While they’ve been struggling, the Arizona Diamondbacks have to feel good about a visit to Kauffman Stadium.

The Diamondbacks will go for their sixth straight victory in Kansas City on Friday night when they open a three-game series against a Royals team that has struggled to pick up wins at home.

It’s been more than two weeks since Arizona last won back-to-back games, and the Diamondbacks (17-22) will try to change that following a 9-7 victory over Colorado on Thursday.

Justin Upton hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, helping the Diamondbacks post their fourth victory in 15 games. He came into Thursday batting .173 over the previous 13 contests but walked three times before his homer.

“That was nice,” Upton said. “Just being able to put all my struggles aside and come up big for the team. That’s always a goal, but it’s not always that easy. When you can get it done, it definitely feels good.”

Arizona swept a three-game series in Kansas City last year to improve to 9-3 at Kauffman Stadium. Upton is 9 for 21 with five doubles in his last five games there.

With Joe Saunders (2-3, 3.43 ERA) taking the mound in the opener, the Diamondbacks appear to have a good chance of continuing their success at Kauffman Stadium.

The left-hander improved to 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA against the Royals after allowing two runs in seven innings of a 7-2 win June 21.

However, after a strong beginning to the season, Saunders has struggled in back-to-back outings.

He gave up six earned runs for a second straight start Sunday, allowing a season-high 10 hits over five innings of a 7-3 loss to San Francisco.

The Royals (15-22) are looking to get back on track after losing a pair to Baltimore this week. They had won six of seven before hosting the Orioles, who won 5-3 on Thursday.

Kansas City, which fell to 4-15 at home, had a lead in both losses. The Royals gave up two runs in the ninth of a 4-3 defeat in 15 innings Wednesday before failing to protect a 3-2 lead Thursday, allowing three runs in the seventh.

“It’s real tough because you want to defend home so bad,” center fielder Jarrod Dyson told the Royals’ official website. “It’s kind of frustrating when you know you had the game won.”

Kansas City will hand the ball to Luis Mendoza (2-2, 4.76), who is taking Danny Duffy’s spot in the rotation after Duffy was placed on the disabled list with a torn ulnar ligament in his left elbow.

Mendoza, who has never faced the Diamondbacks, pitched 5 2-3 innings in relief of Duffy against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. He gave up one run and seven hits while striking out four to earn the win.

The right-hander made four starts in April, going 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA.

Royals manager Ned Yost said slumping first baseman Eric Hosmer will likely be held out of the starting lineup for a second straight game Friday. Hosmer is batting .174 this season, going 5 for 40 against left-handers.

The Diamondbacks reinstated outfielder Chris Young from the disabled list hours before this game. Young, who had been on the DL since hurting his right shoulder April 17, was hitting .410 with five homers and 13 RBIs in his first 11 games before getting hurt.

Pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter lined a go-ahead double in the sixth inning, Allen Craig homered to cap a four-run burst in the ninth and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2 Thursday night for a three-game sweep.

David Freese had three hits as St. Louis won its fourth in a row.

Kyle Lohse (5-1) allowed one run and seven hits in five innings.

The Diamondbacks started the ninth with three straight singles to load the bases against Mitchell Boggs. Jason Motte came on to retire the side on a strikeout and a double play for his sixth save.

Arizona has lost five straight at home and seven of eight overall.

Wade Miley (3-1) pitched 52/3 innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits with two walks. He lost for the first time since Sept. 16 at San Diego, a span of five starts and eight appearances.

Carpenter’s appearance came up with the score 1-all after Tony Cruz’s two-out single. As he was announced as the pinch hitter, Arizona’s bullpen phone rang and pitching coach Charles Nagy sprinted to the mound.

Carpenter doubled home Freese, who had drawn a leadoff walk, and Cruz. Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson quickly pulled the left-handed Miley in favor of right-hander Bryan Shaw, who retired Rafael Furcal to end the inning.

Arizona got within a run in the sixth when Miguel Montero singled and scored on a double by Aaron Hill.

The Cardinals extended their lead with a two-out surge in the ninth against J.J. Putz. Furcal and Carlos Beltran singled, Matt Holliday hit an RBI double off the center-field wall and Craig then hit his third home run.

