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Clark, Young hit late homers as Diamondbacks rally past D-Rays

Jun 20, 2007 - 7:20 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Tony Clark hit the game-tying homer in the ninth inning and Chris Young delivered a walk-off blast in the 10th as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied for a 10-8 triumph over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday.

With Arizona trailing, 8-6, Clark stroked his third pinch-hit homer - a two-run shot - and 10th of his career off closer Al Reyes (1-1), who suffered his first blown save of the season.

"The biggest at-bat that inning was CQ (Carlos Quentin) who drew a walk and allowed the tying run to come to the plate," Clark said. "It wasn't unleashed and it wasn't crushed but it was hit hard enough to get over the fence."

Conor Jackson led off the 10th with a single and came around when Young belted his own two-run blast off Reyes to complete an amazing come-from-behind triumph.

The six-run comeback tied the largest comeback in franchise history.

"That was fun," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "Once it got to 8-4 you feel like you have a chance. From that point on the at-bats got better and better."

It was Young's second walk-off homer this campaign. The center fielder hit a solo shot on June 5 to beat San Francisco.

"You can never get used to these walk-offs," Young said. "I just wanted to hit the ball hard in the gap somewhere because when I try to hit home runs I end up popping up. I just wanted to hit the ball hard in the gap somewhere. I was looking slider because I knew he had a good one. He made a good pitch and I happened to get out in front of it."

"I walked the first guy and then left a hanging change up to Clark and he hit it good," Reyes said. "The pitch to Young was a slider. He battled pretty good. I left a slider up and he was looking for anything up."

Brandon Lyon (5-2) picked up the win for Arizona, which entered 0-7 all-time in the series, including Monday's 10-2 setback in the series opener.

The two teams entered the majors in 1998 and the Diamondbacks have been more successful, winning the World Series in 2001 along with three National League West Division titles. But the Devil Rays have failed to enjoy any type of success, finishing in last place in the American League East eight out of nine seasons.

Tampa Bay wasted no time picking up from where it left off, as Akinori Iwamura belted a leadoff blast - his second this season - and Delmon Young and Jonny Gomes both added RBI singles against starter Doug Davis for a 3-0 edge.

One frame later, starter J.P. Howell singled and scored along with Iwamura on Carl Crawford's two-run base hit top right to extend the Devil Rays' lead to 5-1.

Ty Wigginton padded Tampa's lead and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games in the fourth with a two-run homer over the left field fence to make it 7-1.

Iwamura had a chance hit for the cycle but went hitless in his last three at-bats. The third baseman singled in the second and doubled to open the fourth.

In the seventh, Quentin and Eric Byrnes each collected RBI singles to help Arizona close the deficit to 8-6. The Diamondbacks still had a chance to add more damage with the bases loaded, but reliever Gary Glover struck out Orlando Hudson looking.

It wasn't the first time that Hudson failed to take advantage of a bases-loaded situation, as he was fanned by Howell in the fourth. The Diamondbacks also had the bases full in the first but came away with just one run.

Davis was pounded for a season high-tying seven runs and nine hits in four innings to remain winless in three straight outings.

Howell lasted 5 1/3 inning, allowing four runs and nine hits with four strikeouts and four walks.

"Another huge lead goes away," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "That is the third one in the last 10 days or two weeks whatever it has been. That is hard. When you lose those kind of leads it is difficult and we have to stop doing that."