SAN FRANCISCO — Having played 16 games in 16 days, all of them against contending clubs, the Arizona Diamondbacks went .500. Could have been better, could have been worse, but the overall tone after they eked out an 8-7 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon, May 14, seemed to be: We’ll take it.

“I feel like we held our own,” general manager Mike Hazen said. “I don’t know that we played our best baseball, but I feel like we’ve held our own and I feel good about that.”

The day seemed to sort of sum up the difficult stretch – the good, the bad and the cautious optimism surrounding it.

The good: Ketel Marte smashed a pair of homers, Eugenio Suarez connected on a three-run shot and the Diamondbacks held on — granted, by the skin of their teeth, but held on nevertheless — to come away with a series-clinching win over a tough Giants team.

Then there was the bad. Marte exited the game early due to what was described as general stiffness. The bullpen nearly coughed up another lead and came about as close as possible to giving up the lead — the Giants had the bases loaded and a full count on Christian Koss — before reliever Shelby Miller induced a game-ending popup.

As for the optimism, both Marte and manager Torey Lovullo insist Marte’s health issues are not cause for concern. Both expect he will be in the lineup when the Diamondbacks are back in action on Friday, May 16, against the Colorado Rockies. And then there’s the fact that a win is a win, one that comes at a time when the Diamondbacks clearly are not firing on all cylinders.

“This was probably the toughest stretch we’ll have all year — I’m assuming it’s not going to get any harder than those 16 games,” Miller said. “We’ve been playing quality baseball. Still room for improvement in some spots.

“I know the bullpen, we want to do a better job of securing wins. I think defensively, offensively, once we click, we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”

The game featured a strange, controversial and ultimately inconsequential play in the eighth inning. With Koss at first, the Giants’ Heliot Ramos hit a slow roller to third, where Suarez fielded and threw late to first. But just as the ball was reaching first, Koss rounded second and ran directly into Jordan Lawlar, who had entered the game for Marte an inning earlier. Koss fell in front of the base and was tagged out.

However, the out call was reversed when Lawlar was called for obstruction. The ruling lit a fuse under Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, who stormed out of the dugout and was soon ejected, prompting him to start pantomiming ejections for the umpires themselves.

None of it mattered when the Giants’ Wilmer Flores popped up the third pitch of the ensuing at-bat to end the inning.

The Diamondbacks scored in each of the first four innings, building an 8-2 lead. They wound up clinging to what was left of that lead after the Giants got a two-run double from Ramos in the fourth and a two-run homer from Jung Hoo Lee in the eighth.

Miller recorded the save in the ninth, giving up a run but working out of a bases-loaded jam by getting Koss to pop to shallow center field.

The Diamondbacks are 23-21 and in fourth place in the NL West. Patches of their lineup seem to go cold for days at a time. Their bullpen, having lost its top two leverage arms, has allowed runs with regularity. The rotation has been more serviceable than impressive. And they continue to make defensive mistakes and fundamental errors, though at a lower clip than earlier in the season.

So, as they work to iron out their issues, a .500 stretch against several of the NL’s better teams doesn’t quite feel so damning. They split six games against the New York Mets. They lost a series to the Philadelphia Phillies. They halved a four-game set against the Dodgers. And they won on May 14 to claim this three-game set against the Giants.

“I think we’re playing better baseball than we were in the first two weeks of the season,” Hazen said. “I think we’re playing cleaner baseball. I think you’re seeing these games start to smooth out so that when you lose, it’s just because it’s baseball.”

Lourdes Gurriel moves up in lineup, Pavin Smith drops

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. moved into the third spot in Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo’s lineup, with slumping Pavin Smith dropping to the No. 6 hole.

Lovullo said this follows what he said he would do this year since spring training — being more adjustable with his lineups.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t or won’t move back to your original spot,” Lovullo said. “I just think Pavin has been in a little bit of a grind. He’s getting pitched to. (This can) take a little pressure off of him.”

Since April 23, Smith has gone just 8 for 46 (.174) with one extra-base hit.

Gurriel, meanwhile, has started to heat up. Over his past 13 games, he is hitting .333/.370/.627 with three homers and 10 RBIs.

“Much better (at-bats),” Lovullo said of Gurriel. “(He is) checking off of pitches into counts; a strike or two on him, he’s getting himself back in counts and he’s not missing the ball he’s looking for. He’s a good hitter. He’s a really good hitter and I think he’s made some really good adjustments.”

Coming up

Thursday, May 15: Off.

Friday, May 16: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Corbin Burnes (2-1, 2.95) vs. Rockies RHP Tanner Gordon (0-1, 5.68).

Saturday, May 17: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (3-5, 4.59) vs. Rockies RHP German Marquez (1-6, 8.27).

Sunday, May 18: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (4-2, 3.71) vs. Rockies RHP Chase Dollander (2-4, 6.88).