Audio By Carbonatix
Don’t look now, but the Diamondbacks are on the doorstep of their first series sweep of the season. And it’s against one of the best teams in Major League Baseball no less.
Arizona beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5 last night at Chase Field in the second game of the series thanks to a good effort by Daniel Hudson (1-4, 5.64 ERA), who notched his first win of the year in the process.
The night started out a bit rocky for the Snakes starting pitcher, as he allowed a lead-off triple by Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino, who
was then driven to the plate by a single from Placido Polanco to make things
1-0. Hudson settled things down and began dispatching the Phillies, scattering
10 hits over six innings of work and earning only three additional runs.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Roy Oswalt (3-1, 3.33 ERA) didn’t fare as well. The All-Star sent down the first three Diamondbacks hitters he faced, but ran into trouble in the next frame. Miguel Montero singled, followed by a walk to Juan Miranda, and another strong single from Gerardo Parra, which gave Arizona its first run of the night. Hudson then stepped to the plate and muscled a double into right field to give his team a 3-1 advantage.
Arizona kept the lead for the entire ballgame, although Philadelphia kept on fighting during the remaining innings. Phily’s slugger Ryan Howard notched a run in the third, but two RBI’s by Stephen Drew and Ryan Roberts protected the D-Backs’ lead and kept the momentum going.
Roberts also contributed a one-out, solo homer deep into the left field seats in the sixth inning, and Justin Upton added insult to injury with a broken-bat single in the seventh to drive in Kelly Johnson for one more run.
The Diamondbacks (10-12) will attempt to bust out the brooms for the series sweep against Philadephia (15-8) this afternoon at Chase Field. Joe Saunders (0-2, 4.98) will try to nab his first win of the season against Phillies lefty Cole Hamels (2-1, 2.92). First pitch is at 12:40 p.m. TV: Fox Sports Arizona. Radio: KTAR 620 AM. For more info, visit www.dbacks.com.
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