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Owings walks off Reds after umps sort out odd ending
PHOENIX -- The umpires huddled and the Reds pleaded their case. But after a brief discussion Chris Owings had his first career walk-off hit and the Diamondbacks had a 4-3 victory in 10 innings Sunday afternoon.
With the bases loaded, Owings sent a ball over the head of the Reds drawn-in outfield to score Paul Goldschmidt. However, David Peralta didn't touch third base and Jake Lamb didn't touch second before they joined the mob around Owings.
A security guard in left field threw the ball in to Cincinnati's Brandon Phillips, who tried to initiate a double play and send the game to the 11th inning.
The umpires cited Rule 4.09 (b), which states "... the umpire shall not declare the game ended until the runner forced to advance from third has touched home base and the batter-runner has touched first base." According to the rule, Peralta and Lamb were inconsequential to the Reds' protest.
"First of all, they didn't play the ball. The infielders were leaving the infield," umpire crew chief Larry Vanover said. "The runner from third touched the plate and the runner from the plate touched first. Those two things right there met the obligation of the rule. When that run scores and the batter has touched first, the game's over."
Despite the win, the final play had D-backs manager Chip Hale ruffled afterward.
"That wasn't obviously the way you draw it up as an offense," Hale, who also described the play as "interesting," said. "We talk about those kinds of things from when these guys are in Little League."
It was a fitting end, though, for Owings, who hit a multiple balls hard earlier in the game but didn't have anything to show for them.
"I circle the balls we hit well and there were a lot of circles on there," Hale said. "I think Owings had five of them so I'm glad he was able to get that last hit."
The D-backs had 15 hits, more than half of which came from the combination of Goldschmidt and Peralta.
Goldschmidt was 3 for 27 his last seven games but had two doubles and a single in his first three at-bats Sunday, and walked against Ryan Mattheus to start the 10th.
Peralta followed with a single to right field for his first career five-hit game.
"Their guys in the middle of the order, with Goldschmidt and Peralta, wore us out," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We didn't have an answer for them."
Peralta is hitting .472 with nine RBI in his last nine games batting cleanup.
"Goldy is the guy, the big guy, and we have to protect him," Peralta said. "That's what I'm trying to do right now."
As for the last play, Peralta admitted he was worried he cost the D-backs a win.
"I was little scared; I had never been through anything like that," Peralta said. "You always learn something in baseball every day. I learned something today, so it's not going to happen again."
Five D-backs relievers combined to throw four shutout innings in relief of Patrick Corbin. The Reds didn't reach base against Andrew Chafin, David Hernandez, Brad Ziegler and Josh Collmenter. Daniel Hudson allowed a hit and a walk but got out of the eighth-inning jam.
8 -- Peralta (5 for 5) and Goldschmidt (3 for 4) combined for more than half the D-backs' 15 hits and were on base nine nines.
The D-backs on Monday open a three-game series against the team with the best record since the All-Star break: the Phillies. Philadelphia is 45-67 overall but 16-5 since the break.
