Five previous times this year, the Diamondbacks had reached the .500 mark only to stumble in their next game and fall back below. On Friday, their sixth try, they finally got over the hump. Now they want to see just how far over they can get.

“I think it’s foot-on-the-gas time,” Diamondbacks' right-hander Ryne Nelson said after Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice fly lifted them to a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Chase Field. “I think this team, we can get on a roll and we can play really well.”

Manager Torey Lovullo did not try to downplay the significance of finally owning a winning record. He also was sure to remind reporters that it was far from where the Diamondbacks wanted to be.

But he made mention of the challenges his club has faced over the first 3½ months of the season. The Diamondbacks’ rotation has been wrecked by injuries. They lost two of their key, up-the-middle players to injuries that lingered for months. They have had down years from unexpected places.

At 48-47, they remain a game out of the final wild-card spot in the National League. But to own a winning record was not insignificant in the manager’s eyes.

“Everything that we’ve been through over the course of this first half, pre-All-Star break, it’s been a lot,” Lovullo said. “We’ve had to put up with a lot. We’ve had to deal with a lot. Being adaptable is part of our culture. Making adjustments is part of our culture. It’s nice to see us come out the other side a little bit.”

The Diamondbacks came out on top with the sort of win that tends to send Lovullo home with a smile. They played a clean game on defense. They were smart and aggressive on the bases. They worked counts to draw walks. Their big moments at the plate did not involve hard-hit balls but rather sac flies or soft singles.

And they got a strong performance from their starter, with Nelson turning in a solid performance for the sixth time in his past eight outings.

“That was another gritty win,” Lovullo said. “That’s how we do it.”

They watched a two-run lead vanish in the middle-to-late innings, but came back from a 4-2 deficit in the eighth, tying the game on Alek Thomas’ two-run single. After they worked a pair of walks in the ninth and pulled off a double steal, Perdomo lofted a medium-depth fly ball to left to record what he said was the first walk-off of his professional career.

“It wasn’t my best swing,” he said. “But I’m happy that (speedster) Corbin (Carroll) was on third base, thank God.”

Perdomo said earlier this week the club wanted to head into the break with a winning record. They are one win away from accomplishing that.

“That’s our mindset,” Perdomo said. “We want our GM to buy at the deadline. I think that’s the goal for every player – and every (other) team, too.”

Two weeks ago, it did not seem outlandish to think the Diamondbacks might not be buyers. They were four games under .500. They had a challenging 10-game stretch ahead of them against contending teams. Fast forward to Friday and it is hard to imagine them not buying — especially considering left-handers Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez and right-hander Merrill Kelly each threw 30-plus pitch bullpen sessions across town earlier in the day as they work to return from the injured list.

“When you don’t have your rotation built up early in the season (and) when you see a team play like this and be over .500, this is impressive,” Perdomo said. “We’ve got to continue like that. When those guys come back, I think this team is going to be more scary.”

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. sits again; Ketel Marte gets a breather

Diamondbacks left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was out of the lineup for the second consecutive day with what manager Torey Lovullo described as shoulder soreness.

“These guys swing hard and they swing a lot,” Lovullo said. “They impact the baseball and sometimes things get a little fatigued.”

Keeping up with the MLB:Diamondbacks' Yilber Diaz's amazing story of baseball and life

Lovullo sounded hopeful that Gurriel would be available off the bench on Friday night. He said he had “full-throttled” Gurriel in recent weeks because he was swinging a hot bat.

“Probably should have backed off of him for one or two games,” Lovullo said. “I didn’t want to. He was hot. I wanted to stay with him. Those are lessons that I keep learning.”

Second baseman Ketel Marte also was out of the lineup, getting what Lovullo described as a much-needed day off.

Lovullo talks Paul Skenes, NL All-Star lineup

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo made an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday morning, surprising Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes by announcing him as the starter for Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Lovullo, who will manage the National League team after leading the Diamondbacks to the World Series last year, believes he might have made the right call based on the response he has received from around the game.

“It was a hard decision, I’m not going to lie,” Lovullo said. “I just wanted to do it right. I spent some time on it. I spent like four or five days on it. Internally asking people, our players, and then MLB and I, (senior vice president) Michael Hill and I had a lot of really deep conversations about it.”

Lovullo said he took note of the fact that even though Skenes hadn’t made as many starts as other pitchers – he did not debut until May 11 – he had accumulated nearly as much WAR (wins above replacement) as other top starters in the league.

As for why he asked his players, he said, “I felt like if I took the temperature of our clubhouse it would be pretty close to the temperature of other clubhouses. The temperature of our clubhouse was like, ‘The guy is real good. He’s pretty darn good.’”

Up next for Lovullo is finalizing what his batting order will look like. He said the lineup will be partly determined by how the rest of the roster is constructed.

“My objective is, my main goal and probably the most amount of stress that I’m feeling is that I leave somebody out of the game,” Lovullo said. “I want everybody to play in that game. They deserve to.”

Injury updates on Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez, Merrill Kelly

Diamondbacks pitchers Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly each threw two-inning bullpen sessions on Friday, manager Torey Lovullo said, and Montgomery continues to trend toward returning to the rotation shortly after the All-Star break.

Montgomery threw two innings and 40 pitches on Friday. He will likely throw another bullpen session on Tuesday – Lovullo said Montgomery will do that from his home in South Carolina during the break – and could then pitch in a simulated game on Thursday in Arizona. That could serve as the only tune-up he needs before coming off the injured list.

Montgomery has been on the injured list since July 2 with right knee inflammation.

“He hasn’t been on the IL for very long,” Lovullo said. “He seems to be in a really good spot. Mechanically, he feels good. The inflammation in the knee has gone down. He maintained that range of motion with his arm in his throwing program, so there isn’t a lot of catching up for him to do.”

Rodriguez threw two innings and 30 pitches on Monday while Kelly threw two and 32. Both will throw their next bullpens on Wednesday, Lovullo said.

Saturday’s Diamondbacks-Blue Jays pitching matchup

Blue Jays at Diamondbacks, 7:10 p.m., Cox, Ch. 34

Diamondbacks RHP Yilber Diaz (0-0, 1.50) vs. Blue Jays RHP Jose Berrios (8-6, 3.76).

Diaz, 23, is on the heels of one of the better pitching debuts in the majors this season. His casting call arrived following a hitless six-inning outing where he struck out 13 for Triple-A Reno, tying the Aces single-game record. … In his debut for the Diamondbacks on Monday night, outside of a 97-mph four-seam fastball that 3B Austin Riley hit out to center field in the first inning, Diaz excelled, striking out five and allowing just four hits. …  Diaz walked only one of the 23 batters he faced. … Since arriving in the majors in 2016, Berrios' ERA has gradually improved, save from 2022, when he finished with a 5.23 ERA and set career-highs in hits, runs and earned runs. … This year he has been a bit more stable on the mound, posting a 3.76 ERA in 115 innings. ... That said, he is on pace to post a career-high in home runs allowed. He currently leads the majors with 21, leaving him just eight shy of his previous career worst from 2022. ...  The Blue Jays are 4-1 in Berrios' past four starts, but in that span, he has surrendered 28 hits, 20 runs and eight homers while striking out 23 with a 6.21 ERA.

Coming up

Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (6-5, 3.33) vs. Blue Jays LHP Yusei Kikuchi (4-8, 4.00).

Monday-Thursday: All-Star break.

Friday: At Chicago, 11:20 a.m., Diamondbacks TBA vs. Cubs TBA.