PHOENIX -- The Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep of the Giants on Wednesday afternoon with a 6-3 win, their fifth in their last six games.
Merrill Kelly, who threw his first career complete game in his last outing, turned in a quality performance, allowing three runs over six innings.
"We're playing good baseball," manager Torey Lovullo said. "I love where we're at right now. It's as good as I've seen here in a long time."
Here are a couple takeaways from the game and Arizona’s recent hot stretch:
Marte is on fire
General manager Mike Hazen has said many times that when Ketel Marte gets hot, so do the Diamondbacks. That is once again the case as the All-Star second baseman is finally seeing some of his hard-hit balls go for hits instead of outs.
One night after he hit a three-run, walk-off homer, Marte went 3-for-3 and also reached base on a walk. He finished a triple shy of the cycle -- doubling in the first inning, hitting a two-run homer in the third and reaching on a bunt single in what proved to be a decisive fifth inning.
Over his last 10 games, Marte has reached base 17 times with 13 hits (including four doubles, a triple and two homers), four walks and nine RBIs.
"Continues to swing the bat extremely well," Lovullo said. "Understands what the at-bat is asking for, driving baseballs, playing great defense, and that's contagious."
Marte's two-run homer in the third gave the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead, and two innings later with the score tied at 3 and runners on first and second, he laid down a drag bunt for a base hit to load the bases.
"If you watch his bunting technique, it's probably one of the best on the team," Lovullo said. "He can place that ball wherever he wants, so he saw an opening and I thought it was a great play. Of course, I would love to have him hit a three-run home run, but he turned it over to his brothers, and that's what we're all about."
Ildemaro Vargas followed with an RBI groundout, then Geraldo Perdomo smacked a two-run double to put the Diamondbacks up 6-3.
Kelly has found his footing
An injury forced Kelly to miss the first few weeks of the season, and when he returned to action the rust was evident.
After allowing just two runs over 5 1/3 innings against the Orioles, he went on to allow 19 runs in his next three starts -- a frustrating stretch for a pitcher who has made consistency his calling card over the previous seven seasons.
Kelly started to turn things around in his May 9 start against the Mets when he gave up one run over seven innings, and he followed that up with his first career complete game -- a one-run masterpiece at Coors Field last weekend.
Having thrown just 85 pitches, Kelly could have gone deeper into the game, but Lovullo wanted to give him a bit of a break after he threw 100 pitches in the altitude against the Rockies.
Recovery after playing at altitude can be tricky. Kelly said there was a little more soreness than usual after his last start, but that he felt fine on Wednesday.
"[My] shoulder was not too happy with me after Colorado," Kelly said. "But we're chalking that up to just the elevation and the lack of recovery, you know. I think that I looked up and the second-to-last pitch [I threw] of the game was like 94 mph, and was probably the hardest one in the game. So, I take that as a good sign."