His right ankle twisted in an unnatural position after an awkward slide into home, Stephen Drew’s face was etched in agony.

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Series photos | Box score | Warning graphic content: Drew injury

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Imagining the worst was easy.

And it was matched by reality: Drew suffered a fractured right ankle and is out for the season. He probably will need surgery, and manager Kirk Gibson said tests will be conducted Thursday to determine the next step.

“It’s disappointing, and we know how important Stephen is, but if you’ve been around the game a while, it’s fairly common that you’re going to lose star players,” Gibson said. “You hope it doesn’t happen to you.

“We’ll have to find a way to get through it. There’s nothing we can do about it. Wish him well, just hope that he has a good recovery, and he’ll be able to resume his career next year.”

The game, won in 10 innings by the Brewers 5-2 in front of 19,196 on Wednesday night at Chase Field, became just a footnote for a team fighting for the top spot in the National League West.

There is one overriding concern: With their slick-fielding shortstop out, what happens next? Not even Gibson had an answer.

“I couldn’t tell you,” he said. “I don’t have many answers right now.”

Gibson often has spoken about Drew’s value to the team.

“We’re going to find out, aren’t we,” he said. “I don’t know what to say about it. We’re disappointed. We had a bad start to this game, we had a bad finish to this game, so let’s absorb it.”

Willie Bloomquist, who has played the most games at shortstop behind Drew, said: “We are certainly going to miss him. He’s a huge part of this team and we are going to have to figure out a way to pick up the slack. It a tough to see something gross like that and seeing him in a lot of pain. It seems like he isn’t going to play for awhile. A guy like Stephen is a great person and to have that happen to him is real unfortunate. He’s a big part of the team.”

In an eerie coincidence, on the play after Drew’s injury, Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez, who platoons with Nyjer Morgan, suffered a fractured left clavicle after he made a diving catch on ball hit by Ryan Roberts.

Drew broke out of a 1-for-15 slump with a double to lead off the fourth inning. Chris Young hit a fly to left field that eluded a diving Ryan Braun, who quickly recovered, firing the ball to third baseman Casey McGehee. McGehee’s relay to catcher Jonathan Lucroy was on target, and replays showed that as Drew tried to tailor his slide to score, the front of his ankle appeared to to twist at a 180-degree angle.

Drew stayed on the ground for a few moments, and was helped off the field by trainers.

“You play the game, and home plate, it’s a dangerous place,” Gibson said. “It’s where collisions happen and slides happen, lot of blocking, stuff like that. It’s part of the game.’

Drew is the Diamondbacks’ longest-tenured shortstop with 718 games. Since the 2008 season, he is tied for second in the major leagues with 40 triples.

The Diamondbacks have had several players miss significant amounts of time this season. Infielder Geoff Blum (right knee inflammation) was out for 92 games; pitcher Zach Duke (broken left hand) missed 51 games, and closer J.J. Putz (right elbow tendinitis) is continuing his rehabilitation process and has been sidelined for 16 gamers.

View from the press box

Stephen Drew’s injury was gruesome and difficult to witness. There is no telling the effect it will have on the Diamondbacks from here on out, but it does leave a gaping hole because it is difficult to overstate his importance. He goes into slumps every now and then, but his play in the field is superior.

Rewind

Stinging debut: Right-hander Ryan Cook (0-1), called up from Double-A Mobile earlier in the day, went out for the 10th inning in his major-league debut. He gave up three runs, allowed three hits, threw a wild pitch and committed a balk before he was removed.

Ninth-inning strategy: Justin Upton led off the ninth inning against reliever Takashi Saito with a ground-rule double and went to third on a wild pitch. With Chris Young batting, the Brewers brought center fielder Nyjer Morgan in as a fifth infielder. Young and Ryan Roberts both grounded out to third.

The Brewers went back to their normal alignment, and they intentionally walked Kelly Johnson. Pinch-hitter Sean Burroughs flied out to end the inning.

Tough no-decision: Diamondbacks pitcher Joe Saunders (6-8) was mainly efficient but could not get the offensive support he needed. He went seven innings and allowed five hits and two runs. He labored a bit, tossing a season-high 120 pitches.

“One bad pitch (home run) to (Ryan) Braun, it was just a bad located fastball there, and good hitters are usually going to do that to you. Minimized the damage, to one run. Tried to pitch as many innings as I could and kept us in the game.”

Late rally: A two-run double by Willie Bloomquist tied the score 2-2 in the eighth inning.

In just a couple of minutes, on consecutive plays, Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew broke his right ankle sliding into home plate and Milwaukee center fielder Carlos Gomez fractured his left collar bone making a diving catch.

