Diamondbacks Slide Past Phillies 7-5
PHOENIX (AP) -- First they beat Cliff Lee, now Roy Oswalt.
The first two starts in a 10-game home stand have to boost the confidence of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who had returned to the desert losers of four in a row.
On Tuesday night, Oswalt was far from his best, and the Diamondbacks took advantage for a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. They patiently got the necessary base hits to get Daniel Hudson his first victory of the season and snapped the ace right-hander's string of 10 straight victory decisions. Hudson helped himself with a two-run double in the second that put Arizona ahead for good.
"You're fortunate to beat a team like that," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said, "and tomorrow they'll be very motivated to not let us sweep."
Oswalt (3-1) allowed five runs on six hits with no strikeouts and one walk. He threw 57 pitches, 36 strikes.
"His stuff wasn't good," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "His stuff wasn't crisp and his velocity was down. I figured there was no sense in leaving him out there."
Manuel said Oswalt didn't say anything about an injury. Still, the manager said he was a "little concerned."
"We will see what happens," Manuel said. "He wasn't right."
The right-hander had given up five runs in 24 innings in his first four starts this season and had not been the losing pitcher since a July 30, 2010, outing at Washington.
Catcher Brian Schneider said Oswalt's bullpen session was great and there was no indication anything was physically wrong.
"The Roy we have seen the last couple of outings, all the changes were down," Schneider said. "He had a lot of swings and misses. Guys were chasing with two strikes. Tonight they were still at it but up in the zone was where they put the ball in play. They found a lot of holes tonight."
Hudson (1-4) scattered 10 hits in six innings, giving up two runs, striking out six with no walks. His two-run double off Oswalt in Arizona's three-run second inning put the Diamondbacks ahead for good.
Hudson allowed a first-inning run but, with runners at second and third and one out, struck out Matt Francisco and got Raul Ibanez to fly out deep to left.
"It's definitely huge the way I've been struggling to get out of a jam like that," Hudson said. "It really kind of got my confidence and said 'We can do better than this."'
The win over Oswalt followed the Diamondbacks' 4-0 victory over the Phillies' Lee in the series opener on Monday. Arizona goes for its first sweep of the season when the Diamondbacks face Cole Hamels in a Wednesday afternoon game.
"We need to go on a run," Gibson said. "That's what good teams do."
The Phillies, winners of five in a row coming into Arizona, stranded 10 in losing their second series of the season.
Francisco's two-run home run off David Hernandez in the ninth marked the first time in 14 games the Phillies had topped four runs.
Ryan Roberts drove in two runs with an RBI single off Oswalt in the third and a solo homer off the left field foul pole against reliever Mike Zagurski in the sixth.
He also made an outstanding over-the-rail catch of a foul ball to end the third.
"When I got to the wall I thought it was going to come right down to me but the wind just kept pushing it back," Roberts said. "I thought I had a good bead on it right from the get-go and, having to jump back and catch it I was really surprised I caught it at the end—and dislocate my danged shoulder, I'm surprised I didn't do that. But, you know, it ended the inning and they had a couple of guys on. That's all that mattered."
Kelly Johnson singled twice, stole second twice and scored two times for the Diamondbacks, who had five players with at least one RBI.
The bottom of the order did the damage for Arizona in the second after the Phillies had jumped ahead 1-0.
With two outs and a runner at first, Juan Miranda drew a walk, then Gerardo Parra singled to left to bring in the tying run. Hudson doubled to deep right-center—perhaps the hardest-hit ball off Oswalt on a night of soft singles—to bring in both runners and give the Diamondbacks a 3-1 lead.
It was the 24-year-old Hudson's fourth hit, first for extra bases, in seven at-bats this season.
NOTES: Consecutive strikeout games of 14 by Roy Halladay on Sunday and 12 by Lee on Monday marked the first time since 1900 that the Phillies starters had at least a dozen Ks in consecutive games. It last happened in the majors in 2003 when Mark Prior (14) and Kerry Wood (12) did it for the Chicago Cubs. ... Hudson has allowed 10 first-inning runs in his five starts. ... Philadelphia remains two shy of its franchise record for most wins in April (17). ... Arizona closer J.J. Putz's wife gave birth to the couple's fourth child, daughter Addison Elizabeth, at 3:47 p.m. Tuesday. ... Johnson stole two bases in a game for the fourth time in his career.
