Diamondbacks Vs. Giants: Cahill Flirts With No-No; Arizona Wins Series

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Trevor Cahill must have felt right at home pitching in the Bay Area, having been property of the Oakland Athletics in the recent past. He looked very comfortable in no-hitting the San Francisco Giants for six innings as the D-backs topped the San Francisco Giants 6-2 Wednesday night at AT&T Park.

With Cahill handling things on the mound, youngster Adam Eaton was the catalyst in the field and at the plate. Eaton preserved Cahill's no-hitter for the moment when he made a diving catch in center field in the sixth inning, and his hustle on the bases was a huge boost for the Diamondbacks.

In the top of the seventh, Eaton reached on an infield single. He zipped around the bases to score on an Aaron Hill double in a four-run inning that gave the D-backs a commanding 6-0 lead.

Eaton also singled and scored in the first inning, and Chris Johnson tripled and scored on a base hit from John McDonald in the fourth to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead.

Johnson provided the crushing blow to the Giants' hopes of a comeback, bouncing a two-run double down the right field line in the seventh.

Cahill (10-11) had a perfect game until the sixth, when he walked Brandon Crawford. His no-hitter ended with no out in the bottom of the seventh, when Marco Scutaro lined a single to lead off. Cahill allowed only two runs on two hits.

The Giants would load the bases in the seventh and rally for two runs, both on a single by Brandon Belt. But reliever Mike Zagurski came back to induce an inning-ending double play from pinch hitter Ryan Theriot.

There were some fireworks in the top of the eighth inning. McDonald went in hard to third base on a fielder's choice ground ball to first base, and the throw to Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval was in time for Sandoval to tag McDonald. Sandoval took exception to the aggressiveness of McDonald and went after him. That cleared the benches of both teams, but the situation was diffused.

The Diamondbacks (68-70) ended up taking two of three and scoring 22 runs in the series against the NL West-leading Giants, but are still 9 1/2 games out of first place and 6 1/2 out of a wild-card spot. Arizona goes south for a three-game series against the San Diego Padres that starts Friday at Petco Park.

Diamondbacks Vs. Giants, Starting Lineups: Gerardo Parra Starting In Left Field

The Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to end their series against the San Francisco Giants with a series victory Wednesday night at AT&T Park as they try to keep pace in the NL West playoff race.

The Diamondbacks will give Jason Kubel a day off this evening, starting Gerardo Parra in left field, batting seventh in the lineup. Chris Johnson will start at third base over Ryan Wheeler, batting sixth.

As for the Giants, they'll use basically the same lineup that they used on Tuesday, with the lone change coming in the form of former D-back Xavier Nady getting the start in left field and batting seventh.

Your Arizona Diamondbacks:

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Diamondbacks Vs. Giants: Trevor Cahill Eyes Series Win

The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants have split a pair of extra inning victories at AT&T Park, looking to a pair of dominant arms to get the job done Wednesday night.

Trevor Cahill (9-11, 4.02) will take the bump after allowing three runs and four hits in 5 2-3 innings of a 4-3 win against the Dodgers in his last start. Cahill has struggled against San Francisco this year, recording a 0-2 record and 6.17 ERA, though he was 3-0 with a 1.30 ERA in his previous four starts against San Francisco. He has now gone a season-high six consecutive starts without a win.

The Giants will counter with Madison Bumgarner (14-9, 3.07 ERA), who gave up five runs in four innings during Friday's 6-4 loss to the Cubs, his shortest outing since his season opener against these D-backs. Bumgarner has been very solid at home though, posting a 8-2 record with a 2.15 ERA, the NL's second-best home ERA.

First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. PT with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona and KTAR 620 AM.

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Diamondbacks Avoid Third Straight Meltdown, Defeat Giants 8-6 After Having Four Run Lead

The Arizona Diamondbacks called up their top non-pitching prospect from the minor leagues, Adam Eaton, on Tuesday, which, to many, signified the team waving the white flag. It also marked the third straight game where the Diamondbacks had a mini-meltdown of sorts, but this time, the team went on to beat the Giants at AT&T Park, 8-6.

To start the game, Aaron Hill doubled down the left field line, but was unable to get home with just one out. It looked like the beginning of another offensive meltdown for Arizona, but the team was able to gather itself later in the game.