Putz, making his first appearance in five days, allowed four runs on five hits whole getting two outs.

Three consecutive singles, the last on a looping hit to center by Miley, gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the second.

The Cardinals tied the game in the fifth when Lohse singled, went to third on a single by Furcal and scored when Beltran’s hard grounder to third deflected of Ryan Roberts’ glove and bounced off his chin for an error. Beltran was credited with an RBI.

SHORT HOPS: Lohse has thrown exactly five innings in each of his past two starts. … The Diamondbacks had been outscored 20-1 in the first four innings of their past four innings before Miley kept the Cardinals scoreless over the first four. … Miley’s single extended his hitting streak to five games, the longest by an Arizona pitcher since Barry Enright’s five-game streak in 2010. … Both teams have off-days on Thursday. LHP Jamie Garcia will go for his 30th career win against Mike Minor and the Braves in St. Louis on Friday. Rookie LHP Patrick Corbin will open a three-game series against San Francisco at home for Arizona, also on Friday.

PHOENIX (AP) Pinch hitter Matt Carpenter lined a go-ahead double in the sixth inning, Allen Craig homered to cap a four-run burst in the ninth and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2 Thursday night for a three-game sweep.

David Freese had three hits as St. Louis won its fourth in a row.

Kyle Lohse (5-1) allowed one run and seven hits in five innings.

The Diamondbacks started the ninth with three straight singles to load the bases against Mitchell Boggs. Jason Motte came on to retire the side on a strikeout and a double play for his sixth save.

Arizona has lost five straight at home and seven of eight overall.

Wade Miley (3-1) pitched 5 2-3 innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits with two walks. He lost for the first time since Sept. 16 at San Diego, a span of five starts and eight appearances.

Carpenter’s appearance came up with the score 1-all after Tony Cruz’s two-out single. As he was announced as the pinch hitter, Arizona’s bullpen phone rang and pitching coach Charles Nagy sprinted to the mound.

Carpenter doubled home Freese, who had drawn a leadoff walk, and Cruz. Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson quickly pulled the left-handed Miley in favor of right-hander Bryan Shaw, who retired Rafael Furcal to end the inning.

Arizona got within a run in the sixth when Miguel Montero singled and scored on a double by Aaron Hill.

The Cardinals extended their lead with a two-out surge in the ninth against J.J. Putz. Furcal and Carlos Beltran singled, Matt Holliday hit an RBI double off the center-field wall and Craig then hit his third home run.

Putz, making his first appearance in five days, allowed four runs on five hits whole getting two outs.

Three consecutive singles, the last on a looping hit to center by Miley, gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the second.

The Cardinals tied the game in the fifth when Lohse singled, went to third on a single by Furcal and scored when Beltran’s hard grounder to third deflected of Ryan Roberts’ glove and bounced off his chin for an error. Beltran was credited with an RBI.

NOTES: Lohse has thrown exactly five innings in each of his past two starts. … The Diamondbacks had been outscored 20-1 in the first four innings of their past four innings before Miley kept the Cardinals scoreless over the first four. … Miley’s single extended his hitting streak to five games, the longest by an Arizona pitcher since Barry Enright’s five-game streak in 2010. … Both teams have off-days on Thursday. LHP Jamie Garcia will go for his 30th career win against Mike Minor and the Braves in St. Louis on Friday. Rookie LHP Patrick Corbin will open a three-game series against San Francisco at home for Arizona, also on Friday.

By the time Ian Kennedy discovered his rhythm Tuesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals already had found themselves enjoying a comfortable six-run lead against the right-hander and the Diamondbacks.

---

Diamondbacks vs. Cardinals series | Box score | Twitter updates

---

And they got that courtesy of two home runs from right fielder Carlos Beltran, who belted a two-run shot in the first inning and then unloaded on Kennedy for a grand slam in the second.

It was more than enough for the defending World Series champions to walk out of Chase Field with their second consecutive victory over the Diamondbacks, 6-1 in front of 30,156.

