The bats of Ryan Roberts and the rest of the D-Backs' roster awoke at just the right time to overcome a one-run deficit and kick the crap out the Boys in Blue 7-2 at Chavez Ravine.
L.A. starting pitcher Ted Lilly may have seemed intimidating at first, as he struck out Arizona players left and right during five scoreless innings on the hill, but quickly proved to be fallible when the Diamondbacks gained five runs in the sixth inning and never looked back.
Although the Snakes may lead the league in stranded runners this season, they certainly didn't leave many batters lingering about on base during the inning, as Aaron Hill, Paul Goldschmidt, Gerardo Parra, and Ryan Roberts each knocked in RBIs. Parra's double in the top of the eighth inning (which scored Goldschmidt and Chris Young) added two more runs just for good measure.
It enabled Joe Saunders, who proved to be shaky early on when he gave up a Matt Kemp homer in the first inning, to nail down his 11th win of the year.
The win also allowed Arizona to get a rousing start to its final road trip of the season, reduce their magic number to seven, and increase their lead to 8.5 games over the San Francisco Giants. More importantly, they drew even in the standings with the Milwaukee Brewers in their battle to home field advantage (and a much weaker opponent) come playoff time.
The Dodgers will again be on tap tonight as Ian Kennedy (19-4, 2.90 ERA) goes for his 20th win of the year versus Chad Billingsley (10-10, 4.30 ERA) in what's sure to be an duel on the mound. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. TV: Fox Sports Arizona. Radio: KTAR 620-AM. For more info, visit www.dbacks.com.
