If you were watching Monday night's home game against the visiting Seattle Mariners, you'd never guess the Diamondbacks hadn't scored a single run in 21 straight innings. Arizona got a hit seemingly every time they needed one with four sac flies in their 7-1 series opening win. Second baseman Aaron Hill led the charge with three runs and a RBI while becoming the fifth D-back in team history to hit for the cycle.
The game started out just about as perfect as Arizona could hope. Already with two men on and no outs, Justin Upton slapped the third single of the inning, leading to a huge collusion at home in which Willie Bloomquist laid out catcher Jesus Montero for the first run. The D-backs would then get two more thanks to sac flies from Jason Kubel and Paul Goldschmidt.
In the third, Aaron Hill stroked a triple to lead off the inning before Upton drove him in with another sacrifice fly. It was obvious from there that four runs would be more than enough with Wade Miley pitching like the surprising ace he's been (7 IP, 9 H, 1 ER and 8 K). The Mariners would get one run for Noesi thanks to a Chris Wells RBI double but it was evident that the rookie still hasn't figured out how to pitch away from the confines of Safeco Field (6 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER and 5 K).
After Hill's fifth inning double though, it all became about the cycle watch. And in the bottom of the seventh, Hill would make history, slugging a solo shot off reliever Shawn Kelly to complete the prestigious achievement. Hill joins Kelly Johnson, Stephen Drew, Greg Colbrunn and Luis Gonzalez as the only five men in franchise history to pull off this feat.
Josh Collmenter and J.J. Putz then went on to do their parts, each putting up a shutout inning. The Diamondbacks will look to continue their hot-hitting ways Tuesday as Daniel Hudson takes the mound against Erasmo Ramirez.