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Byrnes homers twice as Diamondbacks sweep Phillies

May 31, 2007 - 4:35 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Eric Byrnes hit the first pitch he saw out of the ballpark. The Philadelphia Phillies had trouble hitting anything against Randy Johnson.

Byrnes hit two home runs, including a leadoff blast, and Johnson pitched six strong innings to lead Arizona to a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep.

It marks Arizona's first sweep in Philadelphia since August 14-16, 2000.

"The tone really was kind of set when Byrnesey goes deep," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "It makes a little bit of a statement there in the first. Obviously the way Jamie pitched, he kept us at bay the rest of the way."

Johnson was sharp in a dominant albeit brief outing. He needed only 61 pitches - 45 for strikes - to get through six innings. He yielded one hit, did not issue a walk and struck out six. He missed his last scheduled outing with forearm tendinitis but that had no bearing on Wednesday's outing.

"Six ups and downs, that is all I had out of him. I did not care what the pitches were. That is all I needed out of him," Melvin said.

"I knew I was good enough to pitch but the first couple of innings I was kind of reluctant, kind of hesitant in letting things go," Johnson said. "As the game progressed I started feeling a little better and the slider got a little sharper, but the back got a little stiff an that just may be from not being on the mound for 10 days."

When Johnson does pitch, he has been dominant of late. He has an ERA of 1.05 and has recorded 25 strikeouts without a walk in his last three starts - all wins.

Pat Burrell singled in the second and Shane Victorino reached base to lead off the fourth on a throwing error by Arizona shortstop Alberto Callaspo. Those were the only Phillies to reach base against Johnson.

Victorino advanced to second on the error and the Phillies had the heart of the order coming up but Johnson was equal to the task. He struck out Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Burrell - all swinging - to end the frame and strand Victorino.

"That was more of a new Randy Johnson," Rollins said, "He pitched with a real good slider tonight. He didn't really have his good fastball, but when he threw it, he hit his spots."

Johnson (3-2) and Doug Slaten made Byrnes' first homer stand up until the eighth when the Diamondbacks tacked on three more runs. Byrnes hit his second homer of the game, and his eighth of the season, just into the seats in left field to make it 2-0.

Both of Byrnes' homers came on the first pitch of the at-bat and both came off Phillies starter Jamie Moyer (5-4). It was the fifth multi-homer game of Byrnes' career and first since May 29 of last season against the New York Mets.

Conor Jackson followed Byrnes' second homer with a double off the top of the wall in left, just missing a home run. Orlando Hudson flied out and then Mark Reynolds didn't miss, chasing Moyer with a two-run shot to center to extend the lead to 4-0.

Reynolds' homer put the finishing touches on the sweep and came just a day after he was involved in a scary incident. The rookie third baseman was listed as day-to-day with a neck contusion after he collided with pitcher Brandon Medders on a bunt single by Michael Bourn in the seventh inning of Tuesday's game.

Medders' knee appeared to hit the side of Reynolds' head as he leaped to avoid contact. Reynolds fell to the grass and stayed there for a few minutes before being helped off the field by two trainers.

Moyer allowed four runs and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three but could not prevent Philadelphia from getting swept for the first time since its season-opening series against Atlanta.

"I thought I threw the ball good tonight," Moyer said. "They're gonna hit the ball. It's a good ballpark to hit in. What are you gonna do? They beat me with my best pitch."

"They have not been pitching this long for no reason," Reynolds said of the aging southpaw starters. "They both pitched really outstanding tonight. Jamie left a few balls up that we could hit and that was pretty much the story of the game."

The Phillies made a late charge in the ninth, scoring all three of their runs. Rollins had a two-run triple to deep center and Burrell added an RBI single with one out.

Reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard came on to pinch hit with pinch runner Bourn on first. Bourn stole second during the at-bat but was doubled off second base to end the game when Howard hit a line drive at Hudson, who was playing in shallow right field.

"I just ran on contact on a line drive," Bourn said. "Usually, I freeze on that. I take blame for it. I messed up. I can own up to it. Next time, hopefully, I won't make that mistake."

Arizona has now won a season-high seven straight and continued to keep pace with the NL West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, who blanked Washington, 5-0. The Dodgers have a 1/2 game lead over the Diamondbacks.

"We are rolling right now offensively and our pitching has been unbelievable," Reynolds said.

After sweeping Atlanta on the road, the Phillies have now lost three straight and fallen back below the .500 mark (26-27).

"Unfortunately, everything that went right over the weekend didn't go right (this series)," Rollins said. "We do have to play better ball. Things that we did in Atlanta, we have to continue to do."