GONZALEZ'S WALK-OFF 3-RUN HR CAPS WILD D-BACKS COMEBACK
Club Rallies 3 Times to Catch Pads
PHOENIX, July 9 (AP) - Luis Gonzalez belted a three-run home run off Rod Beck in
the bottom of the ninth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San
Diego Padres, 14-12, at Bank One Ballpark. The game-winner put the final
touches on the third Diamondbacks comeback of the game, as the team scored five
times in the final two innings to overturn a 12-9 deficit heading into the
bottom of the eighth.
The Padres scored four runs off Arizona starter Chris Capuano in the top of the
first. Mark Loretta singled with one out, advanced to second on a wild
pitch and moved to third on Rondell White's base hit. Brian Buchanan's
walk loaded the bases. Sean Burroughs popped to second for the first out
but Xavier Nady's walk forced in a run and Lou Merloni cleared the bases with a
double to the left-center field gap.
Remarkably, the Diamondbacks took the lead with a five-run second off San Diego
starter Jake Peavy. Alex Cintron led off with a double to right and Lyle
Overbay walked. Robby Hammock popped to short for the first out but Craig
Counsell drew a base on balls to fill the sacks. David Dellucci promptly
unloaded them by smacking an opposite field grand slam to tie the game.
Gonzalez then walked and Shea Hillenbrand drove him to third with a single to
right. Steve Finley reached on an infield single, plating Gonzalez with
the go-ahead run.
But the Padres regained the lead with three runs in the third, with all of the
action coming with two outs. Nady walked and Merloni lined a single to
left-center. Gary Bennett then crushed a Capuano offering deep into the
left field seats for a 7-5 San Diego lead.
The Diamondbacks drew closer in the fifth on Overbay's solo home run, but they
still trailed by a run heading into the bottom of the seventh when they seemed
to seize control of the game. Facing reliever Scott Linebrink, Finley drew
a one-out walk and stole second base. Cintron dropped a single into center
field but Gary Matthews gunned Finley down at the plate for the second out, with
Cintron advancing to second on the throw home. Carlos Baerga came on to
pinch hit for the pitcher and was walked intentionally in favor of facing the
right-handed Hammock but Linebrink undid the strategy himself by drilling
Hammock with a 2-2 pitch to load the bases. Mark Grace made him pay by
lining a single to right scoring two runs and when Nady's throw to the plate was
wild, Hammock scored as well, giving Arizona a 9-7 lead.
Jose Valverde came on to pitch the eighth for the Diamondbacks and promptly came
unglued. After Nady lined out, Merloni picked up his third hit of the game
with a single to center. Dave Hansen was brought on to pinch hit for
Bennett and drew a walk, advancing Merloni to second. Valverde fanned
pinch hitter Ramon Vazquez for the second out but Mathews singled to right,
filling the bases. Loretta then grounded a single into left, scoring
Merloni and Hansen to tie the game. White added insult to injury by
depositing a 2-2 Valverde fastball into the left field bleachers for a three-run
home run and a 12-9 San Diego lead.
Just when the Diamondbacks seemed dead they regained life in the bottom of the
eighth against Jay Witasick. Dellucci led off with an infield hit and
Gonzalez singled him to third. Hillenbrand followed by blooping a double
down the left field line, scoring Dellucci and advancing Gonzalez to
third. Now the Padres' lead was down to 12-10 with the tying runs in
scoring position. Finley drew a walk, loading the bases for what seemed
like the thousandth time in the game and Cintron followed with a grounder to
second that became a fielder's choice force out. Gonzalez scored, bringing
Arizona to within one run, with runners at the corners. But Witasick rose
to the occasion and struck out pinch hitter Matt Kata and Hammock to end the
inning with the one-run lead intact.
Matt Mantei tossed a scoreless top of the ninth for the Diamondbacks and Beck
came on to try to close the game for the Padres. It started innocently
enough when Grace struck out but Counsell walked and stole second.
Dellucci then reached on another infield hit, putting runners on first and third
and setting the table for Gonzalez's heroics. His home run into the pool
area in right-center field won the game for Arizona.
The 26 runs scored represents only the eighth time all season that two teams
have combined for more than 25 runs in a nine-inning contest.
