Diamondbacks Beat Up Yankees 15-2 in World Series to Force Game Seven

NEW YORK – This time, the Arizona Diamondbacks were the team that wouldn't quit — and they wouldn't quit hitting, either.

Randy Johnson and Danny Bautista guaranteed this World Series would take one final turn, as Arizona beat the New York Yankees 15-2 Saturday night in a historic rout and set up every fan's fantasy — Game 7.

It should be a classic: Curt Schilling against the pitcher he credits with jump-starting his career, Yankees ace Roger Clemens.

After blowing two ninth-inning leads with one out to go at Yankee Stadium in Games 4 and 5, the Diamondbacks made New York pay for their pent-up frustration.

Arizona set a Series record with 22 hits and gave the Yankees their most lopsided loss in 293 postseason games. The Diamondbacks came within one run of matching the biggest rout ever in the Series.

Matt Williams doubled twice during an eight-run eruption in the third, Bautista added five RBIs and Reggie Sanders had four hits.

Luis Gonzalez hit an RBI single that made it 15-0 in the fourth and was pulled by Arizona manager Bob Brenly. Yankees manager Joe Torre yanked Derek Jeter the next inning.

By then, it was clear both teams and a sellout crowd of 49,707 at Bank One Ballpark already were looking ahead to the first Game 7 in the Series since 1997, when Florida rallied past Cleveland in 11 innings.

It will be the Yankees' first Game 7 since the 1964 World Series, when Bob Gibson led St. Louis past New York and its current pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre.

The fans were in a partying mood all night, from the moment Tony Womack led off with a double and scored on Bautista's single.

They were forgiving, too.

Reliever Byung-Hyun Kim, who gave up a pair of crushing home runs the previous two games, got a big cheer when his picture was shown on the scoreboard. The fans above the left-field bullpen even chanted, "We want Kim!" in the later innings.

Greg Colbrunn's single in the sixth gave Arizona 21 hits, breaking the mark shared by the New York Giants (1921) and St. Louis (1946).

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who skipped last weekend's games at Arizona, showed up but had nothing to cheer about. Neither did their No. 1 fan, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who attended with 25 family members of rescue workers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

They saw Johnson beat the Yankees for the second time in a week, shutting them out until the sixth inning and leaving after the seventh. He also helped out with his bat.

The Big Unit was hitting only .087 when he delivered an RBI single in the game-breaking third. He also scored two runs for the first time in his career, making him the first pitcher to do it in a Series game since Gibson in 1968.

Andy Pettitte, who won the 1998 clincher that started the Yankees' run of three straight championships, was awful. He lasted only two-plus innings, the shortest of his 24 postseason starts.

After three innings, every Arizona starter had a hit. By the fourth, they all had at least one RBI.

Jay Witasick, who relieved Pettitte, was tagged for a Series-record eight earned runs.

And even when the Diamondbacks made outs, they got on base. Jay Bell, making the first Series start of his 16-year career, struck out but reached on a wild pitch and wound up scoring in the fourth.

Bell was part of a revamped lineup that included Colbrunn and Bautista. Trying to get better swings against Pettitte, Brenly benched lefty hitters Mark Grace, Steve Finley and Craig Counsell.

Second-guessed for much of the Series, Brenly likely won't hear any complaints about his moves in this one. There was only one other thing he could have done — pull Johnson early and keep him ready to relieve Schilling, if necessary.

Schilling will start on three days' rest for the second time in the series. He won the opener, then was in position to win Game 4 before Kim blew it.

Clemens won Game 3, and will be pitching the biggest game of his Hall of Fame career.

A decade ago, in a weight room at the Astrodome during an offseason workout, Clemens chewed out Schilling, telling the young pitcher he was wasting his talent.

Chastised, Schilling started changing his ways, on and off the field. Earlier this week, Schilling said Clemens' sharp words pointed him in the right direction to becoming a top pitcher.