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D'backs rally in ninth to sweep twinbill over Rangers

May 28, 2013 - 5:51 AM Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Cliff Pennington smacked a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Arizona Diamondbacks sweep a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers with a 5-4 victory in the nightcap from Chase Field.

After Didi Gregorius scorched a game-tying, two-run blast in the eighth, Miguel Montero led off the ninth with a double to right off Jason Frasor.

After Frasor (0-1) fanned A.J. Pollock, Robbie Ross took over on the mound and intentionally walked pinch-hitter Martin Prado to get to Pennington, who punched a base hit down the first-base line to score Montero and send the D- backs to their third straight win.

"I was just trying to make sure that I didn't try to pull it because you can't pull that cutter," Pennington said of his game-winning hit. "I was trying to stay inside it and got it to go through."

Brad Ziegler (2-1) recorded the final out in the top of the ninth to earn the victory.

Gregorius finished with three RBI and two runs scored, while Eric Chavez also knocked in a run for Arizona, which took the opener of the twinbill, 5-3, behind a solid start from Tyler Skaggs.

A.J. Pierzynski plated a pair of runs, while Adrian Beltre and Lance Berkman each scored twice for the Rangers, who have lost three straight.

Gregorius' homer spoiled a stellar start from Texas right-hander Yu Darvish, who fanned a career-high 14 hitters while giving up four runs on seven hits over 7 2/3 frames.

"It's unfortunate that one pitch made the difference in the ballgame late," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Darvish's start. "We needed him to give us a chance and he did everything that we needed him to do. Unfortunately we just didn't win the game."

Darvish's counterpart, Trevor Cahill, was nearly as impressive for the Diamondbacks, yielding just four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and two walks over eight innings.

Gregorius also got to Darvish in the first, as his triple to right field plated Gerardo Parra, who led off the home half with a single to center.

Chavez then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Gregorius for a 2-0 lead.

Texas got the run back in the second when Beltre led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Pierzynski's sac fly to left.

The Rangers then evened things in the fourth when Berkman and Pierzynski each singled around a Beltre fly out.

Cahill seemed poised to escape the jam when Craig Gentry followed with a tailor-made double-play grounder to third, but Pennington's relay throw to first sailed wide, allowing Berkman to score the tying run.

Texas seized control with two more runs in the sixth, as Berkman worked a one- out walk and Beltre followed with a single to put runners on the corners.

Pierzynski's base hit to right scored Berkman before Beltre crossed the plate on a Gentry groundout to make it 4-2.

After working around a two-out triple from Jason Kubel in the bottom half, Darvish struck out the side in the seventh before serving up a single to pinch-hitter Wil Nieves to start the eighth.

Game Notes

After playing two games on Monday, the teams will enjoy an off day on Tuesday before heading to Texas for two straight games ... Parra left the game in the fifth inning with a leg injury ... It was the first time the Rangers were playing a doubleheader on the original schedule since Aug. 16, 1991 at Cleveland ... The Rangers were swept in a doubleheader for the first time since dropping a pair to the New York Yankees on May 3, 2007 (6-1-7).