Reynolds lifts Arizona with hit in 9th
July 7, 2009
PHOENIX (AP)—The Arizona Diamondbacks’ victory Monday night turned out just asJustin Upton(notes) and Mark Reynolds(notes) scripted it.
Reynolds singled home Upton with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inningas the Diamondbacks rallied to edge the San Diego Padres 6-5.
“We discussed it a little bit before my at-bat in case he came up and itjust worked out for us,” said Upton, who went 1 for 3 with two runs and threeRBIs.
Upton drew a two-out walk from Cla Meredith(notes) (4-2) and stole second basebefore Reynolds lined a single into the left-field corner.
“He told me that he was going to steal if I got a ball,” Reynolds said.“I got a ball and he stole second. That’s what we planned in the dugout. It’spretty cool.”
It was a script Meredith had hoped to avoid.
“You don’t want to let one guy in the lineup beat you and right now,Upton’s that guy,” Meredith said. “Rather than staying hard and going afterhim, I lost my aggressiveness trying to throw him off-speed stuff, fell behind,he walked and the rest is history.”
Jon Rauch(notes) (1-0) pitched the ninth for the Diamondbacks, who have won threestraight for the first time since May 20 through 23.
Series at a Glance San Diego 5 Arizona 6 Mon, Jul 6 – Final San Diego at Arizona Tue, Jul 7 – 9:40 pm ET San Diego at Arizona Wed, Jul 8 – 3:40 pm ET
“Three in a row feels good,” Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’veput together a decent momentum stretch. It wasn’t always easy, but we found away to hang in there.”
Tony Gwynn(notes) Jr. went 4 for 5 with a stolen base and a run scored for thePadres, who lost for the fifth time in six games.
Kevin Kouzmanoff(notes) snapped a 3-3 tie in the seventh with a double off theleft-field wall that scored Gwynn from second. Everth Cabrera(notes) made it 5-3 in theeighth as he walked, stole second, then stole third and scored when catcherMiguel Montero’s(notes) throw sailed past Reynolds into left field.
Arizona cut the deficit to 5-4 in the eighth when Montero doubled and scoredon Gerardo Parra’s(notes) single to center. Luke Gregerson(notes), activated from the 15-daydisabled list earlier Monday, retired Tony Clark(notes) on a double-play grounderbefore Tracy hit his third career pinch-hit homer over the right-field fence.
“I was looking for a fastball middle and he gave me a fastball middle,”said Tracy, who homered for the first time since coming off the disabled listwith a strained right oblique. “Pinch hitting is the hardest game in baseball,no doubt about it.”
San Diego Padres center fielde… AP – Jul 7, 1:26 am EDT
Upton gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the first off Walter Silva(notes) with asacrifice fly. San Diego scored two in the second on four singles, an error anda wild pitch.
Upton made it 3-2 in the bottom of the third with a two-run homer off thebatters’ eye above the center-field fence. Adrian Gonzalez(notes) tied it when his RBIsingle scored Cabrera, who had led off with a walk.
San Diego manager Bud Black also credited Upton with saving at least threeruns on defense with a pair of running, backhand catches in the right-centerfield gap.
“What you saw were speed plays with Upton,” Black said. “If those ballsfall, we still have guys on base, we get extra bases, not an out’s made and whoknows what happens?”
Jon Garland(notes), winless in nine starts since May 19, allowed three runs oneight hits over six innings with two walks and four strikeouts.
Silva lasted just 3 1-3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with awalk and a strikeout.
NOTES: The crowd of 17,528 was the second-lowest in franchise history. …Garland is 0-2 with three no-decisions and a 3.06 ERA in his last five starts.… Before the game, the Padres placed infielder David Eckstein(notes) on the 15-daydisabled list with a strained right hamstring and activated Gregerson from the15-day disabled list. Eckstein pulled up lame running out a grounder in the 12thinning of San Diego’s 7-6 loss Sunday to Los Angeles in 13 innings. …Gregerson had been on the disabled list with a strained right shoulder. … SanDiego also recalled RHP Mike Ekstrom(notes), who threw 2 2-3 innings of scorelessrelief, and optioned LHP Joe Thatcher(notes) to Portland. … RHP Ryan Webb, acquiredby the Padres from Oakland on Sunday in a four-player trade, reported to theteam and was in the bullpen Monday.
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