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Closer Look Good things for Diamondbacks come in third
Updated: Sunday November 04, 2001 3:41 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com PHOENIX -- No one ever expects an inning like the third inning Saturday. Certainly, no one expects it during the World Series. Especially this World Series, where runs have been harder to come by than a save from the Arizona bullpen? "It was great for all of us," admitted Arizona right fielder Reggie Sanders. The Diamondbacks and New York Yankees were both sporting sub-.200 batting averages going into Saturday's Game 6 of the World Series. The two teams were just coming off three consecutive one-run games, the last two in extra innings. The Diamondbacks had shown some early signs that they might have had Yankees starter Andy Pettitte figured out. They had scored one run in the bottom of the first, and three more in the bottom of the fourth. Then came a record-breaking third that broke the game open, gave Arizona the win and forced a Game 7 on Sunday night. "I can't really put my finger on it," the lefty Pettitte said afterward. "They were fouling off a lot of pitches and I was not able to put guys away when I needed to, like I was last time." Pettitte threw beautifully in Game 2, though he took the loss. He had 80 pitches in 7 2/3 innings in that game, and only 16 were balls. But he struggled early Saturday and finally was pulled after two batters in the third, after giving up six runs on seven hits. "I think we, as a team, started to get a better feel for him the second time around," Sanders said. Pettitte walked Greg Colbrunn to start the third, then gave up a double to Matt Williams. Yankees manager Joe Torre pulled Pettitte and put in Jay Witasick. That's when everything really started to break loose. Witasick allowed four consecutive hits to the Diamondbacks, got Tony Womack to strike out, then allowed four more hits. By the time he got Sanders to strike out to end the inning, the Diamondbacks had sent 12 batters to the plate and had scored eight runs on nine hits. Witasick gave up eight of the hits, the most a pitcher ever has allowed in a World Series inning. "I think it was take one for the team," Torre said of his decision to leave Witasick in. "We still have tomorrow to deal with. I would rather keep all those people [in the bullpen] for tomorrow's game and have him suck one up for the club." Williams became the first player in World Series history with two doubles in the same inning. Eight different players scored. Colbrunn had a walk, a hit, scored twice and drove in a run. Danny Bautista drove in two runs with a single. It was the centerpiece of a World Series-record 22-hit game. "To see that inning go on," Pettitte said afterward, "it was almost as amazing as the home runs that we hit in Game 4 and 5 there at home, just to see how everything they hit was a base hit."
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