The Giants' scoring spree continued from Monday afternoon, starting once again in the bottom of the first. Pablo Sandoval knocked Marco Scutaro home after he was able to advance to third base off his fourth triple of the year. The Diamondbacks were in the hole early, but recovered when Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy doubled to send rookie Ryan Wheeler across the plate, tying the game at one.

Arizona broke the tie in the third on a Paul Goldschmidt double, pushing Hill home and making the score 2-1. Later in the inning, with the bases juiced, Wheeler was up to bat yet again, but broke his lumber and recorded an infield flyout. John McDonald then proceeded to hit a dribbler through the right side of the infield, making the score 4-1.

But we've been down this three run lead before...

Scutaro had Ian Kennedy's number all night. That was especially evident after his second extra base hit, a double that would lead to an RBI and leave the Giants down by just two runs.

Speaking of having people's numbers, Aaron Hill was all over Ryan Vogelsong (and every other pitcher, for that matter). His two run bomb to left field in the fourth inning put Arizona up 6-2 and knocked Vogelsong out of the game. This gave Arizona some breathing room, but when you give a team like the Giants an inch, they always seem to take a mile.

The Giants made their inevitable comeback in the bottom of the sixth after Hunter Pence's double sent Sandoval home and Brandon Belt then hit a ball deep into the cove behind right field, making the score 6-5. It seemed as if the Diamondbacks were ready to concede their third straight heartbreaking loss in the past three days.

With the momentum in their favor, San Francisco had Angel Pagan on third with one out. Sandoval came through again, hitting a single into left field, tying the game at six and depriving Ian Kennedy of his 13th win.

Ian Kennedy pitched fabulously up until the sixth inning, but gave up 3 runs in the frame and was eventually pulled from the game by manager Kirk Gibson. His line read 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.

Hill was fantastic, hitting 5-5 with an intentional walk and just a triple shy of his third cycle in the calendar year. That marks Hill's career high total for hits in a game.

The Diamondbacks had a chance to land a crippling blow on San Francisco in the eighth with the bases loaded once again. However, both Justin Upton and Jason Kubel popped out to end the inning.

Failing to score with RISP put the Diamondbacks in a stranglehold in the bottom of the eighth. Once again, San Francisco managed to get runners on base. With players on first and third, reliever Mike Zagurski walked a player to load the bases, but was then able to record a double play, getting his team to the ninth inning tied at 6.

Neither team was able to capitalize in the ninth inning, sending the game to extra innings. The tenth was equally uneventful, with no score getting put on the board.

In the 11th inning, four hours into the game, Kubel recorded his first hit of the night by hitting a deep triple into right field that scored Hill from first base. At a score of 7-6, Miguel Montero tacked on another run by hitting a blooper into center field. Kubel scored, pushing the proverbial dagger into the Giants.

Ryan Vogelsong, despite being historically good against Arizona over the past couple of seasons, didn't seem to be on his 'A' game tonight. He was already up over 70 pitches in the third inning and ended up lasting 3.1, giving up 6 earned runs. The bullpen managed to come through for him for most of the game, but Javier Lopez, a former Diamondback, ended up registering the loss.

After a couple of letdown losses, it was nice to see the Diamondbacks finally battle back and get a victory. Still, it will be tough for them to get back in the race. But if they can exert the same amount of effort they did in this game, they may still have a chance.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Call Up Hot-Hitting Prospect Adam Eaton

The Arizona Diamondbacks called up outfield prospect Adam Eaton from Triple-A the team announced on Tuesday, as the hot-hitting minor leaguer figures to play as the fourth outfielder for the rest of the season.

Eaton didn't give the D-Backs a whole lot of wriggle room on his call-up. The speedy Eaton has been absolutely obliterating Triple-A pitching this year, hitting .381/.456/.539 with seven home runs and 38 stolen bases. His batting average on balls in play was a sky high .432. He also won the PCL MVP for his efforts.

The Diamondbacks drafted Eaton in the 19th round of the 2010 draft, so that is one of the reasons he has slipped under a lot of scouts' radars. He was only ranked No. 12 of the Diamondbacks 2012 prospects by Baseball America's Prospect Handbook. Eaton is also pretty short for baseball standards, towering in at approximately 5'8.

But the Diamondbacks have needed offense for quite some time and are hoping Eaton can provide it. Eaton is in tonight's lineup and will garner most of his opportunities spelling breaks for Chris Young, Jason Kubel and Justin Upton.

