Recap: Arizona vs. San Francisco
Sports Network | September 18, 2008
Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Brandon Webb hurled seven solid innings and helped his own cause with a two-run double as Arizona held on to edge San Francisco, 7-6, at Chase Field.
Webb (21-7) allowed three runs -- two earned -- on eight hits for the Diamondbacks, who won their third straight and climbed within 3 1/2 games of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. The Dodgers were routed, 15-8, by Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Justin Upton had a two-run homer for Arizona, while David Eckstein added a solo shot. Stephen Drew finished 4-of-5 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI.
Omar Vizquel had a two-run triple for the Giants, who have dropped the first three games in this series. Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina, John Bowker and Rich Aurilia added an RBI apiece.
Jonathan Sanchez (9-11) was touched for six runs on six hits in just 3 2/3 innings en route to the loss.
Trailing 3-0, Arizona got a run back in the bottom of the first when Drew doubled to center, advanced to third on an Upton grounder and crossed the plate when Conor Jackson lofted a sacrifice fly to center.
The Diamondbacks then took control with a five-run second. Chris Snyder started the fireworks by drawing a one-out walk. Chris Young followed with a single up the middle and, after an Eckstein fly out, Webb slapped a two- run double to center. Drew kept things going with an RBI single before Upton capped the frame with a two-run homer to center, his 14th of the year.
The diminutive Eckstein hit a leadoff homer in the sixth to extend Arizona's lead to 7-3.
San Francisco threatened off the D-Backs bullpen in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Scott McClain and Eugenio Velez started the inning by drawing walks off Doug Slaten. Arizona quickly went to Tony Pena but Vizquel greeted the reliever with a two-run triple to right. Aurilia, another pinch-hitter, followed with an RBI grounder to make it a one-run game, 7-6. But, Pena settled down to get both Dave Roberts and Randy Winn to ground out to end the game.
The Giants jumped on Webb with three runs in the first. Roberts led off the game with an infield single and quickly crossed the plate on Sandoval's one-out double. Molina followed with an RBI single and, after Travis Ishikawa reached on Adam Dunn's error, Bowker capped the frame with an RBI grounder to short.
