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Monday, Jun. 19 10:05pm ET
Walk to Finley gives Arizona 3-2 victory | |||||
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- Steve Finley has had a tough time of late coming up with RBI. All the more reason to relish his 56th of the season -- a bases-loaded walk that let the Arizona Diamondbacks snap a three-game skid with a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
"I've been struggling for a while," said Finley, who is 2-for-5 after snapping an 0-for-23 skid the day before. "I went back and looked at my tape, and I'm swinging the bat good, but pitchers have been making good pitches against me, and when I did hit it, the ball went right at somebody. Everybody goes through those streaks. "But yeah, it was nice to finally drive somebody in." Pinch-hitter Danny Bautista led off the ninth with an infield single and advanced to second one out later on a groundout by Jay Bell. Brandon Kolb (0-1) threw a wild pitch while intentionally walking Luis Gonzalez. Matt Williams walked to load the bases before Finley walked on a 3-1 pitch to end the game. Vicente Padilla (2-0) pitched two perfect innings for the victory, taking over after Johnson was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the seventh. The Diamondbacks, who lost three straight at Colorado over the weekend to fall percentage points behind the Rockies in the NL West, moved back into first place. Phil Nevin drove in two runs with a homer and double off a woozy Johnson, but couldn't keep the Padres' three-game winning streak alive. "The good teams in this league, like Arizona, know when you get behind you still feel like the game is within your reach," Nevin said. Johnson struck out eight in seven innings despite an early dizzy spell. "I got lightheaded, but I moved on," Johnson said. "I knew how big a performance needed to be made today, and any other day it may have been good enough. Unfortunately, I gave up a couple of runs early. This was a situation where we were battling from the very get-go. But it was a great outcome." He threw one pitch to Nevin to lead off the second inning before stumbling off the mound and taking a knee behind it. After consulting with manager Buck Showalter, pitching coach Mark Connor and trainers, Johnson got Nevin to fly out and retired the next two batters. But Nevin hit a solo homer -- his team-high 15th -- in the fourth inning, and made it 2-0 with a double in the sixth, scoring Ruben Rivera. Ed Sprague tried to score from second on the play and Bell threw him out from second. Sprague crashed into catcher Damian Miller so hard Miller's helmet flew off, but the Arizona catcher held onto the ball to end the inning. "I thought I could make him slide, but it made him crush me," said Miller, who faked a non-play until just before pulling the ball down in front of Sprague. Arizona tied it in the eighth. Bell walked to lead off the inning against Matt Whiteside and advanced to second on a single by Gonzalez. Finley followed with an RBI single and Arizona loaded the bases with a walk by Greg Colbrunn. Travis Lee tied the game with an RBI groundout. San Diego's Stan Spencer pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks before leaving the game with a right elbow strain. Johnson finished has a major league-leading 158 strikeouts this year and 2,851 in his career -- four short of Jim Bunning for 12th all-time. It was only the fourth time in 15 starts he has failed to strike out at least 10. "It doesn't get any tougher than that," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "Spencer threw well; it's just that his elbow started bothering him. We just shot ourselves in the foot today."
Game notes | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard San Diego Clubhouse Arizona Clubhouse RECAPS NY Yankees 22 Boston 1
Arizona 3
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