Diamondbacks Review

The Arizona Diamondbacks left town for a six game road trip into the American League East with a slim one game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Diamondbacks began their Eastern swing in Boston on Friday and will end it tonight (June 12) in New York.

The Diamondbacks defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on May 31 as Randy Johnson improved his record to 9-1. Greg Colbrunn had two hits and drove in three runs to key the offense.

Brian Anderson pitched brilliantly and allowed only two hits and two base runners in seven innings of work. Unfortunately, both hits were in the same inning and one was a home run by Brian Jordan that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 win. Alan Ashby kept the D-Backs at bay, striking out the slumping Erubriel Durazo with the bases loaded and getting Arizona batters to hit into a pair of double plays.

The Dodgers took the series two games to one with a 6-3 victory on Sunday. Miguel Batista homered to give himself the first run support he had seen in two games. Colbrunn homered later to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. In the sixth inning, an uncharacteristic error by Mark Grace resulted in three unearned runs for the Dodgers and a 3-2 lead. Eric Karros homered off Batista on inning later for a 6-2 lead and the Dodger bullpen did the rest.

Curt Schilling became baseball’s first 11 game winner with an 11-4 decision over the Houston Astros. The big right-hander allowed only one of Houston’s runs in his seven innings of work. Craig Counsell, Damian Miller and Tony Womack all had two hits. Erubriel Durazo homered and Junior Spivey was one for two with three RBI’s.

Houston came back to win the second game 6-4 as Bret Prinz failed to protect a lead and allowing the Astros to put a four spot on the board in the seventh inning. Spivey homered to give the Diamondbacks an early lead.

The finale saw Brian Anderson pick up his first win of the season in relief, 5-4 in 12 innings. The Diamondbacks stranded 19 runners and failed to score twice in the closing innings after loading the bases with none and one out. Houston pitchers walked 13 Arizona batters, but only the last charity recipient scored. Luis Gonzalez knocked in the game winning run. Jose Guillen and Steve Finley had back-to-back homers to tie the game early.

After a travel day on Thursday, the Diamondbacks opened a three game series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Three games at Yankee Stadium in a World Series re-match with the New York Yankees ended the six game eastern swing with the last game slated for today (June 12).

The Diamondbacks will begin a nine game home stand on Friday against American League East opponents. First in will be the Detroit Tigers over the weekend. Monday is an off day with the Baltimore Orioles coming in for three on Tuesday and the Toronto Blue Jays flying in for another weekend series beginning on Friday, June 21.

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