Velez the hero again as Giants sweep Diamondbacks

The Skinny: First it was Manny Ramirez, then it was Andre Ethier. Add Eugenio Velez to the list of Diamondback killers. Velez, who came into the game hitting .232, laced an 0-2 pitch to the right center field gap scoring Ryan Rohlinger and Aaron Rowand and giving the San Francisco Giants a second straight 9th inning win over Arizona. There were also two outs when the game winning hit occurred. Diamondbacks’ center fielder Chris Young gave Arizona a 3-2 lead with a 2-run triple in the top of the 9th. But Velez, who had a 2-run single in the 9th last night to beat the D-Backs, delivered again. He also had a 2-run double in the 3rd to give San Francisco a 2-1 lead.

Bullpen fails again: Brandon Lyon, who came in and worked a scoreless 8th inning, was put in the unfamiliar position of working the 9th with a lead. Lyon has only pitched more than an inning once in 53 appearances this season. After getting Pedro Sandoval to ground out, Bengie Molina singled to left and advanced to second on a ground out by Travis Ishikawa. Aaron Rowand then walked, setting the stage for Velez. Lyon got ahead on Velez 0-2 with 2 nasty curveballs, and then inexplicably left a high fastball right over the heart of the plate, and Velez knocked it to the wall. Lyon’s record falls to 2-5 on the year. The really frustrating part for the Diamondbacks has to be that the bullpen couldn’t get the job done in consecutive games when their struggling offense twice got to Giants’ closer Brian Wilson, who has been lights out all season long.

Roadtrip from hell: The Diamondbacks finish their 6-game tour of California with an 0-6 record. They started the road trip in Los Angeles last Friday with a 1.5 game lead, and they limp home trailing the Dodgers by 3, pending Wednesday night’s action. For the trip the Diamondbacks hit .197 as a team, and a woeful .135 with runners in scoring position.

Sarcastic Diamondback Bright Spots: The sun will come up tomorrow…everyone on the team is making good money…at least the Diamondbacks won’t lose Thursday, they have the day off. Yeah, I’m running out of sarcastic Diamondback bright spots to be honest with you.

Haren’s struggle: Diamondbacks’ starter Dan Haren labored through 4 innings, throwing 99 pitches on the day. He did allow only one earned run. The 4-inning stint matches Haren’s shortest of the year, matching his last outing on Friday in a loss to the Dodgers in which he threw 82 pitches.

MLB.com: Recap | Boxscore

Here’s what others are saying about the Diamondbacks’ latest gut-wrenching defeat…

D-Backs swept by Giants [AZ Central]

Giants beat Diamondbacks in ninth, sweep series [San Jose Mercury News]

Velez’s two-run triple in ninth lifts Giants over Diamondbacks [Tucson Citizen/AP]

Giants rally to stun Diamondbacks [SF Gate]

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It’s back home to Chase Field on Friday, as the Diamondbacks host the Cincinnati Reds for a 3-game series.

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Tags: Arizona Diamondbacks, Brandon Lyon, Chris Young, Dan Haren