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Drew, Diamondbacks negate Peavy's near-strikeout record

Apr 26, 2007 - 6:26 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Stephen Drew spoiled an outstanding effort by Jake Peavy.

Drew hit a walk-off two-run homer off Trevor Hoffman as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to defeat the San Diego Padres, 3-2.

The blast ruined a near-major league record by Peavy, who struck out nine consecutive batters as well as tying his own club mark with 16 overall.

With Arizona trailing, 2-1, with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Chad Tracy drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch from Hoffman (1-1) and Drew followed by lining a 3-1 pitch just over the right field wall to end a five-game losing streak.

"I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and stay within myself," Drew said. "I got a changeup that he left up and was able to put a good swing on it. God gave me a talent and I don't worry about who is throwing. It is a good feeling to lift the team when we are struggling like this."

Tony Pena (2-1) worked around a one-out single by Terrmel Sledge in the ninth inning to earn the victory.

Peavy came close to tying a 37-year-old major league mark for consecutive strikeouts. Starting from the bottom of the second inning through the end of the fourth, Peavey blew through Arizona's lineup without letting a hitter out of the batter's box.

"I just felt good," Peavy said. "I am not going to have any better nights with everything."

The 25-year-old righthander had a chance to tie the major league record of 10 consecutive batters fanned held by Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, but walked Eric Byrnes on a 3-2 count to lead off the bottom of the fifth.

"I didn't know that it was any kind of a record," Peavy said. "I knew I had struck out quite a few in a row but a record was the furthest thing from my mind."

Seaver struck out 10 straight batters for the New York Mets against the Padres on April 22, 1970. Peavy had a chance to tie the record, but a 2-2 pitch to Byrnes was ruled a check swing by first base umpire Jeff Kellogg.

"It was close," Kellogg said. "He had a lot of leg movement but the bat didn't get around."

On the next pitch, the Padres' ace thought he caught the outside corner of the plate, but crew chief Mike Reilly called it a ball.

"Looking back on it now I would have liked to have had that pitch to Byrnes," Peavy said.

Peavy's total matched the team record he set last year when he struck out 16 Atlanta Braves in a 3-1 loss on May 22. It also was the most strikeouts in the major leagues since Jason Schmidt struck out 16 Florida Marlins on June 6, 2006, when he was with the San Francisco Giants.

"I had a good fastball with a good cutter and slider," Peavy said. "I had three pitches I felt comfortable with and you don't have those nights very often."

Peavy yielded only two hits and and three walks in seven innings. He totaled 117 pitches, including 75 strikes.

"It was a great matchup," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Looking at it going in, you knew it was going to be a low-scoring game and it turned out to be a great pitchers' duel.

"It was a dominating performance by Jake. He had great stuff, all his pitches working, and live stuff in the zone. It was an incredible outing."

The Diamondbacks struck out 18 times, setting a team mark in that respect.

Arizona manager Bob Melvin was so frustrated by some of the calls Peavy was getting that he was tossed by Reilly in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

"I don't want to get into that," Melvin said of his ejection. "This was a great game for a fan to watch and it wound up being a great game to be a Diamondback fan at the end. Peavy pitched probably one of the best games he has pitched in his life and we end up winning the game."

Scott Linebrink relieved Peavy in the eighth inning, allowing a solo home run to pinch hitter Miguel Montero. The blast came on a 3-1 count and landed in the left field seats to cut Arizona's deficit to 2-1. It was just the rookie catcher's second homer of his career.

Sledge had three hits, scored twice and homered with two outs in the fourth inning to give San Diego a 2-0 lead.

"You go out there and you try and do the best you can whenever you have a guy throwing like Peavy was," Webb said. "I tried to keep us in the game as much as possible. After I gave up the runs and you see how well he was throwing, I figured those two runs were all that I could allow."