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Dunn comes up big late to send Diamondbacks to win

Sep 16, 2008 - 5:30 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks would just as soon not be known as the latest team to succumb to the pressures of September. A relative newcomer to meaningful late regular-season games, Adam Dunn, may have just provided the lift his team needed.

Dunn hit a tie-breaking, two-run shot in the eighth on Monday, powering the Diamondbacks to a much-needed 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

With the game tied at 1-1, Chris Young led off the eighth with a single before David Eckstein and Justin Upton were each retired.

But Brad Hennessey (1-2) could not escape the frame when Dunn powered a first-pitch fastball into the stands for a two-run blast, his 37th of the season and fifth since joining the Diamondbacks from the Cincinnati Reds on August 11.

"That's something, the past few weeks I know (we, and) me personally, have not done very well with driving in runs," Dunn said. "That felt really good tonight; I think it's a well-needed win, obviously, and hopefully it gets us going."

Hennessey, a converted reliever who was making just his second start of the season after 13 relief appearances, tossed his first career complete game, allowing eight hits and striking out two over his 99-pitch outing.

"It (stinks) to lose," Hennessey said. "To lose it that way, even worse. It was the first time in the major leagues that I was able to go that deep in the game and it was right there, one pitch away. Really, I feel good about that, (but) I don't feel good about losing (or) giving up the home run there."

Arizona starter Doug Davis matched his counterpart almost pitch for pitch, permitting one run and eight hits over seven innings to keep the Diamondbacks close over his 98-pitch outing until Dunn delivered.

"I felt good, was throwing strikes and that was the main thing," Davis said. "Keeping the ball down in the zone, I got a lot of groundballs. Even the hits that I gave up were not hit very hard, except for (Randy) Winn's last hit (a seventh-inning double). Other than that, I threw the ball well."

Tony Pena (2-2) pitched a flawless eighth before closer Chad Qualls slammed the door on the Giants with a perfect ninth and his fourth save for Arizona.

Though it does not rank close to the late collapse the New York Mets suffered at the end of last season when they gave up a seven-game lead in the National League East Division with 17 games remaining, the Diamondbacks (73-76) have played some of their worst baseball of the season at the worst time of the season.

Arizona, which improved to just 5-15 over its last 20 games, has seen its 4 1/2-game lead in the division completely reversed since August 24, a margin that did not shrink as the Los Angeles Dodgers (78-72) won for the 13th time in their last 15 contests earlier Monday, 8-2, at Pittsburgh.

"We you know early on that they (the Dodgers) have won, it puts a little more pressure on you, and maybe it makes you focus a little more," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "I don't know, we are not in a position right now where we are playing great, and they are.

"You go out there and look at the scoreboard and it means a lot. I think we just have to start playing better, first, before we get to fixated on the scoreboard."

Dunn was quite optimistic about his team's chances of catching the Dodgers, but realized the road to recovery begins immediately.

"I think every game from now on is very important," Dunn said. "We had a chance to separate ourselves and we didn't do that. That's all in the past now, all we can do is look forward, play as good as we can, win as many games as we can (but) you know the Dodgers are going to have to help us out."

San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the third when Rich Aurilia singled to center and Bengie Molina followed with a routine fly ball to right-center field. However, Young dropped the ball while making a nonchalant one-handed catch in center field for a two-base error, scoring Aurilia from first.

The Diamondbacks answered in the fourth when Upton led off the frame with a blast onto the walkway above the center-field fence, his second home run in three games.