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D-backs rally, beat Braves in extras

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By Tom Singer / MLB.com

05/30/09 8:59 PM ET

PHOENIX --- First, the D-backs got riled up. Then, in the immortal words of Kevin Millar, they cowboyed up.

The end result Saturday was a 3-2 win in 11 innings over the Braves, as satisfying as it was impressive.

"Fundamental baseball at its finest," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said after the D-backs had risen off the mat for two tying runs in the seventh, then closed the deal in the second extra inning.

The game-winner was a "worm killer" by Eric Byrnes, a one-out hopper through the drawn-in infield that scored Mark Reynolds, who had begun the inning with an opposite-field ground-rule double off reliever Jeff Bennett.

"Normally in that situation I'd be looking to get something in the air, but I know Bennett's got a real tough sinker," Byrnes said. "So with the infield in, I was looking to beat something in the ground, and luckily it went through."

And the Arizona dugout emptied in celebration of a win that seemed unlikely when it began, and grew even more unlikely the more Javier Vazquez pitched.

Five innings earlier, the same dugout had emptied in alarm. As did the Braves' dugout and both bullpens as Justin Upton and Atlanta catcher David Ross jawed away, voices and tempers rising.

Ross appeared to resent the way Upton flipped away his bat after drawing a walk on a full-count pitch from Vazquez, and made a remark that stopped Upton in his tracks for a rebuttal, the signal for players of both teams to storm the field.

"Emotions were running high, and I guess Ross took exception to the way Justin took the walk," Hinch said. "But that was a very good at-bat by Upton. It was a very competitive atmosphere out there.

"Like I told Justin when I was out there, 'Stick to baseball, and let's win this game.' He kept his composure pretty well, considering how hot he'd gotten."

Vazquez got the last word that time, after order was quickly restored. Upton's walk had loaded the bases with one out, but the threat died on strikeouts of Stephen Drew and Reynolds.

However, the wake-up call kept resonating in the D-backs ears.

"Vazquez was as dirty as any starting pitcher we've faced all year," Byrnes said of his first six innings, across which he threw four-hit shutout ball with eight strikeouts. "He was untouchable. He was throwing some Bugs Bunny stuff out there."

But in the seventh, after hard-luck lefty Doug Davis had thrown his last pitch, the D-backs at least got him off the hook by tying the score.

Ryan Roberts doubled to dead center for the first run, scoring Byrnes, who had reached on an infield single with one out. Then Chris Young, pinch-hitting for Davis, delivered the game-tying single.

Although concluding a winless May, Davis went seven innings allowed two runs to lower his ERA to 3.65. He struck out six while walking two.

"The guys came back and picked me up big-time," Davis said. "You can't ask for any more. It was a good day."

While the D-backs had their hands full with Vazquez, making his first Chase Field appearance since the 2005 season he had spent in Arizona's rotation, the Braves had jumped to a 2-0 lead on RBI doubles in the third by Kelly Johnson and Garret Anderson.

That seemed to add to the pall that had settled in early in the day, when the D-backs had to disable one infielder with a strained right oblique (Chad Tracy) and had to scratch another from the original lineup after Augie Ojeda was clunked by a batting practice line drive, bruising his left quad.

Needless to say, Roberts, who got the next call at third, and second baseman Felipe Lopez, back in the lineup after a week's absence with a strained left hamstring, played with rabbits' feet stuck in their back pockets.

The starters' duel was inherited by the bullpens, both of which took the mound in a miserly mood. But while Juan Gutierrez and winner Tony Pena (5-2) both posted two zeroes in Davis' wake, Bennett faltered.

After Reynolds went opposite-field on a 0-and-2 offering from Bennett, he was sacrificed to third by Miguel Montero to bring up Byrnes.

The circumstances would have prompted most managers to intentionally walk both Byrnes and the next hitter, Roberts, to load the bases and create a force situation at home.

Both parties saw a problem with that scenario.

From Byrnes' perspective, there was his .210 average: "I haven't done too much for people to want to put me on base."

From Atlanta manager Bobby Cox's perspective, there was the matter of not wishing to challenge his blood pressure.

"I'm not walking the bases loaded for awhile again," Cox said afterwards. "What have we got, 130 some [runners] walked [home] this year? You absolutely have to pull the infield in."

So he pulled it in, and Byrnes pushed one through.

"So we go home feeling happy," Hinch said.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.