PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks have been hard-pressed to recover from their last series in Dodger Stadium.The Colorado Rockies may still have time to recover from theirs.The Diamondbacks have lost 14 of 19 to fall six games behind Los Angeles in National League West and five games behind St. Louis for the second wild card spot with nine to play http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-steve-carlton-jersey , the trouble starting when they lost three consecutive 3-2 games on the Dodgers’ final at-bat from Aug. 31-Sept. 2. Arizona opened that series in first place in the division and the Rockies were in second.Article continues below ...The Dodgers pulled the same shenanigans on Colorado earlier this week, sweeping a three-game series at Dodger Stadium helped by six homers, including game-deciders in the final two games, to jump over the Rockies and take a 2 1/2-game division lead. The Rockies are 1 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the wild-card race.“Like I’ve said all along, I think this is going to come down to the end,” manager Bud Black told reporters after Yasiel Puig’s three-run, pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning of a 5-2 victory Wednesday.Rockies right-hander German Marquez (12-10, 3.96 ERA) is scheduled to face Arizona right-hander Zack Greinke (14-10, 3.20) in the first contest of a three-game series at Chase Field on Friday, the third time the two have opposed each other this season. Marquez enters with a streak of 10 straight quality starts.The Rockies took three of four from the Diamondbacks early last week and led the division by 1 1/2 games before losing five of six on their current road trip. Their troubles were compounded by the loss of shortstop Trevor Story, who suffered right elbow inflammation and was forced to leave the first game of the Dodgers’ series.Story became the first shortstop in major league history with 40 doubles, 30 homers and 25 stolen bases when he doubled against the Diamondbacks on Sept. 11. He was expected to participate in baseball activities at the Rockies’ spring training facility in Scottsdale, Ariz. Paul DeJong Jersey , on Thursday and could be available this weekend.Since beating the Diamondbacks 10-3 on Sept. 13, the Rockies have scored nine runs in six games. They were shut out twice in San Francisco and scored two runs in each loss in Los Angeles.“We’ve got to score more runs. We’ve got to get more hits,” Black told reporters in Los Angeles. “This is something we talk about every afternoon when we get to the ballpark. We’ve got to press on.”Arizona manager Torey Lovullo found an unorthodox way to spark his offense Wednesday, when the Diamondbacks used homers from reserves Christian Walker and Chris Owings, and Jeff Mathis‘ first of the season in a 9-0 victory over the Cubs.The victory, which broke a four-game losing streak, came with regulars and top hitters Paul Goldschmidt, David Peralta, A.J. Pollock and Eduardo Escobar on the bench.“You get the understudies in the ball game and they brought a certain energy to the start of the game,” Lovullo said.“Everybody has children here. You look in your kids’ eyes after they studied for a test and they come home, and they don’t do their job and you know that look. You can tell what’s on their mind. I’ve seen a few of those looks from our guys, and I just thought it was time to give them a rest.”Patrick Kivlehan, who made his first start of the season lex Reyes Jersey , tied a franchise game record with two triples.“We were just joking around, like the Reno Aces were going out there,” Kivlehan said, referring to the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate.“We tried to keep it simple, not put too much pressure on ourselves. Just go out and have some fun. That would be awesome if it kind of got us going to make a little run here.”Lovullo said he plans to return to the regular lineup Friday.“Obviously it has been a struggle the past couple of weeks, and I feel like (in) the dugout things have been like forced a little bit,” Owings said. “A win like this might give some guys some clear heads going into Friday.”Greinke, who has a 3.20 ERA, will have the first of two possible chances to reach the 15-win plateau for the eighth time in his career Friday. He has won at least 15 games in six of the previous seven seasons, including the year he split between Milwaukee and the Angels in 2012. He won 13 in his first season in Arizona in 2016, when he was on the disabled list for six weeks with an oblique injury.Greinke is 2-5 with a 3.75 ERA in his last nine starts after a streak in which he won seven straight decisions. He has given up a career-high 28 homers, five in his last four starts.The Rockies are a familiar foe — he is 3-0 with a 2.77 ERA in four starts against them this season and is 12-5 with a 3.76 ERA in 29 career appearances (28 starts) Greinke has beaten them twice at Coors Field and once at home this season, when he gave only two hits and struck out a season-high 13 in a 6-1 victory at Chase Field on July 22. He is 6-3 at home this season after going 13-1 at home in 2017.Marquez is 4-2 with a 2.34 ERA during his streak of 10 straight quality starts Evan Longoria Jersey , a run that began after he gave up eight hits and six runs (five earned) in a no-decision against the Diamondbacks on July 20, a game the Rockies won 11-10. He has faced Arizona five times already this season, going 2-1 with a 4.33 ERA.Marquez has 87 strikeouts and 14 walks during his streak, which covers 69 1/3 innings. He has had his only four double-digit strikeout games this season in the streak, with a season-high 13 against San Diego on Aug. 30. He struck out 11 Diamondbacks in a 13-2 victory at Coors Field on Sept. 10. ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Angels are playing out the string, although it’s tough to tell by watching Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.The team’s two biggest stars both shined Friday night in an 8-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics.Trout hit a two-run homer and has reached base safely in nine of his last 10 games while batting .313 with six homers, 11 RBIs and eight walks in that span.Ohtani went 3 for 3 — his fourth three-hit game this season — and is batting .289.“For my money, he’s hands-down Rookie of the Year,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.Taylor Ward added a two-run shot for the Angels (79-81). If they can sweep the weekend series, they would finish with a .500 record in what is widely expected to be Scioscia’s final season after 19 years at the helm.“Any time a team being in the playoffs comes in, it’s always fun to beat a team like that,” Ward said.The Yankees routed the Red Sox 11-6 earlier Friday to clinch home-field advantage in the AL wild-card game http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-dustin-mcgowan-jersey , leaving the A’s to travel cross-country to play Wednesday night in New York for the right to face Boston in the best-of-five Division Series.“We’ve played well on the road this year and we’re a power-hitting team and that’s a home run ballpark,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.Mike Fiers (12-8) entered in the second inning for Oakland and was hit hard.Lou Trivino started and threw 11 pitches in the first inning before turning it over to Fiers. He gave up six runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings, struck out three and walked two.“I think we have a really good shot and I’m really excited,” Trivino said of the A’s visit to the Bronx.Taylor Cole (4-2) allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked one. Hansel Robles worked the ninth to earn his second save.“Cole is going to be an important piece of a major league bullpen going forward,” Scioscia said. “He’s helped us out a lot.”The Angels took a 3-0 lead in the second.Ohtani singled leading off, went to second when Justin Upton got hit by a pitch and stole third before scoring on Francisco Arcia’s RBI groundout. With two outs, Ward homered to the lower left-field seats, scoring Upton, who stole second.“These games mean the world to us younger guys,” Ward said. “Just trying to leave a footprint.”Trout hit his 39th homer to right field on the first pitch in the third, extending the Angels’ lead to 5-0. That gave Trout the sixth 100-run season of his career and made him the seventh player in major league history with that many 100-run campaigns before age 27.The Angels added a run on Ohtani’s sacrifice fly to the warning track in left in the fifth.Los Angeles made it 7-0 in the seventh on Ohtani’s two-strike infield single to the pitcher near the third-base line, scoring Kole Calhoun Carlos Gomez Jersey , who doubled leading off.The A’s didn’t get a hit until Jed Lowrie singled leading off the sixth against Cole, who promptly retired the next three batters on swinging strikeouts.Oakland broke out for five runs — two on errors — in the eighth to trail 8-5.Matt Chapman singled and pinch-hitter Mark Canha scored on right fielder Jabari Blash’s throwing error. Chapman scored on Lowrie’s RBI groundout.Ramon Laureano was safe at first on an error by Ward at third base, scoring Matt Olson. Marcus Semien’s RBI double brought in Oakland’s other two runs.Angels starter Jaime Barria tossed 4 2/3 hitless innings, walked a career-high six and struck out four. The right-hander became the first Angels rookie to make 26-plus starts in a season since Scott Schoeneweis made 27 in 2000.SAY HEY, SHOOhtani stole third base in the second inning, giving him the third 20-homer, 10-steal rookie season in Angels history, joining Devon White in 1987 and Trout in 2012.SITTING ON 99Chapman has scored 99 runs and one more would make him the first A’s player with 100 in a season since Nick Swisher had 106 in 2006.UP NEXTRHP Trevor Cahill (6-4, 3.91 ERA) starts for the A’s on Saturday. His six wins and 20 starts coming in are his most since 2013 with Arizona, but he’s tossed five innings or fewer in his last five starts. LHP Tyler Skaggs (8-9, 3.91) makes his 24th start for the Angels. He is 2-5 with a 4.98 ERA in nine career starts against Oakland.