The Arizona Diamondbacks strong home stand was short-lived as the team lost two of three games in their just-completed three-game series against the ever-dominant Manny Machado and the upstart San Diego Padres as the D-backs continue to struggle this season against their NL West division rival.

For game three on Sunday, another hope-filled “Mad Bum” start arrived, along with a chance for the team to win their second series in a row.  What followed was another disappointing Madison Bumgarner loss, as the new D-back still looks for his first win with the organization. Bumgarner threw for just two full innings, giving up three runs in the bottom of both frames against only two strikeouts.

Prior to his start on Sunday, Bumgarner was experiencing back spasms that he believed would not affect his performance.  The left-handed pitcher discussed his spasms in an interview at DbacksPressbox.com.

“I got up in the middle of the night and felt it – Just expected it to go away – So then, just came over here and started getting it worked on right away, and it got a little better — good enough where I thought I would try to go out there and give us what I could and hopefully try to save the bullpen a little bit and keep us in the game — which I wound up doing neither one, but that sucks. Tough situation.”

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo had his own take on Bumgarner’s possible injury.

“We’re not sure right now. He’s going to head back to Arizona and get evaluated by our team doctors, so I don’t have any of the forward information.”

Lovullo also stated that he was unsure as to what sort of testing Bumgarner was going to undergo once he arrived back in Arizona.

The D-backs continue their away stretch of games even as their offense seems to have stayed at home as low hitting games continue to ‘rattle’ the team.  During the last three-game series with SanDiego, their second stretch of games against the Padres this season, the D-backs recorded 14 hits and managed to bring only eight runs across the plate.

However, during game-three of the series, with Bumgarner starting, the D-backs were held to two hits until their offense found a small spark and racked up four runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Nonetheless, Arizona’s four-run rally still left them four runs short of the Padres, who closed out the series 9-5.

The team heads to Colorado to face the first-place Rockies for a three-game series beginning tonight at 5:40 p.m.

The mile-high Rockies are as hot as our Arizona desert in August, as they continue to dominate the NL West.  However, the D-backs are looking to cool them off like a snow-capped mountain when Robbie Ray of the D-backs faces off against Jon Gray for the Rockies in the team’s first meeting this season.