PHOENIX -- Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale for the second straight day on Wednesday was asked about how the ball is flying around Chase Field early this season.
It certainly is, Hale conceded not long before the visiting Cardinals went another route and ground their way to an 11-4 victory over the D-backs.
Seven of St. Louis' 14 hits were on ground balls that found their way through the infield. Those seven hits accounted for eight RBI, the last of which left second baseman Jean Segura noticeably frustrated after a three-hopper bound past, out of his reach.
The biggest blows were Adam Wainwright's three-run triple down the third-base line as part of a five-run sixth inning, and Matt Carpenter's two-run single to center in the seventh. It was Carpenter's hit on which Segura swung his right hand in the air and flipped his glove hand at the ball as it passed.
"Sometimes you got frustration when some balls get through. You feel like, sheesh, you know," Segura said. "Today was one of those days we got a lot of groundballs and they got through. Maybe bad luck."
Of course, Hale prefers grounders that to lasers and moonshots than end up in the bleachers.
"It's tough. He was getting the groundballs like you want him to but some get through," Hale said of starter Patrick Corbin. "Some nights that's what happens."
That isn't to say the D-backs were undone purely by back luck. Corbin was off his game for the second straight start. He walked five batters, as many as he'd walked in his four previous starts combined, and didn't feature the same velocity in the latter innings as he had earlier this season.
The Cardinals registered seven runs on seven hits and the five walks in Corbin's 5 2/3 innings -- his shortest outing of the season.
"I felt like I was keeping the ball down tonight. Better than I have," said Corbin, who also gave up his team-high seven home run. "I was around the plate, some close pitches that didn't seem to go our way. At one point I looked up and had almost as many balls (as strikes); it felt like I was throwing better than that. ... But, I mean, five walks is too many."
The pitch Corbin wanted back the most was the 0-1 fastball he threw to Wainwright with the bases loaded in the sixth. His counterpart turned a one-run deficit into a two-run lead with one swing and the Cardinals outscored Arizona 9-1 the rest of the way.
"I need to make a better pitch to Wainwright and not let him beat us there," Corbin said. "I'm sure he was sitting fastball."
Brandon Drury and Paul Goldschmidt homered for the D-backs, but Hale said his offense was stymied by the amount of time it had to play defense.
"They stand out there for so long it's hard to come back in and focus," Hale said.
The D-backs' nine-run inning in the series opener shouldn't be discounted, but outside of that frame they've been outscored 26-9 in the four-game series that concludes Thursday night. They've also been outscored 100-75 in 13 home games.
"We're not playing very well, especially here," Segura said. "But we will."
