Diamondbacks 5, Mets 4 - Rauchs Pays Ransom for a Dbacks Win

Record: 14-13; Pace: 84-78; Change on 2011: +2

The Arizona Diamondbacks have broken their 0-9 streak - they have finally won a one-run game for the first time since April 8th, breaking a streak of the past nine consecutive one-run games being losses. Former Diamondback Scott Hairston helped lead the Mets to a big 4-run inning off of Wade Miley, but Arizona got revenge off of Jon Rauch with three runs for the late comeback win.

Details of the nail-biting victory after the jump!

Arizona took an early lead off of Mets starter Dillon Gee. Miguel Montero walked to lead off the 2nd inning and Cody Ransom hit a monster home run to left field to make it 2-0. Remember when Mark Reynolds made Citi Field look small with his home runs? Ransom's home run didn't go quite as far, but it went into the first row above the new "Party City" deck seats, which are moved in from where the wall used to be. So, it would've been a home run last year, too.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, NL Rookie of the Month Wade Miley got knocked around hard. Ruben Tejada singled to lead it off, then David Murphy doubled to center but the threat of the ParraZooka held Tejada at third base. David Wright walked to load the bases with nobody out, which probably wasn't the end of the world, because after Miley struck out Lucas Duda (on a generous strike three call), all Miley needed was a double play ball to get out of the inning unscathed. Sadly, Scott Hairston does not appreciate all the love we gave him back in the "Baby 'Backs" days, as he has turned into a Diamondback killer, and he singled in two Mets runs to tie the game. Ike Davis's groundout plated another, then Andres Torres singled and scored Hairston to put the Mets up 4-2.

Miley had a relatively easy 4th inning but was shaky again in the 5th, no thanks to his defense. With no out, Wright and Duda both "singled" to third and first base, respectively, on plays both Ransom and Paul Goldschmidt would tell you they should've made. But Miley did get out of this jam with no harm done by striking out Hairston and getting Davis to hit into a double play. Miley pitched through the 6th inning and minimized the damage to those runs in the 3rd. Although Collmenter was warming up in the bullpen, Miley pulled it together, settled down, and had a decent night.

For their part, the Diamondbacks' offense didn't give up. They made the pitcher Gee throw 30 pitches in the 6th inning, starting with a 10-pitch walk to Jason Kubel followed by a walk to Montero. But Goldschmidt lined out and Ransom and Aaron Hill both struck out to strand the runners. But Arizona struck back in the 8th inning. After Justin Upton reached on an error and Kubel walked again, Goldschmidt finally made solid contact and doubled to the wall, scoring both runners to tie the game up at 4-all. Cody Ransom then hit the game-winning single to score Goldschmidt. Lyle Overbay extended the inning with a ground rule double that really should've come with an assist from Hairston, but Willie Bloomquist struck out to cap the scoring.

David Hernandez had an interesting 8th inning, allowing two base runners but not giving up the lead thanks to a running catch by Kubel in left field. Then big J.J. Putz came in for the save and put to rest some of our fear over his arm. He struck out Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ruben Tejada on some nice splitters, then David Murphy lined a ball that was close to landing in the left-center gap but was caught by a diving Gerardo Parra. The judges gave Parra a 9.2 on the dive, and the game ended with a 5-4 victory for the Diamondbacks.

Source: FanGraphs

Hero: C Ransom, +34.9%
Sidekicks: J Putz, +19.2; P Goldschmidt, +17.9%
Villan: W Bloomquist, -16.1%

It was a much happier gameday thread tonight than it has been of late. txzona led the way with 105 comments, with Dan and soco also on the podium. All present were Clefo, Turambar, Jim McLennan, Bcawz, sb24ws2005, Britback, NASCARbernet, Augdogs, txzona, snakecharmer, dbacks79, hotclaws, 4 Corners Fan, rd33, PR151, AzDbackfanInDc, GuruB, BattleMoses, Zavada's Moustache, blank_38, Bryn21, dback4life, Muu, edbigghead, piratedan7, AZDBACKR, ColonelKlank, Dan Strittmatter, CaptainCanuck, Cardscrazy247, soco, emilylovesthedbacks, rfffr, Rockkstarr12, and DbacksSkins.

Clefo has a witty remark down below that almost made my COTD, but I instead chose this one from ZM. After BattleMoses compared Cody Ransom to fire and Ryan Roberts to ice, ZM quipped...

So,

Our third base platoon is a George R.R. Martin novel?

by Zavada's Moustache on May 4, 2012 4:52 PM PDT

It was a good game for Arizona to win, because the rest of the NL West had a tough day! The Dodgers lost to the Cubs this afternoon, the Brewers were helpful by beating the Giants for their fourth straight loss, and the Braves beat the Rockies in an 11-inning Coors Field Classic. The Marlins and Padres are currently tied at 8 apiece in their 11th inning at Petco.

Patrick Corbin makes his second career start tomorrow against Johan Santana, who is looking for his first win of the season. Catch the game at 1:05pm Arizona time on FOX!