Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 5

5/16/2008 12:52 AM

By ANDREW BAGNATO
AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX (AP) -Mr. Automatic was at it again.

Backed by Stephen Drew's career-high four hits, Brandon Webb became the major leagues' first nine-game winner when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Thursday night.

Webb (9-0) has won his first nine starts, the most since San Diego's Andy Hawkins won his first 10 in 1985, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Webb has won 11 straight starts dating to last September.

``It's pretty amazing,'' Webb said. ``It's getting to be amazing. Things are just happening.''

A lot of things happened on a clear, 85-degree night in the desert.

Drew had two doubles, a triple, a single and an RBI, and Chris Snyder hit a three-run homer as the Diamondbacks improved to a major league-best 26-15, including 20-5 against the weak NL West.

Arizona overcame a season-high four errors to complete its second three-game sweep of the Rockies this season. The Diamondbacks are 8-1 against the defending NL champions, with Webb winning three times.

Mixing curveballs and changeups with his trademark slider, Webb had the Rockies off stride for most of the night.

``Nothing was in the middle,'' Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. ``The breaking ball was sharp and down, the changeup was a good pitch. The sinker had good late life.''

Arizona manager Bob Melvin lifted Webb with one out in the eighth after Matt Holliday singled to make it 5-3. Webb, who threw 111 pitches, left to a standing ovation from the Chase Field crowd of 21,447.

He allowed three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight, a season high.

``Doing his thing again,'' Melvin said. ``He got a little tired at the end.''

Webb credited his offense for giving him plenty of support - and none had a better night than Drew.

He singled in the first, tripled in the third and doubled in the fifth against Colorado starter Aaron Cook. Drew had two chances at the cycle - doubling in the sixth off Josh Newman and reaching on an error against Brian Fuentes in the eighth.

``He's swinging it better than anybody we have right now,'' Melvin said. ``He's been quite the force for us.''

Colorado's Aaron Cook (6-2) was almost as hot as Webb. He had won a franchise-record six straight starts, a streak that began on April 13 at Chase Field.

But Cook struggled from the start, when the Diamondbacks greeted him with consecutive singles by Chris Young, Drew and Orlando Hudson. Young scored on Hudson's hit.

Cook stranded runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth. The Diamondbacks finally got to him in the fifth.

Young led off with a double and scored on Drew's double. Hudson walked, and one out later, Snyder hit an 0-2 pitch 412 feet into the left field seats to give the Diamondbacks a 5-0 lead.

``The biggest blow right there was Snyder hitting the home run, of course,'' Cook said. ``I felt like I have a chance to get out of any situation I'm in, and unfortunately I wasn't able to make pitches when I needed to tonight and it cost us the ballgame.''

Cook pitched five innings, his shortest outing, and allowed a season-high five runs on 10 hits. He walked four and struck out six.

Snyder's homer loomed large when the Rockies' bats came to life in the late innings.

Colorado made it 5-1 in the seventh on Chris Iannetta's double, and pulled within 5-3 in the eighth on Clint Barmes' RBI groundout and Matt Holliday's single.

Arizona answered with three in the eighth on Hudson's single and a two-run triple by Justin Upton.

But even with an 8-3 lead heading in to the ninth, Webb had to sweat out a little drama before he could claim the victory.

The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs against Brandon Medders before Brandon Lyon came on to record his 12th save in 14 chances, and his 11th in a row.

Lyon gave up an RBI single to Scott Podsednik to make it 8-4, and Ryan Spilborghs' sacrifice fly made it 8-5.

But Lyon struck out Barmes and retired Holliday - who had cost Lyon a save with a homer in Denver last month - on a grounder to third to end it.

Notes: Melvin benched LF Eric Byrnes, who is hitting .214 and in a 6-for-62 slump. Arizona 1B Conor Jackson, 0-for-12 lifetime against Cook, was also out of the starting lineup. ... The Rockies fell a season-high 11 games back in the NL West. ... Barmes had two singles and has hit safely in eight straight games.