The Milwaukee Brewers wound up winning 5-2 in 10 innings on Wednesday night, an outcome that probably won’t mean a lot in a 162-game season. The impact of that ugly fourth-inning span will last far longer.

Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said Drew is lost for the season and probably needs surgery. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Gomez will be gone “maybe a couple of months.”

For the Diamondbacks, the loss of the man who had been their starting shortstop since the middle of the 2006 season could be devastating.

“We know how important Stephen is but if you have been around the game for a while it happens,” Gibson said. “It is fairly common that you are going to lose star players. You hope it doesn’t happen to you. We now know what the Giants are feeling (with their loss of Buster Posey). We are in a similar situation and we need to find a way to get through it. Nothing we can do about it. We wish him well just hope he has a good recovery and he resumes his career next year.”

After Drew was hurt, the Diamondbacks rallied with two runs off newly arrived reliever Francisco Rodriquez in the eighth to tie it but couldn’t push the winning run across in the ninth after Justin Upton reached third with no outs, then the Brewers gave young reliever Ryan Cook a rude welcome to the big leagues with a three-run 10th inning.

“It was a tough night overall,” Arizona starter Joe Saunders said.

Ryan Braun homered in the first inning for the second night in a row, then singled to bring in the second run in the 10th. Nyjer Morgan singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th, and Rickie Weeks had the third RBI hit of the inning.

What would have been another home run for Braun in the eighth was reversed when umpires viewed a replay and called it a foul ball.

Drew, the anchor of the Diamondbacks’ defense, was hurt sliding into home plate in the fourth inning, pinning his right foot beneath him. He lay grimacing face-down, signaling for help from the dugout. He was assisted from the field, and the team announced a short time later that surgery was likely.

On the next play, Gomez made a terrific grab of Ryan Roberts’ short flyball, but came up in obvious pain and was assisted off the field.

“It’s a big loss for us,” Roenicke said of the Gomez’s injury. “If he doesn’t make that catch, we probably don’t win the game.”

Milwaukee climbed into first in the NL Central, a half-game ahead of Pittsburgh. Arizona spoiled a chance to gain ground on first-place San Francisco in the NL West, remaining 3½ behind the Giants.

Arizona tied the game in the eighth with a two-out, two-run double off Rodriguez by Willie Bloomquist, who shifted from left field to shortstop when Drew was hurt.

Cook (0-1), a top prospect with a fastball in the mid to upper 90s, faced four batters in the 10th without getting an out, giving up three hits, with one walk, a wild pitch and a balk. Takashi Saito (2-1) pitched a scoreless but eventful ninth to get the victory. John Axford threw a scoreless 10th for his 26th save in 28 tries.

Drew, hitless in his previous nine at-bats and in a 4-for-34 slump, led off the fourth with a double off the fence in right field, his 750th career base hit. After one out, Chris Young hit one down the left field line. Braun made an outstanding, short-hop stop, then threw to third baseman Casey McGehee, whose perfect relay to catcher Jonathan Lucroy got there just ahead of Drew.

“I wasn’t really blocking (the plate),” Lucroy said. “I gave him room to slide. I had my foot in front of him, that was it. He just slid and it was just an unfortunate accident, kind of a freak thing.”

The Diamondbacks had the winning run on third with no outs in the ninth and failed to get him home after the Brewers switched to an unusual defense.

Upton led off with a ground-rule double and took third on Saito’s wild pitch. Then the Brewers brought Braun in as a fifth infielder, stationing him just to the third base side of second. Morgan shifted to left, leaving center field open. Young and Roberts both bounced out to third. Milwaukee went back to a conventional defense, intentionally walked Kelly Johnson, then pinch-hitter Sean Burroughs flew out to center to send the game into extra innings.

“The game was won in the bottom of the ninth with Saito,” said Brewers starter Chris Narveson, who blanked the Diamondbacks through seven innings. “That was an unbelievable job for him to be able to get out of that. We were able to build some momentum off of it and come back and win.”

NOTES: Arizona RHP Barry Enright, called up on Tuesday, was sent back to Triple-A Reno on Wednesday after his disastrous Tuesday night start, when he allowed six runs on seven hits in three innings in an 11-3 Diamondbacks loss. … Milwaukee and Arizona rank 1-2 in homers in the NL, the Brewers with 112, the Diamondbacks 108. … Young is the only Arizona player to appear in every game this season; 1B Prince Fielder is the lone Brewer to play in every contest. …. Temperature outside at game time was 107 degrees, inside Chase Field it was 80.

