By Greg Dillard

Lyle Overbay received an invitation to the D-backs’ World Championship Reunion Weekend at Chase Field.

After all, the first baseman was a rookie during Arizona’s magical 2001 World Series title run. However, Overbay didn’t expect to actually attend the festivities this September.

He began the season as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and wouldn’t have been able to travel to Phoenix during the regular season. But as things would have it, Overbay attended Saturday’s game against the Padres in a big way. The left-handed hitter drove in two game-tying RBI in the game and collected three hits in four at-bats, including a home run and a double.

Since becoming a D-back on August 13, Overbay now has eight RBI.

Arizona headed into the bottom of the ninth, facing with a 5-3 deficit. First it was Chris Young who crushed a solo home run off San Diego closer Heath Bell into the left field bleachers. That long ball was Young’s 20th of the season and inched the D-backs to within a single run.

One batter later, Overbay stepped into the plate and quickly faced an 0-2 count. That’s when he deposited another Bell offering into the left-field stands to tie the game at 5-5.

“It’s one of those things where I knew he was going to try to throw the fastball,” Overbay said. “CY just got beat with the slider, so I knew if he was going to throw one it would be in the dirt. He elevated the one pitch before, so I thought he might do that again. It just didn’t get as high as maybe as he wanted.”

The back-to-back home runs off Bell sent the 48,000-plus fans in attendance into a frenzy.

“To be able to hit two home runs off Heath Bell?” manager Kirk Gibson said. “Has that ever happened in the ninth inning? We were very fortunate to come back on a guy who is so good.”

The ballgame headed to extra innings, and Overbay once again came to the plate in a clutch situation. With the bases loaded and two outs, he worked a four-pitch walk to force in the winning run and send the D-backs into a walk-off victory.

The win was Arizona’s 42nd comeback victory of the season and its 15^th consecutive win at Chase Field.

Overall, Saturday night was a unique one for Overbay as he got to celebrate the 2001 squad while also powering his team to a come-from-behind win.

“It’s fun,” Overbay said. “It’s good to see those guys. We had to represent and got to show for them. It’s something where this team wants to go. We’re jealous of them, and we’ll do anything we can to get to that spot.”

For D-backs single-game tickets, CLICK HERE.