The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs for the second straight night as they won 9-2.  The game was a close one until the D-backs scored six late runs in the 7th and 8th innings and blew the game wide open.  The Diamondbacks can now sweep the Central Division leading Cubs with a victory on Wednesday.

Yusmeiro Petit improved his record to 1-1 as he tossed five innings to get the win.  Petit gave up three hits but only one run while walking four and striking out three batters.  It was a quality start for Petit who made some mistakes but also pitched well at times.

Leo Rosales, Chad Qualls, Tony Pena, and newly acquired Jon Rauch all pitched one inning of relief.  Pena was the only pitcher to give up a run as gave up a solo home run to Daryle Ward in the 8th inning.  Other then that one mistake by Pena, the Diamondbacks bullpen all did a great job.

At the plate for the D-backs, they were lead by Conor Jackson who went 3-5 with three rbi.  Jackson had a solo home run in the first inning off of Jason Marquis and then added a two run double in the 8th inning when the D-backs broke the game wide open.  Stephen Drew, Orlando Hudson, Augie Ojeda, and Mark Reynolds all contributed with one rbi as well.

The Diamondbacks can sweep the Cubs without having Dan Haren or Brandon Webb throw the ball.  Now that will be a big deal if they can pull it off!  Diamondbacks Baseball Blog

The Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals played a wild game on Thursday night as both teams battled back and forth in the late innings and into extra innings.  Good news for the Diamondbacks fans though, the D-backs were able to come out on top with the 7-5 victory.

I had a big nice write up that I wrote during the eighth and ninth innings.  I sure wish I had waiting lol. Basically Dan Haren was going for the complete game shutout but let the first two runners on base and then Brandon Lyon allowed two runs to score.  In the end the game went into the 11th innings before the D-backs were able to hold on and get the victory.  Chad Qualls ended up with the victory and is now 2-6 on the season.

Chad Tracy led the team with two rbi in the game while a slew of hitters had one rbi each.  Stephen Drew, Orlando Hudson, Mark Reynolds, Mike Montero, and Alex Romero all had one rbi each.  Great output but the offense.  Of course they scored five runs in extra innings so it wasn’t like they didn’t have the chances to score a lot of runs.

The D-backs will now open up a series against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Diamondbacks Blog

The Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen had a game that they just want to forget as they allowed the Milwaukee Brewers to score three runs and come from behind and win the game 4-3.  Three relief pitchers each gave up one run as the Diamondbacks have now lost two out of three games to the Brewers in the series.

Chad Qualls, Tony Pena, and Brandon Lyon all gave up runs in the game.  Lyon took the loss as he gave up the game winning hit / rbi to Mike Cameron in the top of the ninth inning.  Lyon is now 2-3 on the season.  Diamondbacks starting pitcher Yusmeiro Petit pitched pretty good as he only gave up two his and one run over six innings of action.  It is too bad he wasn’t able to last longer in the game.

Miguel Montero got the D-backs on the board with a rbi single in second inning.  He almost had two rbi’s on the play but Chris Young was tagged out at home.  Young made up for being tagged out in the third inning when he had a rbi single that scored Orlando Hudson.  Justin Upton added a solo home run in the eighth inning for the Diamondbacks but it wasn’t enough at the end of the game.

The Diamondbacks will now have to win on Thursday to salvage a split in the four game series. Will they get it done?

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The Arizona Diamondbacks lost 5-3 to the New York Mets in 13 innings on Wednesday night.  The Diamondbacks rallied late in the ninth inning and tied the game when third baseman Mark Reynolds hit a three run homer of Mets’ closer Billy Wagner.  However, the Mets would prevail in this one. 

The Diamondbacks had Brandon Webb on the mound.  Webb gave up three runs, all coming in the fourth inning.  He left the game after going 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, three earned runs and four strikeouts.  Webb was hit in the hip by a ball off the bat of Carlos Delgado in the midst of the fourth inning.  He pitched a scoreless fifth, but was removed for a pinch hitter in the top of the 6^th.