Tonight’s pitching matchup: Diamondbacks LHP Joe Saunders (6-8, 3.89) vs. Brewers LHP Chris Narveson (6-6, 4.74).

Diamondbacks: Saunders was dealt a loss in his most-recent appearance, giving up four runs and five hits to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before that, Saunders had been 3-0 in his past four starts. During that span, Saunders went seven innings three times and allowed five runs.
Brewers: Narveson is 2-1 in his past four starts. He allowed three runs and five hits in his most-recent outing, against the Colorado Rockies, but took the loss. This is his first matchup with the Diamondbacks this season.

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(Sports Network) – Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder will make his
return to Chase Field tonight less than a week after he captured MVP honors in
the All-Star Game.

Arizona fans expressed their displeasure with Fielder, who did not select
hometown favorite Justin Upton for the Home Run Derby, but turned those jeers
into cheers when Fielder led the NL to victory with a three-run homer in a 5-1
triumph. D’Backs fans will most likely root against the bulky first baseman
again Monday in the opener of a four-game series.

Fielder went 0-for-3 with two walks and a run scored in Milwaukee’s 4-3 win at
Colorado on Sunday, as the Brewers earned a split of a four-game set from
Coors Field. Casey McGehee had two hits and two RBI, Mark Kotsay and George
Kottaras each knocked in a run and Rickie Weeks ended with two hits and a run
scored for Milwaukee, which has won six of nine games and is 2-2 on an 11-game
road trip.

Brewers starter Shaun Marcum allowed two runs on four hits and three walks
over five-plus innings while striking out four before leaving the game in the
sixth with a neck strain. Relievers LaTroy Hawkins, Takashi Saito, Francisco
Rodriguez and John Axford held the Rockies to an unearned run the rest of the
way, with Axford collecting his 25th save.

“I was just trying to make pitches,” said Axford. “Whether it’s a strikeout or
getting a ground ball like I did there, I’m just trying to go after the next
guy, mix it up, make them off balance. I think that was the biggest thing, I
didn’t want to put anything in there to let them bloop it over or pop
something into the outfield.”

Milwaukee All-Star outfielder Ryan Braun was not in the starting lineup
because of a left calf strain that forced him out of Saturday’s game. He
pinch-hit in the ninth on Sunday and grounded out to end the inning. Braun is
listed as day-to-day and missed the last eight games before the All-Star
break. Mark Kotsay started in left field on Sunday and went 2-for-4.

The Brewers will also visit San Francisco for three games on this trek and sit
a half-game ahead of both Pittsburgh and St. Louis for the NL Central lead.
The Reds are 3 1/2 games off the pace.

Meanwhile, Randy Wolf lost to the Diamondbacks in a 7-3 setback on July 5 at
Miller Park and looks for a measure of revenge tonight. Wolf was tagged for
seven runs and 10 hits in six innings of work, but is still a decent 10-4 with
a less-desirable 4.77 ERA in 19 career starts in this series.

Wolf did not record a decision in his most recent outing, a 4-3 win over
Cincinnati at home on July 10. He allowed three runs — two earned — and
seven hits in seven innings that day to remain at 6-6 in 19 starts, while
lowering his earned run average to 3.65.

The veteran left-hander is 3-4 in 10 road assignments this season.

Arizona won two of three matchups with Los Angeles over the weekend to kick
off a 10-game homestand and recorded a 4-1 win over the Dodgers in Sunday’s
series finale.

Starting pitcher Daniel Hudson was superb on the mound and at the plate,
tossing a complete game with three strikeouts and no walks. He allowed one run
and five hits and also finished with a home run and three RBI. Hudson had a
solo homer in the sixth and a two-run single in the seventh inning.

“The guy pitches, the guy hits, they guy pitches into the ninth inning. He
throws strong every time he is out,” said Ryan Roberts, who also homered. “He
has been phenomenal and swinging the bat has been a huge plus.”

The Diamondbacks will also host Colorado on this residency and are 3 1/2 games
behind San Francisco for NL West supremacy.

D’Backs rookie Josh Collmenter hasn’t won since June 3 versus Washington and
draws the start tonight. Collmenter is 0-4 in his previous six starts and did
not record a decision in a 3-1 loss at Milwaukee on July 6, when he fired six
shutout innings of three-hit ball. It was his first appearance against the
Brewers.

Collmenter, a right-hander, remained at 4-5 on the season with a 2.92 ERA in
18 games (11 starts) and is coming off three straight road outings. He is 3-2
in eight games (4 starts) at home.

Arizona won two of three meetings with Milwaukee earlier this month at Miller
Park, but the Brewers have won 10 of the past 17 contests in this series.

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