It was the fourth consecutive defeat for the Diamondbacks, who have dropped six of their past seven. Kennedy managed to retire 13 consecutive batters at one point, but Beltran’s carnage put an end to his long-running success at Chase.

Until taking the loss and seeing his record fall to 3-2 this season, Kennedy was 10-0 in his previous 11 starts at home.

“He just didn’t have good rhythm in the beginning and wasn’t able to hit his spots,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “That (St. Louis) team is very good. They don’t leave you a lot of room, and obviously Beltran had him covered up pretty good.

“There’s areas you have to pitch to. He wasn’t able to get it there.”

If there was a positive, it was that Kennedy worked through his mistakes over the plate and settled into a groove, thus allowing Gibson the luxury of not having to tap into his bullpen early again, as was the case Monday when Joe Saunders couldn’t get out of the fourth inning.

Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (4-2), meanwhile, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

The Diamondbacks didn’t score until the ninth inning when Miguel Montero drove in Justin Upton with a double to center field.

“We’ve got injuries, which doesn’t really help. Some guys have got to pick them up,” said Kennedy, who allowed six runs and six hits in seven innings with two walks and six strikeouts. “But guys are going to get healthy, guys are going to start hitting better. We’ve got to pick each other up. That’s what a team does.”

Kennedy was at a loss to explain his being off target to start the game. He was asked if it had anything to do with how he felt after warming up in the bullpen.

“I’ve always said it doesn’t make a difference what I feel like when I’m warming up or how my work was all week,” he said. “… Sometimes you feel great and sometimes you don’t. Today I was medium. I didn’t feel great, I didn’t feel bad.

“But yeah, this really sucks.”

Gibson refuses to stop being optimistic. He said he’s convinced that last year’s National League West champions can turn things around quickly.

“Sure I do. What’s the other choice?” he said. “The other choice would never even be in my vocabulary. We came out of spring training, and how did everybody feel? What’s changed?

“We’re in a tough stretch, we’ve lost four in a row. So everything changes? We went through this last year. There’s no excuses. It’s just the way it is and we will come out of it together.”

Rewind

Beltran’s blasts: It wasn’t quite like Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton’s 5-for-5, four-homer performance Tuesday against the Orioles, but the Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran started just as strong. Beltran launched two long home runs in his first two at-bats against Ian Kennedy, including a grand slam.

After that, however, Kennedy struck out Beltran twice. It was the ninth and 10th homers of the season for Beltran. It was also his 32nd career multi-homer game and his 10th career grand slam.

Upton still struggling: Right fielder Justin Upton continues to scuffle at the plate. It’s unclear as to what degree an earlier thumb injury is still affecting him, but he went 1 for 4 on Tuesday — reaching on a single in the ninth — and is 4 for 25 in his past six games.

The two-time All Star is batting .235 overall with three homers and nine RBIs.

“He’s working hard. He knows what he’s doing. The key is to not get frustrated with it,” manager Kirk Gibson said before the game. “Just try and keep your composure and power through it.”

Molina leaves: Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina left the game in the bottom of the ninth because of a left-wrist injury suffered while trying to catch a pitch from reliever Mitchell Boggs.

Molina had X-rays after the game, but the results weren’t immediately available.

Ransom’s strikeouts: As good as journeyman Cody Ransom has been in limited spurts this season, he acknowledged before this game that he has to do a much better job of cutting down his strikeouts.

That might have to be a work in progress, as Ransom struck out in each of his four plate appearances for the dreaded “Golden Sombrero.” That gives him 16 strikeouts in 41 at-bats.

View from the press box

The Diamondbacks have lost four games in a row, but it’s too early to panic. Don’t forget, they were exactly in this position a year ago, standing 14-17 after 31 games. They went on to win 94 and capture the National League West in comfortable fashion. So relax, enjoy the Coyotes’ success in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and wait for things to turn downtown. It’s only May, people.

Batter after batter walked up to the plate, swung lamely at R.A. Dickey’s pitches and returned to the dugout.

Basically, the Arizona Diamondbacks knuckled under.

“He threw strikes. He had the counts. He pitched the way he wanted to pitch,” Arizona second baseman John McDonald said after Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Mets. “He throws them in a lot of different directions.”

