D-backs' Drew flirts with cycle to help Webb to rare 9-0 start
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| Regular Season Series |
| Arizona leads 15-3 (as of Thu 5/15) |
| Fri 4/4 |
ARI 8, @COL 1 |
Recap |
| Sat 4/5 |
ARI 7, @COL 2 |
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| Sun 4/6 |
ARI 5, @COL 2 |
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| Fri 4/11 |
@ARI 8, COL 2 |
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| Sat 4/12 |
@ARI 10, COL 3 |
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| Sun 4/13 |
COL 13, @ARI 5 |
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| Tue 5/13 |
@ARI 8, COL 4 |
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| Wed 5/14 |
@ARI 4, COL 3 |
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| >Thu 5/15 |
@ARI 8, COL 5 |
Box Score |
| Tue 8/12 |
ARI 4, @COL 2 |
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| Wed 8/13 |
@COL 6, ARI 5 |
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| Thu 8/14 |
ARI 6, @COL 2 |
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| Fri 9/19 |
@COL 3, ARI 2 |
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| Sat 9/20 |
ARI 5, @COL 3 |
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| Sun 9/21 |
ARI 13, @COL 4 |
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| Fri 9/26 |
@ARI 6, COL 4 |
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| Sat 9/27 |
@ARI 6, COL 4 |
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| Sun 9/28 |
@ARI 2, COL 1 |
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| · Complete Schedule: Diamondbacks | Rockies |
| Scoring Summary |
| COL | ARI |
 | 1st | O Hudson singled to left, C Young scored, S Drew to second. | 0 | 1 |
 | 5th | S Drew doubled to deep center, C Young scored. | 0 | 2 |
 | 5th | C Snyder homered to left center, S Drew and O Hudson scored. | 0 | 5 |
 | 7th | C Iannetta doubled to deep right center, B Hawpe scored. | 1 | 5 |
 | 8th | C Barmes grounded out to pitcher, S Podsednik scored, R Spilborghs to third. | 2 | 5 |
 | 8th | M Holliday singled to center, R Spilborghs scored. | 3 | 5 |
 | 8th | O Hudson singled to left, C Young scored, S Drew to third. | 3 | 6 |
 | 8th | J Upton tripled to deep center, S Drew and O Hudson scored. | 3 | 8 |
 | 9th | S Podsednik reached on infield single to second, C Iannetta scored, J Baker to third, J Herrera to second. | 4 | 8 |
 | 9th | R Spilborghs hit sacrifice fly to right, J Baker scored, J Herrera to third. | 5 | 8 |
| · View complete Play-By-Play |
| Game Information |
| Stadium | Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ |
| Attendance | 21,447 (44.1% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 3:03 |
| Weather | indoors |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Tim Tschida, First Base - Jim Joyce, Second Base - Jeff Nelson, Third Base - Adrian Johnson |
PHOENIX (AP) -- Mr. Automatic was at it again.
Backed by
Stephen Drew's career-high four hits,
Brandon Webb became the major leagues' first nine-game winner when the
Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the
Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Thursday night.
Webb (9-0) has won his first nine starts, the most since San Diego's Andy Hawkins won his first 10 in 1985, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Webb has won 11 straight starts dating to last September.
Perfect Beginnings
Arizona ace Brandon Webb has opened the season with nine straight wins, the best start to open a season since 1985. He's also 12-0 in his last 13 starts dating back to last season.
Most Consec. Starts Won
To Start Season, Since '69
| Player |
Team |
Wins |
Andy Hawkins |
'85 Padres |
10 |
Brandon Webb |
'08 D-backs |
9 |
Jon Garland |
'05 ChiSox |
8 |
Pedro Martinez |
'97 Expos |
8 |
Dave Stewart |
'88 A's |
8 |
Fernando Valenzuela |
'81 Dodgers |
8 |
Roger Moret* |
'73 BoSox |
8 |
* -- Had relief appearances between starts |
"It's pretty amazing," Webb said. "It's getting to be amazing. Things are just happening."
A lot of things happened on a clear, 85-degree night in the desert.
Drew had two doubles, a triple, a single and an RBI, and
Chris Snyder hit a three-run homer as the Diamondbacks improved to a major league-best 26-15, including 20-5 against the weak NL West.
Arizona overcame a season-high four errors to complete its second three-game sweep of the Rockies this season. The Diamondbacks are 8-1 against the defending NL champions, with Webb winning three times.
Mixing curveballs and changeups with his trademark slider, Webb had the Rockies off stride for most of the night.
"Nothing was in the middle," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "The breaking ball was sharp and down, the changeup was a good pitch. The sinker had good late life."
Arizona manager Bob Melvin lifted Webb with one out in the eighth after
Matt Holliday singled to make it 5-3. Webb, who threw 111 pitches, left to a standing ovation from the Chase Field crowd of 21,447.
He allowed three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight, a season high.
"Doing his thing again," Melvin said. "He got a little tired at the end."
Webb credited his offense for giving him plenty of support -- and none had a better night than Drew.
He singled in the first, tripled in the third and doubled in the fifth against Colorado starter
Aaron Cook. Drew had two chances at the cycle -- doubling in the sixth off
Josh Newman and reaching on an error against
Brian Fuentes in the eighth.
"He's swinging it better than anybody we have right now," Melvin said. "He's been quite the force for us."
Young On Webb
A 9-0 start is pretty impressive. What makes Brandon Webb so difficult for a hitter to get a read on, asks former major leaguer Eric Young. Story
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Colorado's Aaron Cook (6-2) was almost as hot as Webb. He had won a franchise-record six straight starts, a streak that began on April 13 at Chase Field.
But Cook struggled from the start, when the Diamondbacks greeted him with consecutive singles by
Chris Young, Drew and
Orlando Hudson. Young scored on Hudson's hit.
Cook stranded runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth. The Diamondbacks finally got to him in the fifth.
Young led off with a double and scored on Drew's double. Hudson walked, and one out later, Snyder hit an 0-2 pitch 412 feet into the left field seats to give the Diamondbacks a 5-0 lead.
"The biggest blow right there was Snyder hitting the home run, of course," Cook said. "I felt like I have a chance to get out of any situation I'm in, and unfortunately I wasn't able to make pitches when I needed to tonight and it cost us the ballgame."
Cook pitched five innings, his shortest outing, and allowed a season-high five runs on 10 hits. He walked four and struck out six.
Snyder's homer loomed large when the Rockies' bats came to life in the late innings.
Colorado made it 5-1 in the seventh on
Chris Iannetta's double, and pulled within 5-3 in the eighth on
Clint Barmes' RBI groundout and Holliday's single.
Arizona answered with three in the eighth on Hudson's single and a two-run triple by
Justin Upton.
But even with an 8-3 lead heading in to the ninth, Webb had to sweat out a little drama before he could claim the victory.
The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs against
Brandon Medders before
Brandon Lyon came on to record his 12th save in 14 chances, and his 11th in a row.
Lyon gave up an RBI single to
Scott Podsednik to make it 8-4, and
Ryan Spilborghs' sacrifice fly made it 8-5.
But Lyon struck out Barmes and retired Holliday -- who had cost Lyon a save with a homer in Denver last month
-- on a grounder to third to end it.
Game notes Melvin benched LF
Eric Byrnes, who is hitting .214 and in a 6-for-62 slump. Arizona 1B
Conor Jackson, 0-for-12 lifetime against Cook, was also out of the starting lineup. ... The Rockies fell a season-high 11 games back in the NL West. ... Barmes had two singles and has hit safely in eight straight games.