Ian Kennedy became the National League’s first 18-game winner and the Arizona Diamondbacks pushed their division lead back to six games with a 7-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.
Kennedy lasted seven innings, giving up only one run, with six strikeouts and two walks. The win was his third straight and his tenth in his last 11 starts. He once again got the best of one of the National League’s best pitchers, though the twelfth loss is a career-high for Tim Lincecum. Kennedy seems unable to do any wrong since the All-Star break and he continues to wedge his name into the NL Cy Young discussion.
Gerardo Parra and Aaron Hill continued their strong offensive production for the D-backs, each hitting RBI doubles. The double was Hill’s second of the game; he is now hitting .353 as a Diamondback after struggling with a .225 average as a Toronto Blue Jay. Paul Goldschmidt added a solo run in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth to score Justin Upton.
Miguel Montero, though cold most of the night, extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the top of the ninth.
The loss was Lincecum’s second straight to the D-backs at AT&T Park, and his run support was as lacking as it has been for an extended period. The Giants managed only two sacrifice flies against Kennedy and Arizona’s bullpen. Carlos Beltran continued his strong hitting against the D-backs, with three hits on Saturday, but it didn’t matter.
Daniel Hudson will take the mound on Sunday looking for his third straight victory, and Arizona will look to close out the series win and make San Francisco’s comeback campaign as difficult as possible with only 23 games left in the season.
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