The Diamondbacks are currently 7.5 games out of the NL Wild Card race.

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D-backs Vs. Giants: Arizona Eyes Rebound With Kennedy On Mound

Ian Kennedy takes the mound tonight as the Arizona Diamondbacks attempt to pack the ninth-inning troubles against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night into the back of their memories. The blown lead will be a thing of the past if Kirk Gibson's club can pull out a victory at 7:15 p.m. MST at AT&T Park.

In his last outing on Thursday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kennedy (12-11) threw one of his best games of the season, going 6-1/3 innings without giving up a run. It was just the second time this year's he's accomplished that feat.

The Diamondbacks (66-70) might be in luck to pull out the victory considering San Francisco (77-58) will throw right-handed pitcher Ryan Vogelsong on the mound. Though he had an impressive start to the year, Vogelsong (12-7) has given up 18 runs in his past 18 innings. He has a 9.00 ERA in his past four starts, bringing his formerly-impressive season ERA to 3.02.

Of course, the pitching matchups, especially considering Monday night, will put some pressure on the closers. Arizona's J.J. Putz has blown two saves in two consecutive games and the Diamondbacks have held leads in five of their last six losses.

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D-backs Vs. Giants: San Francisco Wins In 10 Innings, 9-8

Whatever confidence the Arizona Diamondbacks gained from a comeback from a 4-0 deficit to an 8-5 lead in the eighth inning, it vanished into the winds of San Francisco Bay after the Giants scored the next four runs over the game's final three innings. San Francisco hung another gut-wrenching loss on the D-backs in as many days, 9-8 on Monday afternoon.

J.J. Putz needed to have a closer's memory -- a short one -- to finish off a wild game at AT&T Park. Twenty-four hours after giving up the winning hit to Adrian Gonzalez in Los Angeles, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson called on Putz again to hold a lead in the bottom of the ninth inning.

He couldn't, surrendering a pair of doubles that tied the game at 8. Putz did gather himself enough to not give up the winning run; instead, that fate befell another reliever, Bryan Shaw, who gave up the winning hit to Marco Scutaro with two out in the 10th.

Brandon Crawford led off the 10th with an infield single. He was sacrificed to second, took third on a ground ball out and scored when Scutaro hit a hard grounder past third base.

The Diamondbacks had a chance to put the Giants away in the ninth, but Putz gave up a long leadoff double that almost left the park to Scutaro, then Pablo Sandoval moved Scutaro to third base with a groundout. Buster Posey then doubled in Scutaro before Putz got out of the inning.

The Diamondbacks trailed 4-0 after one inning, but scored two runs in the fifth inning and five in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead. Up 8-5 with their best reliever, David Hernandez, on the mound, the D-backs were in a good place, it seemed.

Hernandez got the first two outs, then gave up a double to Hector Sanchez, an RBI double to Crawford and an RBI single to pinch hitter Brandon Belt.

The D-backs lost their third straight to fall to 66-70, while the Giants moved to 77-58 and will at least maintain their 4 1/2 game lead in the NL West..

D-backs Vs. Giants: Cody Ransom At Shortstop Against Former Team

Cody Ransom has been an Arizona Diamondback -- again -- since Saturday, and on Monday he gets the start at shortstop against the team that originally drafted him in the ninth round in 1998.

Ransom, a Chandler High School graduate who also played at South Mountain Community College and Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, made his major-league debut with the Giants in 2001. After bouncing around at the AAA level for several different organizations since then, he was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks over the weekend.

Ransom started the 2012 in the D-backs organization. It's been that kind of a career for the journeyman.

Arizona's lineup on Labor Day against the NL West-leading Giants:

CF Chris Young

2B Aaron Hill

RF Justin Upton

LF Jason Kubel

1B Paul Goldschmidt

C Miguel Montero

3B Chris Johnson

SS Cody Ransom

P Patrick Corbin

For the Giants, Xavier Nady makes his debut at AT&T Park. Here's their lineup:

CF Angel Pagan

2B Marco Scutaro

3B Pablo Sandoval

1B Buster Posey

RF Hunter Pence

LF Xavier Nady

C Hector Sanchez

SS Brandon Crawford

P Barry Zito

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D-backs Vs. Giants: Arizona Turns Spoiler In September

The Arizona Diamondbacks' hopes of the postseason enter the final month, with those hopes fading.