Drew, Reynolds Fuel D'Backs' Game 1 Win

Oct 04, 05:00 AM

Current Headlines: By Greg Boeck

PHOENIX -- They were supposed to be too young for this. They were supposed to be too feeble at the plate for this.

Weren't they?

Tell that to light-hitting shortstop Stephen Drew, rookie third baseman Mark Reynolds and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who pulled another improbable win out of their magical baseball caps.

Drew, one of 21 players on the 25-man roster playing in his first postseason, and Reynolds, one of three rookies in the starting lineup Wednesday, launched home runs in a 3-1 win against the Chicago Cubs.

Drew's 432-foot bomb, following a defensive gem to end the Cubs fourth inning, came off Chicago ace Carlos Zambrano and broke up a scoreless pitching duel.

Reynolds' homer off reliever Carlos Marmol in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie to give the Diamondbacks and Brandon Webb Game1 of the best-of-five NL Division Series.

Game2 is tonight at Chase Field, alive with Cubbie fans decked out in pinstripe jerseys and blue caps. Two lefties start: Doug Davis for Arizona and Ted Lilly for Chicago.

Drew is a poster boy for the Diamondbacks offense; he hit .238 in the regular season on a West Division champion team that was dead last in the NL in batting at .250. But he finished the season strong, on a 12-for-29 binge, and picked up where he left off.

So did Reynolds, who started the season in ClassAA Mobile (Ala.) but finished with a sizzling September and 17 home runs overall. After Reynolds made it 2-1, Jackson Connor delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the seventh.

"We've relied on young guys all season long, and they've come through," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "It seems like if we were going to score runs against Zambrano, it was going to be a big bolt."

The key blows made a winner of Webb. In his first playoff start, Webb shut out the Cubs for the first five innings and left after seven with a two-run lead. He gave up four hits and struck out nine.

The Cubs tied the game 1-1 in the sixth when Ryan Theriot delivered an infield hit with two outs and the bases loaded after Webb walked two.

The inning ended, however, when Cubs manager Lou Piniella elected to let Zambrano, who had doubled in the third, hit with the bases loaded. He struck out.

In the fifth, with the tying run at second and no outs, Piniella also gave Zambrano the green light instead of sacrifice bunting. Zambrano lined out.

Zambrano, who struck out nine and gave up four hits was lifted after six, raising more questions for Piniella. Asked why he went to his bullpen, Piniella said: "I've done it all year. End of story."

He also defended letting Zambrano hit twice. "He doubled to left-center and lined out to short," said Piniella. "It's the first game. Let's not get down and gloom and doom this thing."

The bullpen took over for Webb. In the eighth, Brandon Lyon set the Cubs down in order.

In the ninth, Jose Valverde walked pinch-hitter Daryle Ward with two outs, giving dangerous Alfonso Soriano a chance to tie the game. But Soriano, who had 14 homers in September, grounded out to end a 0-for-5 game. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.