Athletics at Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks hit five home runs and beat the undermanned A's, 15-5, on Wednesday afternoon at Chase Field to capture the series and push their record to 53-49, but the real test lies ahead. After the game, the Diamondbacks boarded their charter flight for a grueling road trip that will likely determine their direction for the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline. The first stop is a makeup game in St. Louis on Thursday before a trio of three-game series in Washington, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Three of those teams are near the Diamondbacks in the NL Wild Card standings while the Guardians entered Wednesday tied atop the AL Central. The Diamondbacks have played better of late despite a slew of injuries, and general manager Mike Hazen would like to be a buyer at the Deadline, but a final decision has yet to be made. "I want to add to the places that we have areas that need improvement, for sure," Hazen said prior to Wednesday's game. "We've been playing better of late. Need to keep going. We're playing very stiff competition coming up, and we'll see where it lands." Hazen has had conversations mainly regarding buying with other teams, but he's also taken calls from teams who have inquired about who might be available if the Diamondbacks were to sell. All three options remain on the table for the Diamondbacks. They could buy, they could sell or they could do some combination of both. Arizona's primary need is for a first baseman, a position where Arizona has gotten very little production. "Fixing the first base/DH problem in terms of production is something that we need to continue to address," Hazen said. "And I'm hoping somebody internally is going to do it, but that hasn't really happened to the degree that we need it to." Even if Hazen only does a little bit of buying at the Deadline, the Diamondbacks figure to see their roster get better as they get some of their injured players back.