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Diamondbacks Rally In Ninth To Edge Cardinals

Posted: 12:48 am PDT September 4, 2008

(Sports Network) - Adam Dunn's RBI double capped a two-run ninth inning as Arizona recovered from a three-run deficit to nip St. Louis, 4-3, in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Stephen Drew greeted Chris Perez (2-2) with a leadoff triple. David Eckstein lofted a soft fly to short right, then Conor Jackson bounced a single through the drawn-in infield to tie the game.

Dunn stepped in and laced a double to the wall in right, which scored Jackson easily ahead of a relay throw for the game-winning score.

"The first hit to Drew, it was a good pitch, low and away, he put a good swing on it and drove it in the gap," said Perez. "Conor Jackson, made a good pitch, it was low, missed my spot, I was trying to go away, but it came back over, but it was still low. The last one to Dunn was probably the worst pitch at the time, it was right over the middle."

The hit made a winner of Chad Qualls (4-8), who hurled a scoreless final inning. Starter Doug Davis allowed eight hits and three runs over six innings.

Jackson had two hits and drove in two runs for the D-Backs, who took two of three in the series and remained 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Los Angeles in the NL West. The Dodgers beat San Diego, 6-4, Wednesday night.

"I tell you guys every day, it's one of those things," Drew said. "Every game counts, every at-bat counts as you see today, you play 27 outs, play it hard, at the end of the day we hope we come out on top, but you never know in baseball."

Troy Glaus hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who have dropped five of six. Kyle Lohse turned in six frames of five-hit shutout ball, fanning seven for St. Louis. He also finished 2-for-2 and collected an RBI double.

The Cardinals are 5 1/2 games behind Milwaukee for the wild card lead.

Down by three and held scoreless by Lohse, the D-Backs finally put together a rally in the seventh.

Facing Kyle McClellan, pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda doubled and pinch-hitter Miguel Montero walked. Drew was retired on a grounder to second, but both runners moved up. Eckstein walked to load the bases, and Cesar Izturis made a great fielding play on Jackson's grounder to get a force at second, but Ojeda scored to make it 3-1.

Ron Villone entered the game and uncorked a wild pitch with Dunn at the plate to score Montero and move Eckstein to second. Dunn eventually walked and Villone gave way to Jason Motte, who struck out Mark Reynolds to end the inning.

Motte turned Arizona aside in the eighth, retiring three in a row after Chad Tracy's leadoff single. The Cardinals couldn't hold on in the home ninth, however.

Glaus' 23rd homer of the season gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the third. It was also the 300th career home run for the hard-hitting third baseman.

St. Louis tacked on another run in the sixth when Felipe Lopez reached on an infield single and scored on Lohse's line double to right.

Game Notes

Glaus has hit 182 HRs with the Angels (1998-2004), 37 with Arizona (2005), 58 with Toronto (2006-07) and 23 this season with St. Louis...The D-Backs have won five of the last six meetings dating back to last season...Dunn also walked twice, his base on balls in the seventh upped his major-league best total to 107...Drew's triple was his 11th of the season, tying him for second in the NL with Fred Lewis of the Giants...Perez was also saddled with a blown save, his third this year.

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