Dickey took a shutout into the ninth inning and combined with a pair of relievers on a four-hitter, sending the Diamondbacks to their second loss in the three-game series.

Arizona went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position in the game and 3 for 28 (.107) in the series, dropping to .221 on the season.

“They out-executed us,” manager Kirk Gibson said.

After the game, the Diamondbacks headed home from a 5-5 trip that left them below .500 at 14-15. Not too long after this time last year, Arizona went on an 18-4 spurt that moved the Diamondbacks into the NL West lead.

So far this season, the Diamondbacks are 2-12 when scoring fewer than five runs, 12-3 when plating five or more. Noting his team was 4-10 in one-run games, Gibson said he might have to do some climbing for inspiration on Monday before a night game against St. Louis.

“What’s the key for us to catch fire?” he said. “I guess that’s for me to lay awake tonight and figure out, isn’t it? Maybe at Camelback early tomorrow. Maybe I’ll figure it out there, at the top of Camelback tomorrow. … I’ve had some really good revelations up there, no question about it. … It’s just a better environment than sitting in your bed, looking at the ceiling.”

Dickey (4-1) allowed four hits, struck out four and walked four. His socks pulled high in the old style, Dickey retired his first 10 batters before giving up an opposite-field double off the end of the bat to Gerardo Parra, a ball that dropped just fair and a few inches from the glove of sliding left fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

“That thing was dancing was all over the place,” said Daniel Murphy, who put the Mets ahead with a two-run single in the first off Trevor Cahill (2-3).

Dickey didn’t allow a leadoff batter to reach until Cody Ransom grounded a single to left in the eighth.

“That thing was nasty today,” said Justin Turner, who took over at shortstop after Ruben Tejada strained his quadriceps.

After walking Parra starting the ninth, Justin Upton followed with an RBI double that chased Dickey after 117 pitches, his most since August 2010.

Once Dickey left, Jason Kubel flied out to the left-field warning track against Tim Byrdak. Frank Francisco struck out Paul Goldschmidt in a nine-pitch at-bat and Miguel Montero flied out to the right-field warning track, giving Francisco his seventh save in eight chances.

Celebrating his 25th birthday, Parra had two of the Diamondbacks’ hits but was picked off by Dickey ending the sixth.

Gibson called the knuckler “maybe a cross between playing regular baseball and slo-pitch softball.”

“I remember when I first faced Charlie Hough, somebody said move up in the box,” Gibson recalled. “So I went up and scratched the front line of the box out, and moved up there, and he hit me.”

Cahill allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings. Two pitches got him in trouble, both off fastballs with two outs: Murphy’s single in the first and Josh Thole’s RBI single in the fourth.

“I don’t think I was as sharp as my last start,” Cahill said, “Hopefully going home we can restart this.”

NOTES: Joe Saunders (2-1 with a 1.24 ERA) starts for the Diamondbacks on Monday against the Cardinals’ Lance Lynn (5-0, 1.60).

A theory: For a reliever, the eighth inning is a tougher assignment than the ninth. Not only is there less pressure on the hitters in the eighth — they know the team will have another chance next inning — but there’s statistical evidence that a team’s better hitters come to bat less often in the ninth.

Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero subscribes to this theory. He doesn’t know about the stats, but he’s felt the pressure. And so you can imagine what he thinks of the work turned in last season by right-hander David Hernandez, the club’s primary setup man to closer J.J. Putz.

“He was phenomenal,” Montero said.

Setup men are like the offensive linemen of baseball. They seem to get noticed only when things go badly. And so the relative anonymity in which Hernandez existed during his season with the Diamondbacks is an indication of just how solid he was last year.

Eighth-inning guys don’t get saves like closers do, but they can blow saves, and Hernandez blew just three. He did not allow a run in 61 of 74 appearances.

He finished with a 3.38 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 691/3 innings, numbers that would have looked considerably better if not for three disastrous outings in which he gave up a combined 14 earned runs. Factor those out and Hernandez would have had a 1.57 ERA.

