The tone in Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo’s voice matched the look of frustration on his face. His club for the past five weeks had been following a script that had them playing about as well as any team in the majors. But on Sept. 7, the Diamondbacks veered off it – and they lost a game.

From listening to Lovullo talk after dropping a 7-4 trainwreck of a game to the Boston Red Sox, it has at least become clear that the club’s goals have shifted to something grander than just playing meaningful games in September.

“This is probably as frustrating a game as I’ve seen and been a part of in the past couple of months,” Lovullo said. “Especially since we’re chasing something, it just amplifies it. I know they’re in there and they’re mad. They should be.”

When the Diamondbacks sold at the trade deadline, they appeared to be making the obvious call. They had floundered near the .500 mark for nearly four months. Then they plummeted in late July. They had a talented roster, for sure, but it just wasn’t coming together, and so they got what they could for their rentals.

And for anyone who stopped paying attention since then, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s words after his team avoided a sweep might come as a surprise. But they felt like validation to a Diamondbacks team that sees itself capable of a Hail Mary – that is, of making up 4½ games in the wild card race with just 18 to go.

“That’s a good team, and that team is going to be in the hunt the rest of the way,” Cora said. “That team is gonna make a run. It’s a really good team.”

For two games and six innings, that is exactly what the Diamondbacks looked like. That changed in the top of the seventh of the series finale.

First baseman Tyler Locklear waited too long to make a throw during a rundown, allowing Trevor Story, who should have been picked off, to slide safely into second base. Later in the inning, a ground ball kicked off the glove of third baseman Jordan Lawlar, who recovered — luckily, it stayed in front of him after deflecting off the bill of his hat — but then threw wild to first, allowing the Red Sox to score the tying and go-ahead runs.

Lawlar would redeem himself in the bottom of the inning, lining the game-tying single to left, but the Red Sox scored three times off reliever Taylor Rashi in the top of the ninth to put an end to the Diamondbacks’ four-game win streak.

The errors left a bitter taste in Lovullo’s mouth. The Diamondbacks entered the day with the third-best record since the beginning of August because, in large part, they had been adhering to a crisp style of baseball. Their defense had been so good that it had helped the pitching staff exceed expectations. And their offense had been opportunistic and aggressive, just as it was in the early innings of the finale when they took a 3-1 lead into the seventh.

It had the Diamondbacks in position to move to within 3½ games of the New York Mets for a wild-card spot. Instead, they dropped back to .500 at 72-72 and maintain postseason odds of less than 2 percent, per FanGraphs.

Still, their recent play has turned this week’s series in San Francisco, which begins Sept. 8, into a compelling matchup of two teams on the outskirts of the race trying to force their way into the picture.

“We’re scoreboard watching; I’m not going to lie,” Lovullo said. “We saw that a couple of teams lost that are ahead of us. We got to regroup. The disappointment is mighty, but we’ve got to accept what happened and understand why it happened and tighten it down and go out and play better baseball than that.”

— Nick Piecoro

DeSclafani reinstated, Jarvis optioned

The Diamondbacks reinstated right-hander Anthony DeSclafani from the 15-day injured list and optioned right-hander Bryce Jarvis to Triple-A Reno.

DeSclafani had been part of the starting rotation when he landed on the injured list with a thumb issue last month. He is expected to go back to the bullpen for now, likely moving into a long relief role.

DeSclafani has a 4.36 ERA in 33 innings, with seven of his 11 appearances coming in relief.

Jarvis had an ugly outing against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, Sept. 5, retiring none of the four batters he faced in the eighth inning. All four runners scored. Jarvis’ ERA jumped from 4.35 to 6.10 in 20⅔ innings this season.

— Nick Piecoro

Coming up

Sept. 8: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Nabil Crismatt (2-0, 2.14) vs. Giants RHP Logan Webb (13-9, 3.17).

Sept. 9: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (11-13, 4.77) vs. Giants LHP Robbie Ray (10-6, 3.31).

Sept. 10: At San Francisco, 12:45 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (7-8, 5.22) vs. Giants RHP Carson Seymour (1-2, 4.25).