Arizona Diamondbacks’ offense carrying the load early

Through three games, the Diamondbacks’ rotation has yet to log a quality start. Their bullpen and defense have had bouts of porousness and unreliability. Their offense, however, has performed as advertised.

The Diamondbacks banged out another victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night, this time by a score of 8-6, using a formula that might become a go-to at Chase Field this year. They hit, they ran the bases aggressively and they hit some more.

“It’s been a good sign,” center fielder A.J. Pollock said. “We’ve had a lot of clutch hitting. We’re going to have to keep that going. I hope we can keep building off that. It’s early, but it’s a big day tomorrow. We can take a series from these guys.”

Torey Lovullo is three games into his managerial tenure with the Diamondbacks, and one of the things he said has struck him most about his group of position players is their level of communication in the dugout.

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Whether they’re discussing the action on the pitches they’re seeing, what to expect in a certain count or what a pitchers’ release point looks like, he said his hitters are supportive and trusting of each other, and he thinks it can pay off over the course of a game.

“Your whole career you talk about that stuff in the dugout,” Diamondbacks infielder/outfielder Chris Owings said. “But once you play together for long enough, that stuff starts to build and you start building a relationship with people and you start trusting them and you see exactly what the pitches are doing that someone might have told you about.”

The Diamondbacks had four more hits with men in scoring position on Wednesday night, making them 9 for 26 (.346) in those situations so far this season. They have scored 18 runs in three games and own a team slash line of .296/.345/.472.

Pollock already has provided several reminders of just how badly he was missed last season, going 7 for 14 with two doubles, a home run and a stolen base.

They not only came through in big situations on Wednesday – Jeremy Hazelbaker’s pinch-hit, go-ahead double in the sixth might have been the biggest such hit – they put pressure on the Giants at nearly every opportunity.

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Sometimes that backfired – they ran into a couple of outs on the bases – and sometimes not, like when Pollock manufactured a hustle double on a hit to center in the third and quickly scored on an Owings single.

“I think one person can be a catalyst and it just gets that ball rolling,” Lovullo said. “I think that’s what really good offensive teams do. They never feel like they’re out of any game. They just keep pushing and plowing. I’ve only been here for three major league games and what I’ve seen out of them is the relentlessness we’re asking for.”

They’ll try for the four-game series win on Thursday night, but, failing that, they’ve already won more games at Chase Field against the Giants than they did all of last season, when they went 1-9 against them at home.

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.