Stephen Drew was ready for Javier Lopez on Sunday afternoon.
Drew drove in Justin Upton with one out in the 12th inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5.
“I kind of knew what he had,” Drew said. “I was looking for something to get the ball up and put a good swing on it.”
Giants reliever Dan Runzler had allowed only one base runner over 2 1-3 innings before walking Upton and Chris Young with one out in the 12th. Lopez came on for Runzler (1-2) and gave up Drew’s grounder into the right-field hole on his third pitch.
“That’s where I hit him where I hit him,” said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson. “That’s the money position right there. It might not look like it but he hates to fail as much as anybody.”
Josh Collmenter (1-0) pitched two perfect innings in his major league debut for the win as the Diamondbacks snapped a four-game losing streak.
“I couldn’t have dream for it to go better, to get the walkoff win and celebrate with the rest of the team,” said Collmenter, who was making his first relief appearance since 2007 in his first season of pro ball.
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Collmenter said it helped to face Buster Posey and Brandon Belt, former opponents from the California League.
“Just having the familiar faces was a relief to me,” Collmenter said. “I wasn’t facing start after star that I see on TV. To see guys that I’d faced before put things in perspective.”
Posey and Pablo Sandoval hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning and Aubrey Huff also homered for the Giants, who saw their four-game winning streak end.
“Games like that it takes a little two-hopper through the hole and you get the game done,” Huff said. “It was one of those tough beats but we won three series in a row and that’s all you can ask for.”
Upton also singled and hit his team-leading fourth home run for the Diamondbacks, who won for the third time in their last 16 games against the Giants.
