Diamondbacks take ninth inning 7-6 to beat Rockies 8-7

DENVER (AP) -- With a low arm angle and a nasty slider, Colorado Rockies closer Brian Fuentes had allowed only two hits to left-handed hitters all season.

Elias Says

The Diamondbacks and the Rockies were tied at 1 going to the ninth at Denver. Then, after Arizona scored seven in the top of the ninth, Colorado tallied six runs in the bottom half, for a wild 8-7 Coors Field victory. There have been more than 3,000 games in major-league history that were tied 1-1 going to the ninth inning. Saturday's game at Coors was the first of those games in which, by game's end, as many as 15 runs had been scored. (The previous high -- 14 runs -- also was set in Denver, in 1994 at Mile High Stadium: After being tied 1-1 through eight innings, both the Padres and Rockies scored once in the 10th. Then San Diego scored nine in the 11th, Colorado responded with one, and the Padres won 11-3.) • For more Elias Says, Click here.

Knowing this, Arizona's Chad Tracy went up there with one intention -- swinging where he thought the ball might be. After taking a slider, Tracy guessed right on the next pitch and his grand slam helped send the Diamondbacks to an 8-7 win over the Colorado Rockies Saturday night.

"I was just trying to make contact," Tracy said of his second career grand slam, both coming this season. "I got a pitch I could handle. He's hard to hit."

On this night, the Diamondbacks teed off on the All-Star closer in the ninth. Arizona tagged Fuentes (2-2) for six runs and six hits in one-third of an inning.

Luis Vizcaino (3-3) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win.

After scoring seven runs in the ninth -- sending 12 batters to the plate and going through four Colorado pitchers -- the Diamondbacks figured the game was secure.

Not exactly.

The Rockies had a rally of their own, scoring six runs in the bottom of the ninth to pull within one, but Jorge Julio struck out Omar Quintanilla with runners on first and second for his ninth save in 10 chances.

"We threw a punch back," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said.

Arizona manager Bob Melvin leaned back in his chair after the game, exhausted from watching the ninth inning. Starters Jason Jennings and Brandon Webb, neither figuring in the decision, gave up two runs between them.

"Both starters were unbelievable," Melvin said.

The teams combined for 13 runs in the ninth, marking the most runs scored in the last inning in the majors since the Detroit Tigers scored 13 on Aug. 8, 2001, at Texas.

"I thought we were going to breeze through," Webb said after giving up one run and striking out six in seven innings. "You never say that at Coors Field. It's a little crazy here."

Eric Byrnes, Shawn Green and Conor Jackson each singled against Fuentes with no outs in the ninth. Tracy then hit a pitch over the plate to right for his 13th homer.

The Diamondbacks added a few more insurance runs, and they needed all of them.

After Johnny Estrada struck out, Orlando Hudson doubled and Counsell singled. With one out, Ramon Ramirez came in for Fuentes. Jeff DaVanon hit a sacrifice fly off Ray King, and Byrnes and Green also had run-scoring singles in the inning for the Diamondbacks.

Fuentes had held lefties to an .067 average this season (2-for-30) but allowed lefties Tracy and Green to get hits off him in the inning.

"It wasn't Brian's finest hour," Hurdle said. "He got the ball up and in the middle of the plate. That's a recipe for bad things to happen."

Jennings was cruising along before he surrendered a game-tying home run to Counsell off the right-field foul pole in the eighth. It was Counsell's third home run of the season.

"Counsell has had some success off me," Jennings said of Counsell, who's hitting .393 off the Rockies' ace.

Jennings pitched eight innings, striking out eight and allowing six hits. In his last three outings, he's given up 11 hits in 22 innings.

Yorvit Torrealba hit an RBI single in the fifth and a three-run double in the ninth for Colorado.

Webb didn't allow a ball out of the infield until the fourth inning. The Rockies had six groundouts and three strikeouts to start the game.

In the fourth, Carroll led off with a double to right-center and Quintanilla bunted him over to third. Todd Helton hit a flyball to center and Carroll tagged on the play. Byrnes then threw a strike to Estrada from center to nail Carroll at the plate.

After the game, Melvin raved about Estrada's defense. He also threw out two baserunners. Not bad for someone taking a ball in the chin early on and having a bad headache.

"He played great," Melvin said.

Byrnes also was robbed of a two-run home run by Matt Holliday in the third. Holliday reached over the left-field fence to make the catch. Jennings waited at the top of the dugout steps to thank Holliday for the catch.

Game notes
Colorado had won five straight series before Arizona came to town. It's the first home series loss since June 9-11 against Los Angeles. ... Jackson was 3-for-5.