Record: 5-4 - Home: 3-1 - Road: 2-3
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1981. Joe Saunders born. Obvious candidate is obvious, seeing as Joe is taking the mound for the Diamondbacks this evening, going against the team who drafted him in the first round in 2002. It will actually be the first time in his major-league career he has pitched on his birthday, and he'll be the first Diamondbacks starter to do so since Claudio Vargas on June 19, 2006. The six such Arizona pitchers in team history are undefeated, with a 2.48 ERA over 40 innings, so birthday cake has worked for them. Of course, three starts from Randy Johnson and a fourth by Brandon Webb probably helps...
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2001: Robert Ellis notched his sixth victory, to set a franchise mark for wins by a rookie, while Luis Gonzalez posted his big-league-best 34th multi-hit game in a 3-1 win vs. Tigers. Ellis is kinda the forgotten man of the 2001 rotation, but started 17 games for us that year, before going on the DL with a shin issue, then breaking a bone in his left arm while rehabbing. Here, he allowed one run in six innings on only three hits, with three walks and five strikeouts. Damian Miller joined Gonzalez in a two-hit game; Gonzo had two RBI with Arizona's third run being driven in by Erubiel Durazo.
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2002: Mark Grace collected his 500th career double to tie with Goose Goslin for 37th on the all-time doubles list, during a 11-2 win over Detroit at Bank One Ballpark. Grace was one of five Diamondbacks to have a multi-hit game, as part of a 15-hit attack: Damian Miller had three, which Grace drove in three runs. Mark and Gonzo each homered for Arizona, who blew things open late, with two in the seventh and six in the eighth innings. Rick Helling pitched well, getting the win for one run over eight frames, on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
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2011: J.J. Putz blew the save in the ninth, but Justin Upton cranked the first pitch he saw from Sergio Casilla in the tenth inning to right-center for a walk-off home-run, as the Diamondbacks beat the Giants 3-2 in Phoenix. Ian Kennedy was brilliant, striking out ten in eight innings, allowing four hits and one walk, and Chris Young's two-run shot in the fourth looked like it might be enough. However, a Pat Burrell sacrifice fly in the ninth tied things up, setting the stage for Upton's blast. He had three of Arizona's nine hits.