D'Backs use late rally to stun Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/03/2008 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Conor Jackson's two-run single capped a six-run ninth, as the Diamondbacks took advantage of a meltdown by the Brewers bullpen to steal a 6-5 Arizona win in the finale of a four-game set.

Trailing 5-0 entering the ninth, the Diamondbacks sent seven batters to the plate. Milwaukee relievers Guillermo Mota, Brian Shouse, and Salomon Torres all failed to get an out in the ninth as Arizona stole the game and earned a split in the series.

"I was almost in shock," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin. "Basically the way the inning happened with nobody out, your thinking are we going to have to do something to manufacture something at some point, but it never really came up."

The rally made a winner of Leo Rosales (1-0), who pitched a scoreless inning of relief, and got Brandon Webb off the hook. Webb was in line for the loss after giving up five runs on nine hits in six innings.

Chad Tracy had a pinch-hit three-run triple in the ninth for Arizona, which had dropped six of eight entering the game.

Torres (4-2) took the blown save and the loss, ruining a stellar effort by Manny Parra, who tossed six shutout innings, allowing just four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. J.J. Hardy went 4-for-5 with a homer, and Mike Cameron also homered for the Brewers, who have dropped five of eight.

Mota started the ninth for the Brewers, and was gone after giving up two infield singles -- to Robby Hammock and Augie Ojeda -- sandwiching a walk to Chris Burke to load the bases. Shouse came on and lasted only one pitch, as Tracy came off the bench and laced a double in the gap in right-center. Tracy's two-bagger cleared the bases, and cut the Milwaukee lead to 5-3.

Brewers manager Ned Yost then went to his closer Torres, but even he couldn't stop the bleeding. Justin Upton sliced a single to right and Orlando Hudson lined a double into the corner in left, putting runners at second and third for Jackson, still with no outs.

With the infield drawn in Jackson's grounder to the left of second base skidded into center, and both runners came around to give the D-backs the stunning win.

"They put the ball in play, said Yost. "Shouse came in and tried to go down and away and made a bad pitch. The pitch he made was down and in to Tracy. Solomon couldn't get it to stop either, its just one of those innings."

The Brewers put two runs across in the second thanks to some uncharacteristic wildness by Webb. Russell Branyan drew a leadoff walk, Gabe Kapler singled, and Webb beaned Cameron to load the bases. A wild pitch by Webb allowed Branyan to come home, and Jason Kendall's groundout plated another run.

Webb rebounded to get Parra to ground into an inning-ending double play, holding the Milwaukee lead at 2-0.

Hardy's one-out solo shot to left in the third added another run, then Cameron belted a two-run shot to left with one out in the sixth. The homers, Hardy's ninth and Cameron's 13th, gave the Brewers a 5-0 edge that they took into the ninth. Cameron's shot, down the line in left, may have actually been a foul ball, but the umpires conferred for a few minutes and ruled that the ball fell inside the pole for a two-run homer.

Game Notes

Webb went 9-0 in his first nine starts. He is 3-4 in his last nine starts...Brewers reliever Eric Gagne, who has a 6.64 earned run average on the season, threw a scoreless eighth...Mota threw 11 pitches, Shouse threw one, and Torres threw 13 in the disastrous ninth for the Brewers.