Mets starter Mike Pelfrey had the best start of his young career last night, he held the Diamondbacks’ scoreless in his 8+ innings of works, recording eight strikeouts.  However, he did give up a lead off single to Stephen Drew, at the juncture, Pelfrey left the game and it was the Diamondback’s lucky day.  Billy Wagner came in and tried to close the game out for the Mets.  Orlando Hudson was the first batter he faced, he got him to strike out swinging, Connor Jackson hit a double to centerfield and Drew advanced to third.  Mark Reynolds fell behind in the count when Wagner blew two fastballs by him but, he fouled off the third fastball, then took the slider in the dirt-which appeared to have hit his foot, but after some discussion they home plate umpire did not call it, it looked like the Mets caught a break, however on the next pitch Wagner left a fastball  out over the plate and Reynolds hit it over the fence in left center field to tie the game at three and send it to extra innings. 

With the game tied at three and Edgar Gonzales pithing his second inning in relief, with one out, Luis Castillo reached base on a fielding error by Mark Reynolds.  Gonzales was able to retire David Wright on a popout to first baseman Chad Tracy.  So, with two out Carlos Beltran came to bat and after fouling off two pitches hit a two run walk off homer to win the game for the Mets 5-3.   

The Diamondbacks will have Dan Harren on the mound, and the Mets will counter with   Johan Santana in the rubber game of the series, first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.  The Diamondbacks will return home to start their interleague series with the Kansas City Royals. 

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The Diamondbacks traveled to Shea Stadium on Tuesday to take on the New  York Mets.  While the Diamondbacks are currently in first place in the NL West, they are not a great road team compiling a 13-18 road record this season.  When the Diamondbacks last saw the Mets they had a 20-8, the lost 2-3 to the Mets and since then are 14-22.  After a fast start, the Diamondbacks as a team are hitting .251 and are struggling to consistently put runs on the board; they still hold first place in the NL West as everyone else in division is playing .500 baseball.  However, the best thing to happen to the Diamondbacks’ offense was Mets pitching.  The Diamondbacks as a team had four homeruns in their 9-5 win over the Mets.  

Micha Owings started the game for the Diamondbacks.  In his last outing Owings was rocked for four earned runs off eight hits before leaving the game after three innings.  Owings has had two starts against the Mets and has a 0-1 record with a 6.94 era in those two games and didn’t fare much better in Tuesday night’s start.  In 41/3 innings he gave up 5 runs, four earned, on 8 hits with three walks and two strikeouts.  Owings who averages 2.6 walks per nine innings had give up two walks in the first inning of the game.  He was not sharp and lucky for him, neither were any of Mets pitchers.   

The Diamondbacks scored a run in the top of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead.  John Maine gave up a long home run to Orlando Hudson in the top of the fifth to cut the Mets lead 5-3.   In the sixth inning with Mets reliever Claudio Vargas on the mound, the Diamondback’s would score two runs and tie the game.   Vargas walked the lead off man before hitting  Justin Upton with a pitch, Jeff Salazar’s ground out allowed the runners to advance to second and third, with the tying runs on, Augie Ojeda drove them in when he hit a line drive that eluded the glove of Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado and landed in right field.  Ojeda would advance to second on the throw by Endy Chavez, but was stranded there when Chris Young flied out to end the inning. 

In the top of the seventh, with weather reports showing that rain was near and with the wind picking up at Shea Stadium, the Umps suspended play and the Mets grounds crew secured the tarp on the field.  The rain delay would last one hour.  When play resumed, the Diamondbacks took the lead on a homerun by Chris Snyder off Met’s reliever Joe Smith.  In the top of the ninth inning the Diamondbacks scored three more runs when Duaner Sanchez gave up a two run homer to Stephen Drew and a solo shot to Conner Jackson.   

The Diamondbacks will have Brandon Webb on the mound tonight, and he will be opposed by Mets starter Mike Pelfrey.  Game time is set for 7:10 p.m.

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The Milwaukee Brewers once again got the best of the Arizona Diamondbacks as the Diamondbacks continue to struggle.  This time it was a 7-1 loss to the Brewers that dropped the Diamondbacks record to 32-27 on the season.  You would think that they would get out of this slump somtime, but it just hasn’t happened yet.

Randy Johnson took the loss and is now 4-2.  The Big Unit tossed 6 1/3 innings and gave up six hits and four runs in the game.  Juan Cruz then came in and recorded the last two outs of the seventh inning.  Max Scherzer was called upon to pitch the eighth inning and gave up three hits including two home runs.  That pretty much put the game out of reach for the Diamondbacks especially the way they have been swinging the bats.

