You wouldn’t expect too many fireworks when two of the worst offensive teams in baseball get together. There was a plethora of them, especially starting in the 9th inning. The Diamondbacks, despite blowing 2 leads, won a crazy game in Washington, 7-5 over the Nationals.

Dan Haren was, in a word, brilliant on the mound Thursday night in Washington. Too bad the defense behind him and the bullpen let him down. Haren left the game with 2 on and nobody out in the 9th. Thats when the fun started.

Mark Reynolds made 2 errors in the bottom of the 9th inning, the first of which allowed Felipe Lopez and Willie Harris to score and tie the score at 2-2. Reynolds’ miscue cost Haren a win despite his great performance. In his final start before the All-Star Game on Tuesday, Haren made a very convincing argument to be the starter for the National League squad.

The Diamondbacks, seemingly unfazed by the proceedings in the 9th inning, put up 3 more runs in the top of the 10th. Chad Tracy, Reynolds and Miguel Montero all drove in runs to make it 5-2. Then, Washington had their turn. Willie Harris singled off of Tony Pena, knocking in Pete Orr. Austin Kearns then doubled in Harris and Cristian Guzman to tie the game once again at 5-5.

Arizona finally went ahead for good in the 11th on an rbi double by Stephen Drew which plated Augie Ojeda. Chad Tracy later singled in Orlando Hudson to give the D-Backs a 5-3 lead.

Chad Qualls, who entered the game in relief of Pena in the 10th, allowed a walk, but nothing else in the 11th to pick up his 2nd win on the season.

MLB.com: Recap | Boxscore

It was a big win for the Diamondbacks. Blowing another game in which Haren was so dominant (especially against Washington) really could have been disastrous going into a tough 3-game series in Philadelphia. It was also good to see the D-Backs bats heat up in the 10th and 11th innings, they’ll need to keep that up in order to hang with a strong offensive Philadelphia.

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