The Arizona Diamondbacks put nine runs on the board last night against the Philadelphia Phillies, and hung on to win despite the Phillies tacking on five runs in the ninth inning at Chase Field.
Justin Upton hit his first home run of the season -- a 436-foot bomb to left field off Kyle Kendrick -- and Wade Miley pitched six innings, giving up just two hits, no runs, and striking out seven.
The D'Backs put up four runs in the first inning, simply by advancing runners through a pair of doubles, a single, and a sacrifice fly.
With the bases loaded in the second inning, Cody Ransom hit a deep double -- scoring two runs -- in his second game since being recalled from the minors due to injured D'Backs.
Kendrick, the Phillies starter, was pulled after Upton's bomb to start the fourth inning put the D'Backs up 7-0, but it didn't matter that much -- Jason Kubel hit his second homer as a Diamondback just two batters later.
Kubel's solo home run put Arizona up 8-0, and no more runs were scored until the bottom of the 7th, when Gerardo Parra hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring John McDonald to open the lead to 9-0.
After Miley was pulled after six innings, relievers Brad Ziegler and Jonathan Albaladejo pitched an inning each, combining for three hits and zero runs.
In the top of the ninth, though, the Diamondbacks went with lefty Joe Paterson, who was pretty incredible last year with his delivery coming from somewhere near first base.
This year -- and last night -- just weren't the same.
Paterson gave up a single to the first batter, Placido Polanco, and gave up a double to the next better, Laynce Nix, scoring Polanco.
Ty Wigginton, the next batter, reached on an infield single. Shane Victorino came to the plate next, and delivered a Paterson pitch 388 feet to the left field bleachers.
With the lead cut to just five runs in the top of the ninth, and no outs on the board, Carlos Ruiz came up next -- delivering a Paterson pitch 407 feet, and over the wall. The D'Backs lead was then cut to 9-5.
Craig Breslow -- who's probably been the best player out of the bullpen for the Snakes -- relieved Paterson, who gave up the five runs without recording an out.
Breslow gave up a single to his first batter, but that's OK, because a runner on first sets up the double play -- which the D'Backs turned on the next batter. A ground out by the next Phillies batter ended the game, and Breslow has yet to give up a run this year with 8.1 innings of relief work in the books.
Paterson, on the other hand, has given up 11 earned runs -- in just 2.2 innings pitched.
Meanwhile, D'Backs starter Miley -- who started the season coming out of the bullpen -- was absolutely outstanding coming into the starting role to replace the injured Daniel Hudson.
Miley was tremendous in two of his three relief appearances this year, and being dropped into the starting role didn't seem to faze him.
Miley made it through six innings, using 81 pitches to strike out seven. He walked just one batter while giving up just two hits, in a stat line that looks like Hudson's when he's on top of his game.
The D'Backs have two more to play against the Phillies in this series, with the next game tonight at 6:40 p.m.
