CINCINNATI -- After using five relief pitchers on Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks were hoping that Rubby De La Rosa could go deep into Friday's game.
No problem.
De La Rosa allowed two runs in seven innings and A.J. Pollock homered while enjoying his second consecutive four-hit game to help the Arizona Diamondbacks send the Cincinnati Reds to their seventh straight loss with a 6-3 win Friday night.
"He did a good job," manager Chip Hale said. "If there's a guy on our staff who can go deep into a game, it's him. He's a horse. He's got the ability to throw a hundred pitches. He gave us seven good innings."
Pollock scored three runs and Yasmany Tomas added his own solo shot for the Diamondbacks.
Joey Votto hit his 23rd homer in the eighth inning off of Keith Hessler for the Reds, who went into the game on the verge of falling into last place in the NL Central. They led Milwaukee by a half-game.
De La Rosa (11-5) improved to 5-0 with a 2.54 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break. He allowed seven hits with one walk, six strikeouts and a wild pitch. He also had two hits.
"I'm just trying to get ahead of the hitters and attack the zone," De La Rosa said of his hot streak.
Addison Reed finished the eighth and Brad Ziegler pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.
Reds' rookie left-hander David Holmberg set a single-game career high by allowing 11 hits. Holmberg (1-3) gave up five runs with one walk and two strikeouts and hit a batter in five innings.
"I think we just got the ball up," Hale said. "We made him throw it over the plate, like Tomas's at bat. He hit the ball to right-center. That's what he does in (batting practice, and that's what we're looking for."
Pollock, who drove in the last two runs of Arizona's 5-4 win over Cincinnati on Thursday, produced the first run Friday with his 13th homer of the season with one out in the first inning.
"I think he'll probably be in the lineup tomorrow," Hale deadpanned.
Tomas led off Arizona's four-run fourth with his eighth homer, a 403-foot drive to center field. Ender Inciarte added a sacrifice fly before Welington Castillo capped the inning with a bases-loaded, two-run single.
The Reds broke up De La Rosa's bid for a shutout in the sixth on Votto's one-out walk, Todd Frazier's line drive to left that just Ender Inciarte almost caught with a diving stab and Jay Bruce's RBI groundout.
Paul Goldschmidt leads Arizona and is tied with three other players for ninth in the NL with 22 home runs, but he hasn't hit any since July 27 and just two since the All-Star break. Manager Chip Hale blames it on coincidence as much as anything. Goldschmidt went into Friday's game hitting .329 and had eight RBIs in his last eight games. "Pitches you can hit out are few and far between, and he's missing those pitches," Hale said. "It's hard to be that good for 162 games."
When OF Ryan LaMarre makes his first appearance, he will become the eighth player this season to make his major league debut with the Reds this season -- and the annual September 1 roster expansion still is to come. Eight is the most for the Reds since the 2012 team had nine. They had six all of last season.
Diamondbacks: RHP Archie Bradley is scheduled to make a rehab start on Sunday with Single-A Visalia. Bradley, on the disabled list since June 2 with right shoulder tendinitis, threw four scoreless innings with three hits, three walks and six strikeouts for Arizona's rookie-level team on Tuesday.
Reds: INF Brandon Phillips remains day-to-day with inflammation in his right biceps tendon. Manager Bryan Price wants to see Phillips put in a full pre-game "workday" - batting practice and glovework - and see how he responds before returning him to the lineup. Phillips pinch-hit and grounded out in the seventh.
Diamondbacks: RHP Randall Delgado (4-3, 2.70) makes his first start of the season after 43 relief appearances in the third game of the four-game series on Saturday. He is 0-3 with a 4.32 ERA in five games, including four starts, against Cincinnati and 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA in three starts at Great American Ball Park.
Reds: RHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-8, 3.72) makes his 29th career start, 24th for Cincinnati, on Saturday. The rest of the all-rookie Reds starting rotation has made 27 career starts.