The one run for the Diamondbacks came in the fourth inning when Mark Reynolds doubled and scored Orlando Hudson.  Other then that, the Diamondbacks stunk it up once again.

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Brandon Webb is on fire!  Webb is now 9-0 after beating the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night.  Webb gave up six hits and three runs over 7 1/3 innings but it was good enough to still get the victory as the Diamondbacks won 8-5.

Doug Slaten, Chad Qualls, Brandon Medders, and Brandon Lyon all pitched in relief of Webb.  Medders had some trouble as he gave up two runs, but then Lyon came in to get the save.  Lyon is now up to 12 saves on the season.

Chris Snyder had the big hit for the Diamondbacks as he hit a three run home run in the fifth inning.  Snyder led the D-backs with three rbi in the game.  Orlando Hudson and Justin Upton both had two rbi.  Stephen Drew made the rbi column as well as he had one rbi.

The Diamondbacks are now 26-15 in the season as they are playing really good baseball.  They will try to continue playing good this weekend as they play the struggling Detroit Tigers.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks have the Colorado Rockies number right now as once again they beat the Rockies.  The Diamondbacks did have to hang on in the late innings however as the Rockies made a nice comeback but still feel short by one run as the Diamondbacks won 4-3.

Micah Owings pitched six innings of shutout baseball to get the win.  He only allowed five hits in his six innings of action and he lowered his era to 3.81.  Owings is now 5-1 on the season.

Things got a little messy in the Diamondbacks bullpen as Chad Qualls, Doug Slaten, and Tony Pena all gave up one run in relief.  Brandon Lyon was able to come into the game in the ninth inning and secure the game as he picked up his 11th save of the season.  Lyon did have some trouble as well as he gave up two hits, but he got out of the jam unlike the other three relief pitchers.

Orlando Hudson led the Diamondbacks with a two run double in the fifth inning.  Conor Jackson had a rbi single as well for the D-backs.  The other run came off a double play by Eric Byrnes so no rbi was awarded.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks score three runs in each of the first two innings against Jeff Francis and the Colorado Rockies and then they went onto beat the Rockies 8-4.  The Diamondbacks put a lot of pressure on Francis in the game and they scored all eight runs off of him in only 4 2/3 innings.

I love to see the offense come out and score runs like that early in the ball game.  The three runs in the first inning all came on singles that scored one run each.  Orlando Hudson, Conor Jackson, and Mark Reynolds all had rbi singles in the first inning.

In the second inning, it was Stephen Drew connecting on a three run home run to score all three runs for the Diamondbacks.  It was Drew’s fifth home run of the season.  The Diamondbacks then scored one run in the fourth and and fifth innings as they extended their lead.  Hudson had another rbi single in the fourth inning while Chris Burke had a rbi single in the fifth inning when he was pitch hitting for Randy Johnson.

Speaking of Johnson, he picked up his third win of the season as he improved to 3-1.  Johnson tossed five innings of baseball as he gave up nine hits and four runs.  He did give up one home run but it was a solo home run so it didn’t hurt too bad.

Juan Cruz, Chad Qualls, Tony Pena, and, Brandon Lyon all got a inning of action in the game.  All four pitchers did a great job and held the Rockies to zero runs.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks got a 4-2 win at home against the San Francisco Giants on Monday putting the Diamondbacks at 14-5 for the year.  Arizona is off to a great start and is looking like they might be the National League team to beat this season as they are off to a hot start.

The Diamondbacks hit three home runs in the game that accounted for all four of their runs.  Mark Reynolds got the scoring started in the second inning when he hit a solo home run.  Eric Byrnes hit a two run homer in the fifth inning that made the score 3-2.  Orlando Hudson added an insurance run in the seventh inning with a solo home run to make the score 4-2.

The opening pitcher for the Diamondbacks was Micah Owings who threw for 6.1 innings giving up five hits, two runs, and one walk.  He came away with the win putting him at 4-0 for the year.  Chad Qualls, Tony Pena, and Brandon Lyon were brought in to finish off the last 2.2 innings with Brandon Lyon getting his 4th save of the season.

The Diamondbacks will face off against the Giants again tonight for the last game of  the series.

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