"If you were looking for positives from the Diamondbacks' 13-1 drilling of the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night, it was hard to pick between the franchise-record-tying six homers or the pitching they got from Ian Kennedy. After all, the right-hander not only avoided nearly being decapitated by a line drive, he shrugged off being hit by a hard comebacker in the right thigh to throw his best game of the season. Ask manager A.J. Hinch what he liked best as the Diamondbacks began a five-game homestand, and he found something different. "Just the win. A win at home. It's been awhile for that," Hinch said, noting his team lost all six games in its previous stand at Chase Field. "But this was a pretty good all-around game for us. That was some explosive offense and a really, really good pitching performance out of Kennedy. That's about as much as we can ask out of him and our team. That was pretty flawless baseball and a long time coming." Kennedy was spectacular in eight innings, allowing one run and three hits with a season-high nine strikeouts. Even more impressive, he did much of his best work after being struck on the leg by a hard-hit ball from Aaron Rowand in the third inning. He managed to recover the ball and throw out Rowand at first and after a few warm-up pitches stayed in the game. "I couldn't feel my leg, honestly," said Kennedy, who improved to 3-2. "It was one of the hardest dead legs I've ever had. "Early on, I was a little jumpy, and it actually helped me, I think. I stayed back under my legs and didn't try to work too hard. It kind of kept me under control." It wasn't the only time he had to dodge the ball. In the first inning, Pablo Sandoval hit a line drive that came screaming toward his head. He ducked out of the way just in time. "I heard it go by. It just missed me," Kennedy said. "I mentioned that to (Sandoval) at third base, too." Sandoval's hit drove in the Giants' only run of the game and after that, all the offense belonged to the Diamondbacks. Most of it came via the long ball, which has evaded them for the better part of a week. But in smacking six home runs for just the second time since first doing it in July 2006 at Wrigley Field, the cold spell appears to be over." http://www.azcentral.com/sports/dia...a-diamondbacks-rout-san-francisco-giants.html