7/9/2003, SD03-Ari03, Bank One Ballpark 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Padres 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 5 0 12 11 1 5 1 2003 Diamondbacks 0 5 0 0 1 0 3 2 3 14 14 0 9 1 Padres AB R H BI AVG Diamondbacks AB R H BI AVG Matthews,G cf 5 1 2 0 .201 Counsell 2b 4 2 1 0 .233 Loretta 2b 4 2 2 2 .277 Dellucci rf 5 3 3 4 .273 White,Ro lf 4 2 2 3 .287 Gonzalez,L lf 4 3 3 3 .299 Buchanan 1b 4 1 0 0 .259 Hillenbrand 3b 4 0 2 1 .326 Witasick p 0 0 0 0 .000 Finley cf 3 0 1 1 .237 Beck p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cintron ss 5 2 2 1 .249 Burroughs 3b 5 0 0 0 .301 Overbay 1b 2 2 1 1 .238 Nady rf 2 2 0 1 .289 Oropesa p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Merloni ss 5 2 4 3 .263 Baerga ph 0 1 0 0 .344 Bennett c 3 1 1 3 .205 Valverde p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hansen ph 1 1 0 0 .372 Villarreal p 0 0 0 0 .333 Peavy p 2 0 0 0 .132 Kata ph 1 0 0 0 .262 Klesko ph 1 0 0 0 .230 Mantei p 0 0 0 0 .000 Orosco p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hammock c 4 1 0 0 .295 Linebrink p 0 0 0 0 .385 Capuano p 1 0 0 0 .000 Matthews,M p 0 0 0 0 .000 Randolph p 1 0 0 0 .000 Vazquez,R ph 1 0 0 0 .224 Grace 1b 3 0 1 2 .212 Ojeda,M c 0 0 0 0 .241 37 14 14 13 37 12 11 12 Padres INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Peavy 5.0 6 6 6 6 3 96 50 3.38 Orosco H 11 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 14 11 6.35 Linebrink BS 1 0.2 2 3 2 2 0 24 9 7.89 Matthews,M 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 6 4 5.40 Witasick H 3 1.0 3 2 2 1 2 28 16 8.10 Beck BS 1, L 0-3 0.1 2 3 3 1 1 18 9 5.14 8.1 14 14 13 10 8 186 99 Diamondbacks INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Capuano 2.2 6 7 7 4 1 64 36 5.87 Randolph 2.1 0 0 0 2 3 48 26 3.66 Oropesa 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 23 16 3.60 Valverde BS 1 0.2 4 5 5 1 1 28 16 4.50 Villarreal 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 3.00 Mantei W 3-1 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 16 11 1.47 9.0 11 12 12 7 8 183 108 SD : Klesko batted for Peavy in the 6th Hansen batted for Bennett in the 8th Vazquez,R batted for Matthews,M in the 8th Hansen moved to 1b in the 8th Ojeda,M inserted at c in the 8th Ari: Grace inserted at 1b in the 6th Baerga batted for Oropesa in the 7th Kata batted for Villarreal in the 8th E-Nady. 2B-Merloni(3), Hillenbrand(22), Cintron(7). HR-White,Ro(15), Bennett(1), Dellucci(3), Gonzalez,L(15), Overbay(3). RBI-Loretta 2(33), White,Ro 3(48), Nady(45), Merloni 3(12), Bennett 3(15), Dellucci 4(20), Gonzalez,L 3(52), Hillenbrand(58), Finley(29), Cintron(23), Overbay(26), Grace 2(10). SB-Merloni(1), Counsell(3), Finley(8). K-Loretta, Buchanan 3, Nady, Merloni, Klesko, Vazquez,R, Counsell, Dellucci, Hillenbrand, Hammock, Capuano, Randolph, Grace, Kata. BB-Loretta, White,Ro, Buchanan, Nady 3, Hansen, Counsell 2, Dellucci, Gonzalez,L 2, Hillenbrand, Finley 2, Overbay, Baerga. HBP-Hammock. HB-Linebrink. WP-Capuano. GWRBI: Gonzalez,L Temperature: 70, Wind: none. Attendance: 31,548 Game Time: 3:28