D-Backs win to remain in first place

PITTSBURGH - And in the seventh inning, Micah Owings rested.

Pitching on 2 1/2 hours notice, Owings threw 6 1/3 shutout innings and had four hits in the Diamondbacks’ 8-0 victory over Pittsburgh, redirecting the D-Backs’ pendulum on an arc toward their first playoff appearance since 2002.

Owings, who started because the D-Backs did not want to risk losing Brandon Webb to a likely weather delay, ran his shutout streak to 15 1/3 innings while raising his batting average to .339.

Owings left after an 18-minute rain delay with one out in the last of the seventh inning, but not before doing a major part in trimming the D-Backs’ magic number for reaching the playoffs to two.

“A one-man wrecking crew,” manager Bob Melvin said.

After studying weather reports that indicated a probability of rain showers, Melvin, pitching coach Bryan Price and general manager Josh Byrnes waited until Owings had finished breakfast in the clubhouse Thursday morning before telling him of the plan.

“He went immediately into game face,” Price said.

“He could have felt a lot of different emotions. He could have felt like we were putting him behind the eight ball. He could have felt like we were overextending him. What he saw was an opportunity to help our club.

“That’s as selfless as you can get. He’s always team one, individual two. It was off-the-charts impressive.”

So Owings — told in San Francisco 2 1/2 weeks ago he would get less work down the stretch because of the D-Backs’ four off days — followed a two-hit, 5-0 shutout of the Giants on Sept. 19 with 6 1/3 more scoreless innings despite a bullpen session Wednesday to prepare for a scheduled start Friday.

“When I told him we were going to bump him, we talked about the opportunities that were going to come for him to do memorable things to affect the outcome of the season,” Price said.

“That game against San Francisco, and then today. Unbelievable. It’s a legendary effort, really. Especially if we get in the postseason we’ll be able to look back at his contributions the last couple of weeks.”

While Owings was 4-for-4, the D-Backs were 3-for-3 — beating the Pirates and the weather and saving Webb for the first game of a three-game series at Colorado that begins today.

If Webb can beat Jeff Francis in a matchup of No. 1 starters tonight, the Rockies cannot catch the D-Backs in the NL West.

“A lot went through my mind,” Owings said. “I kind of went back to the fact that I have to do the best I can for the team.

“Any time I am given the opportunity I’m going to jump at it. It just ended up a day earlier than I expected this time. After I ate, I started getting locked in.”

The D-Backs’ eight runs were one more than they scored during their three-game losing streak, and they broke on top early, when Stephen Drew homered with one out in the top of the first inning off Pirates right-hander John Van Benschoten.

Drew also had two RBI singles among the D-Backs’ 12 hits, one coming in a three-run second inning started when Augie Ojeda beat out a routine ground ball to second base for an infield single.

Owings followed with his first double, with more runs scoring on singles by Drew and Eric Byrnes. Tony Clark homered in the fifth, Drew singled in a run in the sixth and Owings doubled in the final two in the seventh.

“Absolutely huge,” Eric Byrnes said of the victory. “It was, as you guys like to call them, a must-win.”