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Unlikely heroes Bautista, Durazo help Diamondbacks reach World Series
Updated: Monday October 22, 2001 12:37 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly made all the right moves Sunday night, and the Diamondbacks are going to their first World Series. Brenly, the TV analyst turned manager, started Danny Bautista in center field in place of hot-hitting Steve Finley, and Bautista came through with a run-scoring single and a diving catch in the Diamondbacks' 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the best-of-seven NLCS. Finley was batting .375 in the postseason and hit .393 against the Braves in the regular season. Bautista entered the game hitless in the postseason. But his single off Atlanta starter Tom Glavine in the fourth drove home the Diamondbacks' first run, and he made a sliding catch of Mark De Rosa's blooper in the fifth to protect Randy Johnson's 3-1 lead. Entering the game, Bautista's lifetime average against Glavine had been .154; Finley's was .304. "I just thought the way Danny was hitting the ball out over the plate, he might have some success against Glavine, who likes to hit that outside corner," Brenly said. "It was just a hunch, and fortunately it worked out for us." Bautista, a former Brave, celebrated the victory somberly, standing off in a corner of the clubhouse while quietly talking to reporters. "I wasn't surprised when I saw I was starting," he said. "I always come to the ballpark ready to play. Glavine's a good pitcher, but I knew he would be around the plate and I would just have to be patient." Finley replaced Bautista to start the eighth as part of double-switch that brought reliever Byung-Hyun Kim into the game, and he recorded the last out on Julio Franco's fly ball. It reminded Finley of 1998, when he helped the San Diego Padres advance to the World Series over the Braves, also at Turner Field. "I bet I caught the ball in exactly the same spot," Finley said. "As soon as I saw the ball coming at me, I knew we had it." Later, Brenly sent left-handed Erubiel Durazo to face the lefty Glavine in the fifth inning, when Mark Grace came out with a tight hamstring. Durazo responded by slicing a two-out, two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole to give Arizona a 3-1 lead. Right-handed Greg Colbrunn also was available. "That was more of defensive decision, since Erubiel is a more natural first baseman," Brenly said. Durazo hit five pinch-hit homers during the season, including four in his first nine at-bats, and he already was warming up in the clubhouse when Brenly made the call. "I had been in that situation a lot this season, and I'm comfortable," said Durazo, dodging beer showers in Arizona's clubhouse. "The way Glavine pitches, he gives you a chance to go the other way, and I was just looking for something I could hit hard that way." Grace was 6-for-16 (.375) in the NLCS and singled to start the Diamondbacks' fourth-inning rally. He went to second on a walk and scored on Bautista's single. Grace fielded his position in the bottom of the fourth but was replaced by Durazo in Arizona's next at-bat. "I probably should get the MVP tonight for coming up injured," Grace joked.
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