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DENVER -- With his prolonged slump happily behind him, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt will try to continue his slugging exploits Sunday when the Arizona Diamondbacks look to sweep their series with the Colorado Rockies. The Diamondbacks erupted for a season-high six runs in the eighth Saturday night, five of them unearned due to Rockies reliever Bryan Shaw making a fielding and throwing error on the same play, and beat the Rockies 12-7.
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The Diamondbacks reached a season-high in runs while winning their seventh straight game at Coors Field dating to June 21. It's the longest winning streak in team history at Coors Field.
Arizona's Zack Godley (5-5, 5.12) will start against left-hander Kyle Freeland (6-5, 3.48) who has been the Rockies most consistent starter.
While going 3 for 4 with a season-high four RBIs, Goldschmidt hit two homers for the second straight game, giving him 12 homers for the season. It was the 14th multi-home run game of his career and the first time he has accomplished the feat in successive games.
Goldschmidt has hit safely in 12 of his past 14 games, batting .411 (23 for 56) in that span with one triple, seven homers, 16 RBIa and a .929 slugging percentage. That spree has raised Goldschmidt's overall average to .250 with 29 RBI and a .856 OPS
"My confidence is always the same," Goldschmidt said. "I was able to come through today and yesterday and for a few days. And then there was a while where I wasn't. It wasn't like I lost confidence. (I) Wasn't executing. That's part of the game. There's a lot of failure in this game. I've said it for a few days; it's nice to have a few good days. It doesn't mean it's going to continue. I just try to keep putting the work in and go out there and play well."
The Diamondbacks (34-29) have won eight of their past 11 games, belting 22 homers in that stretch with six multi-homer games.
The Rockies (32-32) fell to .500 for the first time since they were 15-15 on April 30. They have lost seven of their past nine games overall and led in each of those games. Saturday's loss was the Rockies' 19th after leading, which is the most in the National League and third-most in the majors.
The Rockies have lost six consecutive home games, allowing seven or more runs in each game. It's their longest losing streak at home, since they dropped seven straight from April 23 to June 5, 2016. The Rockies have allowed a major league record three or more home runs in five consecutive home games.
They have yielded double-digit hits in 11 straight games, the longest streak in franchise history and the longest in the majors since 2008.
Godley is coming off poor start Monday at San Francisco where he tied a season low by pitching 3 1/3 innings and allowed five hits and a season-high seven runs while losing 10-3. He needed 86 pitches to get 10 outs.
Godley is 3-0, 2.66 ERA in five games (three starts) against the Rockies and will face them for the first time this year. He's 2-0 (4.02) in four games (two starts) at Coors Field.
Freeland has allowed three or fewer runs in eight straight starts, including Monday at Cincinnati where he allowed nine hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts and was the winner in Colorado's 9-6 victory.
The Rockies are 7-5 in games started by Freeland, who is 6-2, 2.58 ERA in his past eight starts. In those games, Freeland has limited opposing batters to a .213 average and a .624 OPS. Freeland is in his second season in the majors and said this is the most confident he has felt at any point as a professional or amateur.
"I feel like I'm in a really good spot with my mechanics, my pitch mix and being on the same page as whoever's catching me," said Freeland, who is 1-1, 4.15 ERA in three starts against Arizona. "Overall, I'd say the confidence is there, and I'm just doing my best to hang on to that confidence and really feel that every five days."
