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Webb earns ninth straight win, Diamondbacks edge Rockies

May 16, 2008 - 6:11 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The train known as Brandon Webb continued to wreck opposing lineups.

Webb picked up his ninth straight win and Chris Snyder homered as the Arizona Diamondbacks posted an 8-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series sweep on Thursday.

The 2006 Cy Young Award winner, Webb (9-0) is now more than a third of the way to becoming the first 25-game winner in the National League since 1972.

"It is getting to be amazing," Webb said. "Things are just happening. We scored three runs in the eighth and nearly every time they have gotten runs for me early, in the first. That is the way things are falling. It is pretty amazing."

The righthander gave up three runs and six hits with a season-high eight strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings en route to his 14th win over his last 16 starts dating to last year.

"I was real aggressive in the zone with the fastball and got ahead," Webb said. "Early on I used a lot of changeups to get some strikeouts, flipped a few curveballs in there but mainly a lot of outs on the sinker. That was the most pitches I had thrown this year and had to battle a few times."

"He (Webb) was on tonight. He has good stuff and when he is on he is tough to beat," Colorado's Clint Barmes said. "I think we have proven all year as a ball club that we never give up. We were right there and had some guys on base and made a run for it late. Lately we have made some runs late but it has been too late."

Webb has defeated Colorado three straight times this season.

"He was doing his thing again," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "He probably got a little tired at the end and I probably left him in one guy too long. I think his curveball doesn't quite get the credit because of his changeup, but it is a go-to pitch for him, especially with two strikes."

Arizona held a 5-0 lead after six innings until Colorado scored three times between the seventh and eighth, cutting the deficit to 5-3. Chris Iannetta, Barmes and Matt Holliday all drove in runs for the Rockies.

But the Diamondbacks got those runs back in the bottom when Orlando Hudson laced a run-scoring single to left and came home on Justin Upton's two-run triple to center against Rockies former closer Brian Fuentes for an 8-3 lead.

Hudson also drove in a run in the first inning to bring his total to six through three games during the series. It was his sixth multi-RBI game of the season.

Rockies starter Aaron Cook (6-2) was hoping to extend his winning streak to seven games and enjoy a good old-fashioned pitcher's duel with Webb. But things didn't work out that way.

With Colorado down, 1-0, in the fifth inning, Arizona's offense tagged Cook for four runs as Stephen Drew stroked an RBI double to center and Snyder belted a three-run homer.

"It feels comfortable right now. It is one of those things where you get in a groove," Drew said. "When everybody is clicking together it is a lot of fun to play and to watch. I am just trying to hit the hole and get the ball in gaps and it has been working out well."

Cook surrendered five runs and 10 hits through five frames.

"(Cook) made some quality pitches and got some pitches up and they squared them up when he got them up," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "Snyder has given him trouble throughout both of their careers. It would have been a nice game to give him some run support but that didn't happen early. He is human. He stopped a streak four times but wasn't able to do this one."

Drew had four hits and closer Brandon Lyons battled through a bases-loaded situation in the ninth for his 12th save for the Diamondbacks, who won despite four errors.