concluded their first homestand of the season with a 3-2 win over the defending American League champion Indians on Sunday at Chase Field, giving them six wins in their first seven games.
The 6-1 start matches the best in franchise history set 17 years ago in 2000 and leads Major League Baseball at this point.
“I’m really proud of these guys for that, I really am,” new D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said after the game. “When we’re on the back fields in Spring Training and these guys are working their butts off trying to grasp some concepts and execute it, it translates on the playing field right before our eyes. They deserve this moment, this credit. But it’s not a time to get all soft and cozy. We’ve got to keep grinding away.”
The D-backs swept the three-game Interleague series as left-hander Patrick Corbin bested Cleveland ace right-hander Corey Kluber with the aid of Chris Owings’ first homer of the season, a line blast into the left-field bleachers off Kluber with one out in the sixth. Corbin, pitching one of his best games in his return from Tommy John ligament replacement surgery two years ago, shut out the Indians on four hits through six innings to get the win.
“Good angle with his fastball, and enough fastball,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Corbin. “And then off that, a pretty good changeup. It was a lot like [Zack Greinke on Saturday]. Any time you have that good changeup, that kind of takes a little bit of the speed out of guys’ swings. He was really effective with that.”
Corbin survived a first and third, one-out situation in the fifth when Carlos Santana grounded into a rally-killing double play.
Kluber, meanwhile, was effective, giving up only two earned runs on six hits in his six innings of work, striking out four and walking one.
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