Webb of confusion-Arizona's ace allows four runs in Game 1 loss
PHOENIX Jeff Francis and the Colorado Rockies rolled right past the Arizona Diamondbacks?and their rowdy fans. Francis outpitched Brandon Webb and the Rockies won the NL championship series opener 5-1 Thursday night in a game interrupted when fans angered by an umpire's disputed interference call threw objects onto the field. Umpires pulled the teams off the field during the eight-minute delay in the bottom of the seventh inning. Crew chief Tim McClelland told Rockies manager Clint Hurdle to have Francis throw a pitch and "fight through it." Once play resumed, the wild-card Rockies escaped a jam in their NLCS debut and won for the 18th time in 19 games. Game 2 is Friday night in Phoenix, with Arizona lefty Doug Davis facing hard-throwing Colorado rookie Ubaldo Jimenez. Francis dominated while Rockies hitters, coming off a first-round sweep over Philadelphia, patiently waited out Webb. Then again, they were familiar with the 2006 NL Cy Young winner?this was the seventh time he started against Colorado this year. Colorado's lone loss during its streak came to Webb and the Diamondbacks at Coors Field on Sept. 28. This time, the Rockies won by bunching singles against the Arizona ace?it was the first time this season they won without an extra-base hit. "Our offense can find a lot of ways to win games," Francis said. "It's been fun to have them behind me this year." On a hot night in the desert?it 93 degrees outside at gametime?tempers flared after a relatively calm six innings. Down 5-1, Arizona put runners at runners at first and second with no outs in the seventh. Augie Ojeda bounced to third baseman Garrett Atkins, who threw to second baseman Kaz Matusi. Justin Upton, running from first base, slid over second base and then rolled his right shoulder into Matsui's left leg, knocking the infielder to the ground. Second base umpire Larry Vanover immediately called Upton out for interference, resulting in a double play. Fans started throwing water bottles onto the field from the upper decks. When more debris followed, umpires told the teams to get back in the dugouts. Play was suspended with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning because fans, irate with an interference call against Justin Upton, began throwing bottles and other objects onto the field. About eight minutes later, the Rockies returned to the field after admonishments from the public address announcer that anyone throwing objects on the field would be ejected. "It was just fans being upset. It's too bad," Rockies right fielder Brad Hawpe said. "A few like that label a lot of people, but sounds like the other fans took care of it and were pulling the people out who were throwing stuff at us." Even though thousands of tickets were available at midweek, a capacity crowd of 48,142 attended. Francis threw just one more pitch, giving up a bunt single to pinch-hitter Jeff Cirillo. Matt Herges relieved and walked Chris Young, loading the bases. The Rockies brought Jeremy Affeldt from the bullpen, and he retired Stephen Drew on a fly ball to end the threat. The game ended on a bad baserunning play by Arizona. Miguel Montero singled with two outs, but was tagged out when he overslid second base trying for a double. Webb and the Diamondbacks swept the Chicago Cubs in the first round. Arizona kept it going in the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead on a single by Drew and a double by Eric Byrnes. Hawpe, long a nemesis of Webb, drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in Colorado's three-run third inning. Hawpe, who also singled, improved to 15-of-40 (.375) against Webb with 14 RBIs. Matsui's RBI single brought home the speedy Willy Taveras with the go-ahead run earlier in the third. Taveras, who missed the previous 24 games with a thigh strain, had singled and stolen second without a throw. The Rockies also got a break in the inning when Matt Holliday's trickler down the third-base line started foul before swerving fair and rolling into the bag. Webb, who won a career-best 18 games in the regular season, allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings. Colorado added an unearned run in the seventh when first baseman Conor Jackson bobbled Matsui's grounder, allowing Yorvit Torrealba to score from third. The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs in the second but managed only one run. Todd Helton and Atkins singled, then Hawpe walked on a 3-2 pitch. That brought up Troy Tulowitzki, who was 11-for-23 with the bases loaded this season. But he bounced into a double play, allowing a run to score, and Webb fanned Torrealba with consecutive change-ups to end the inning.

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