PHOENIX -- This is not the sort of follow-the-leader, anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better internal competition the Diamondbacks hoped their starting rotation would develop.
After three unexpectedly disappointing performances from the top of the rotation, Rubby De La Rosa on Thursday followed suit, though he didn't stick around as long as the others.
De La Rosa failed to hold any of the leads his offense afford him and was pulled after just 3 1/3 innings in a 14-6 loss to the Cubs.
Even among the cheers from the Chicago-centric crowd, the boos inside Chase Field were audible as the Cubs overcame a pair of Jean Segura home runs and six early D-backs runs to take the series opener.
"It's frustrating. I think the guys are a little frustrated at this point. I think the pitchers are frustrated. I think the whole organization is frustrated," manager Chip Hale said. "You get the lead against a good team, exciting game, and continually give it up. It's tough, tough for the guys in the field. I think it's starting to wear on the pitchers coming out of the bullpen. They feel like they have to pitch perfect."
The D-backs aren't one turn through the rotation yet -- with Robbie Ray set to pitch Friday -- but the group owns a 10. 18 ERA and has given up 31 hits in 20 1/3 innings.
"It's the same story we've had with our starters," Hale said of De La Rosa, who was charged with seven runs (six earned) and six hits in his season debut.
De La Rosa said the umpire didn't give him a couple strike calls early in the game and he had to adjust his game plan.
"I tried to put it out of my mind but it affected my game," he said.
Thursday's bleeding didn't stop when Hale went to the bullpen, which issued seven of the 10 walks the D-backs handed out. The final margin could have been worse but just five of those 10 scored as the Cubs stranded 11 runners. The 10 walks were one shy of the franchise record.
The D-backs also committed their first two errors of the season, both of which contributed to Cubs runs, and Chicago also scored on a wild pitch.
"For me as a manager and our coaching staff, it was embarrassing," Hale said of the defensive miscues that in addition to the errors included Segura not covering first base on a bunt. "That's the easiest way to put it. We made some gaffes on defense."
Segura said the losses, even this early in the season, are wearing on the team.
"It's really tough. It's tough, tough four games," he said. "We continued to battle and scored some runs but when you don't got support it's hard to play the game.
"We have to continue to play and see if we can turn this thing around."
Segura smashed the first pitch of John Lackey's Cubs tenure into the right-field bleachers as part of a three-run first inning. He then raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run in the second after two Cubs outfielders collided on the warning track.
The inside-the-park homer was the 11th in team history and Segura became the eighth player in Major League history to hit a lead-off homer and later hit an inside-the-park homer in the same game.
"I hit two homers but we lost that game," Segura said. "It's not OK for me"
With the extended use of the bullpen, Hale said the team likely will need to dip into the minors for reinforcements.
"We're going to need at least one arm, might need two," Hale said.
