D'Backs Score In 9th To Win

Day by day, Arizona's magic number keeps getting lower.

"At this time of the year a win is a win, and it doesn't matter how you get one," Steve Finley said after Curtis Leskanic walked him with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, forcing in the go-ahead run of the Arizona Diamondbacks' 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.

Arizona, in just its second season, lowered its magic number for clinching the NL West to four. The Diamondbacks began the night with an eight-game lead over second-place San Francisco.

"We've had strange games in a lot of ballparks, but this place beats them all," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said. "The last team standing is going to win every time out."

Luis Gonzalez went 4-for-4 with a solo homer, and Damian Miller drove in three runs with the first multihomer game of his career.

Terry Shumpert went 2-for-3 with three RBIs for the Rockies.

Kurt Abbott's RBI single off Gregg Olson (8-4) tied the score in the eighth, but Roberto Ramirez (1-5) walked Jay Bell with one out in the ninth, and Gonzalez singled. One out later, Leskanic walked Travis Lee and Finley.

"He walked Travis Lee on four pitches and his pitches were running all over the place," Finley said. "I was going to make him throw strikes and he wasn't close after the count went to 2-2."

"This was totally inexcusable," Leskanic said. "I kept the ball down like I wanted to, but just couldn't throw strikes."

Matt Mantei pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 35 chances.

Arizona starter Brian Anderson allowed three runs and five hits in 6 1-3 innings. He has given up only three runs in his last 22 1-3 innings.

Brian Bohanon, who had a 2.93 ERA in his previous six starts, allowed six runs five earned and seven hits in five innings.

"We battled our tails off just to get back only to walk a run in in the ninth," Colorado manager Jim Leyland said. "Our staff has walked too many people all year long, and when you do that you generally get burned."

Colorado trailed 6-1 in the sixth before Shumpert's RBI double, then pulled within a run in the seventh on Shumpert's two-run single and a run-scoring error by Bell at second.

Dante Bichette's RBI single gave the Rockies a first-inning lead, but Miller hit a two-run homer in the third and Arizona made it 3-1 in the third on Matt Williams' run-scoring single.

"I have never hit two homers in a game before, not in the minor leagues or anywhere else," Miller said. "I got a couple of pitches up in the zone that Bohanon would like to have back."

Miller hit his 11th homer of the season in the fourth, and a throwing error by catcher Ben Petrick when Tony Womack stole third gave Arizona a 5-1 lead. Gonzalez hit his 26th homer in the fifth.

"We aren't worrying about anyone else right now because we control our own destiny," Finley said. "We can win at least four more games and it wouldn't matter if San Francisco won the rest of its games."

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