Thursday, September 12, 2002
Diamondbacks 6, Padres 5
PHOENIX — Arizona manager Bob Brenly says Steve Finley always has a game plan when he's at the plate. Finley isn't so sure. “I wasn't looking for a slider,” Finley said about his tying home run in the eighth inning Wednesday night. “He just kind of left it over the middle part of the plate. I put a swing on it, and it went out. I was looking for a fastball, and he hung a slider. Usually, those are the ones that get hit.”
After Finley tied the game at 5, Quinton McCracken followed with a triple and scored the go-ahead run as the Diamondbacks rallied to beat the San Diego Padres 6-5.
Pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay, a rookie, got his first major league RBI with a single to right field to score McCracken.
“All he does is hit,” Brenly said. “Everywhere he's played, he's hit .300, and I don't mean .301 or .302. He hits in the mid .300s, and we feel he will hit with more power as he gets experience at this level.”
The Diamondbacks lead the NL West by 6 1/2 games over Los Angeles and San Francisco after sweeping the Padres.
Finley hit a 1-0 pitch off reliever Kevin Walker (0-1) into the Padres bullpen leading off the eighth for his 23rd homer. Finley, who also hit a two-run single in the first, has 1,999 career hits.
McCracken followed with his eighth triple to tie four others for the NL lead. Overbay then singled with one out off Brandon Villafuerte to score the go-ahead run.
“Quinton did the hard work,” said Overbay, who was 0-for-3 in three games since being called from Triple-A Tucson. “Him getting a triple made my job a lot easier, because they've got to pull the infield in.”
Mike Koplove (5-1) got four outs for the win, and Mike Myers got three outs for his fourth save.
He was helped by a double play which Alex Cintron, another rookie who substituted at third, started by fielding a stinging grounder by Brian Buchanan.
“Alex probably saved the tying run,” McCracken said. “He made a great play. That's why we've shown we're a resilient team — anyone can step up and make a big play.”
Ryan Klesko had a two-run double and Phil Nevin hit a run-scoring single in the Padres' five-run sixth inning.
The Arizona rally denied San Diego's Adam Eaton his first win this year. Eaton worked five innings — his longest outing in three starts since returning Sept. 1 from elbow surgery performed in August 2001 — and gave up four runs, five hits and six walks.
“Once I settled down, I thought I got in a pretty good rhythm,” Eaton said. “The two hits in the fifth were my undoing, that's for sure.”
The Padres overcame a 4-0 deficit with five runs off Miguel Batista in the sixth.
Ramon Vazquez walked to start the inning. Mark Kotsay singled, and both scored on Klesko's opposite-field double that dropped near the left-field line. Nevin followed with a single to center, scoring Klesko.
With runners on second and third, shortstop Tony Womack was unable to get Wil Nieves' grounder out of his glove. Nieves beat the throw to first, and both runners scored on the error.
“You look back at some of these little things tonight,” Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. “A couple of plays at first didn't go our way. The ball's got to bounce your way sometimes. We didn't play very well in this series, but today we did score some runs and couldn't hold on.”
Batista allowed five runs — three earned — and five hits in 5 2-3 innings.
The Diamondbacks went up by four runs in the fifth on Junior Spivey's RBI double and a run-scoring single by McCracken.
Eaton struggled with his control from the start, walking Spivey and Luis Gonzalez after Mark Grace singled in the first.
Finley followed with a two-run single, a sharp grounder that got past Nevin at third. Nevin minimized the damage when he cut off the throw from left field and tagged out Gonzalez.
In the third, Eaton walked Spivey and Gonzalez again and loaded the bases with two out by walking McCracken, but Chris Donnels flied out to end the inning.
Notes: The roof at Bank One Ballpark, closed in midseason because of the heat, was open for the first game since June 5. ... The Padres are 9-5 when Nieves catches. ... Grace made his first start at 1B since Aug. 24 and hit second for the first time this year. Grace batted No. 2 nine times last year.
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Diamondbacks 6, Padres 5 
