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Webb, Upton power D-Backs past Giants
By Daniel Dullum September 17, 2008 |
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PHOENIX – Brandon Webb’s National League-leading 21st win of the season didn’t come without a nine-inning roller coaster ride to make it interesting. After spotting San Francisco a 3-0 first-inning lead, Webb settled down, helped himself with a two-run double, and led Arizona to a 7-6 win over the Giants that kept the Diamondbacks in the NL West Division race. The victory pulled Arizona to within one game of .500 at 75-76, and, coupled with Pittsburgh’s 15-8 win over Los Angeles, cut the Dodgers’ lead in the NL West to 3 ½ games with 12 to play. “This gives us a little psychological boost,” Webb said. “The division isn’t out of reach and we’ve seen some crazy things happen. We’ll just go out there and play hard every day.” Webb (21-7) went seven innings, gave up two earned runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out two while throwing 88 pitches. He was also 1-for-3 with a two-RBI double in the Diamondbacks’ five-run second inning rally. Asked which he preferred, pitching or hitting against the Giants, Webb said, “I don’t know why, it’s just worked out great that way. [The Giants] have a lot of good hitters that are aggressive and put the ball in play early, which helps create the low pitch count.” In the Arizona second, Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez (9-11) issued a one-out walk to Chris Snyder and Chris Young followed with a single. After David Eckstein flied out to left, Webb sent a deep drive over San Francisco centerfielder Randy Winn’s head and to the warning track, scoring Snyder and Young. “I just try to get a fastball over the middle and hopefully I can square up as much as I can,” Webb explained. “It doesn’t happen too often, but basically that’s all I try to do – put the ball in play and see what happens.” Webb admitted that, as a pitcher hitting, there is a rush that comes with watching the fielders chasing a ball he hit over their heads. “They were playing in, and when they turn their backs and start taking off, I started putting ‘em down as fast as I can!” he said. “We were so close to getting out of that inning,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “Webb’s killed us with his hits this year. We had two outs, two strikes and made a mistake – was trying to elevate a fastball and it didn’t elevate enough and didn’t get it quite where he wanted. That’s what did us in.” After Webb scored on a single by Stephen Drew, Justin Upton propelled a 438-foot shot to the center field overhang above the 413-foot marker, capping the rally with his 14th home run of the season. “I really don’t think I got it all,” Upton said. “It didn’t go as far as I thought it would.” Sanchez lasted 3 2/3 innings, throwing 83 pitches and giving up six earned runs. “The big inning killed us,” Bochy said. “Sanchy had a rough start. He had trouble getting the ball down and struggled all night and paid for it. “You’ve got to regroup, though. Sanchy has been throwing well and he’s coming off a good start. I thought he had good stuff, but his changeup wasn’t moving like it normally does. You have to locate in this game and he was off tonight.” San Francisco jumped to a 3-0 lead when Roberts led off the game with an infield single and scored on a double by Pablo Sandoval. Benjie Molina followed with single that plated Sandoval and, after an error by Arizona first baseman Conor Jackson allowed Travis Ishikawa to reach base, Molina scored when John Bowker advanced on a fielder’s choice. But the Giants’ bats went silent until the ninth inning, as they were unable to score on Webb again. “That’s what we were hoping to do,” Bochy said. “We just couldn’t add on to it. Webb’s a good pitcher. He kept the ball down and got his ground balls.” “In the first inning I felt really good,” Webb said. “Toward the end of the game, I felt my stuff was starting to diminish a little bit. “I thought I had pretty good stuff in the first inning,” the 2006 NL Cy Young Award winner added. “I knew I was pitching much better than what it showed. I knew all I had to do was go out there and throw like I did in the first inning. “It’s a little frustrating because they didn’t really square too many balls up, just some little grounders, there was an error, things like that. So I didn’t feel too bad because they didn’t hit the ball hard at all.” The Diamondbacks got one run back in the bottom of the first when Drew led off with a double and scored on Jackson’s sacrifice fly to center. Scoring was dormant until the bottom of the sixth, when Eckstein led off with a solo home run – his first as a Diamondback – into the Arizona bullpen down the left field line. “You don’t expect that, so for David to hit one was awesome,” Upton said. “He’s one of those guys you see scrapping it out, so to see him do that was amazing. “We played a little joke on him, acting like he was supposed to do that. We just kind of sat and ignored him!” Arizona’s 7-3 lead was nearly erased in an adventurous ninth inning when D-Backs reliever Doug Slaten issued back-to-back walks to pinch-hitter Scott McClain and Eugenio Velez. After Tony Pena replaced Slaten and surrendered a two-run triple to Omar Vizquel and a ground out RBI by pinch-hitter Rich Aurilia, he retired Dave Roberts and Winn each on ground balls to second base to register his third save. “When Vizquel got the hit, we knew we had good hitters coming up there, and we’d done a good job of coming back,” Bochy said. “We just came up short.” SNAKE BITES: If the Diamondbacks rally in the next two weeks and tie Los Angeles for the NL West title, the tiebreaker game would be played at Dodger Stadium on Monday, Sept. 29. … One of the worst kept secrets in baseball was made official when the D-Backs sent pitcher Micah Owings to Cincinnati to complete the Adam Dunn trade that was made on Aug. 11. Owings was a disappointment for Arizona, going 6-9 with a 5.93 ERA. He also hit .288 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI while being used as an occasional pinch-hitter, but became prone to striking out. … MLB announced the 2009 master regular season schedule. The Giants will open at home against Milwaukee on April 7, while the Athletics travel to Anaheim to open against the Angels on April 6. … According to Elias Sports Bureau, San Francisco has set a franchise record with 16 rookies making their debuts this season, breaking the old mark of 14 set by the New York Giants in 1926. … Thursday probables are Tim Lincecum (17-3) for the Giants and Randy Johnson (10-9) for Arizona. |
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