Tim Tawa homered, Gabriel Moreno had three hits and the Arizona Diamondbacks continued their drive for a postseason berth with a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Wednesday.
Arizona (84-74) has won four straight and moved within three games of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, both 87-71, in the chase for the last two National League wild cards with four games to play.
The Padres (87-70) held the top NL wild-card spot, a half-game ahead of the Phillies and Cubs, pending the result of San Diego’s Wednesday game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (10-14) allowed two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings, with one walk and two strikeouts. Jonathan Loaisiga survived a shaky ninth inning before earning his second save.
Ezequiel Tovar homered and finished with two hits, Hunter Goodman also had two hits for Colorado (57-101), which lost for the 14th time in 16 games. Rookie Mason Adams (0-2) struck out a career-high eight over a career-best six innings. He yielded four runs, all unearned, on five hits and no walks.
The D-backs jumped to the lead in the first inning. With one out, left fielder Zac Veen misplayed Ketel Marte’s liner for a two-base error, and Marte scored on Moreno’s single. Pavin Smith singled with two outs, Nolan Arenado drove in another with a single, and Corbin Carroll’s two-run triple capped the four-run inning.
Adams retired the next 13 batters and didn’t allow another baserunner until Moreno’s leadoff single in the sixth. Moreno was caught stealing on a called third strike to end that threat.
The Rockies chipped away against Kelly to make it close. Kyle Karros drew a one-out walk in the second and scored on Adael Amador’s double to make it 4-1.
Colorado scored again in the third but missed a chance for a big inning. Tovar and Jake McCarthy started the inning with singles, and McCarthy stole second to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Goodman drove in Tovar with a sacrifice fly, but that was the only run Colorado managed.
Tawa led off the eighth with his 11th homer to extend the lead against reliever Mark Manfredi. Tovar answered with his 12th of the year in the bottom of the inning.
In the ninth, Colorado had two on with one out before Jordan Beck grounded out and Tovar fouled out.