“He definitely has the mentality you need to pitch late in games,” Putz said. “He understands the importance of getting ahead and throwing strikes.”

A year ago at this time, Hernandez seemed almost disappointed to be cast as a reliever after spending most his career in the starting rotation. He has a different outlook this spring.

“I love it,” he said of pitching in relief. “It’s just a bigger adrenaline rush for me.

“I kind of just really embraced it. When you have success and see the results you get out of relief pitching, you think, ‘All right, this is my niche.’ I don’t really see myself going back to starting, nor do I want to go back to starting.”

Hernandez might already have received more attention in spring training than he did for most of last season. During a game last week, he drilled the Padres’ Will Venable in apparent retaliation for teammate Justin Upton getting hit by a pitch.

Of course, Hernandez denied it, saying he was just trying to go inside, but his teammates weren’t surprised. That he would stand up for Upton would seem to fit into his mentality on the mound.

“He doesn’t get intimidated at all,” Montero said. “He just goes after hitters. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t run away and start throwing off-speed pitches. He’s always challenging hitters and saying, ‘Try and hit it.’ … He’s not afraid of contact. That’s why he has success.”

Well, there’s also Hernandez’s overpowering stuff, which includes a fastball that last season averaged 94.6 mph (per FanGraphs) and a slider.

“He’s aggressive,” Montero said. “He throws strikes. His fastball, I don’t know what it is, but people have a hard time catching up with that fastball. I know it’s hard, but I think the key is that he’s a sneaky 97 (mph) so it looks even harder.”

His personality could also be described as sneaky. After coming to the Diamondbacks in a December 2010 trade, it took him some time to open up around his new teammates, but he seems more affable and comfortable this year.

“It’s always tough coming over, not knowing anybody,” he said. “You’ve got to not rub people the wrong way, and you want to get to know everybody. Now I feel like I’ll say whatever and people will know whether I’m joking or what. It’s easier to be outspoken when you’ve been around the guys for a year.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Arizona Diamondbacks got a good look at three of their top prospects on Tuesday and they had to like what they saw.

Patrick Corbin pitched four scoreless innings and A.J. Pollock homered in the bottom of the ninth to give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Trevor Bauer, drafted No. 3 overall last year out of UCLA, got the start and struggled through three innings. Still, he had been holding opponents to a .208 batting average this spring coming in.

”I have had four outings now and this is probably the worst,” Bauer said. ”I think I did a pretty good job of disrupting their timing. There is not a whole lot to be displeased with other than being behind in the count.”

Gerardo Parra hit a two-run homer for the Diamondbacks off Barry Zito.

Zito threw 83 pitches in five innings, his longest outing of the spring. He allowed three runs and seven hits while walking four and striking out three.

”I felt better as I got going,” Zito said. ”My timing was off a little bit the first couple of innings. My command got a lot better the last two innings.”

Bauer allowed two runs and six hits while striking out two, but Corbin was particularly impressive. The 22-year-old lefty yielded only one hit while fanning six and walking two. He has a 0.84 ERA this spring.

With Josh Collmenter struggling this spring with a 14.14 ERA, Corbin could get a shot at the fifth spot in the rotation. He was acquired from the Angels in the July 2010 trade for All-Star pitcher Dan Haren.

”He threw great and has been throwing the ball better and better,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. ”Works very quickly, he is very aggressive, he pounds the zone and is very athletic. We like seeing all those things. We would like to see him build on what he has accomplished this year. We see him as a guy that is less talked about in having an impact on us but I think he could have a huge impact on our season.”

Pollock, a first-round draft pick in 2009, won it in the ninth with his homer off Wilmin Rodriguez. Sam Demel pitched a perfect inning for the victory.

Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford each had a hit and an RBI for the Giants.

NOTES: Diamondbacks ace Ian Kennedy allowed one run and three hits in a minor league game against the Giants. He walked two and struck out five. … Gibson has recently been giving some of his players time off this spring. ”They grind pretty hard and it gives them an opportunity to relax for a day and spend some time with their family,” he said. … The Giants have stolen a major league-high 26 bases this spring. Gregor Blanco swiped two bags in the game and leads the majors with nine steals.