The Diamondbacks declined to offer salary arbitration to pitchers Joe Saunders and Micah Owings, and although that doesn’t mean they won’t bring one or both pitchers back, they did add to their bullpen with the reported signing of veteran free-agent Takashi Saito.

General Manager Kevin Towers is out of the country and wasn’t immediately available for comment, but according to sources and various reports, the one-year deal for Saito was in the process of being finalized Tuesday.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, did offer salary arbitration to its remaining arbitration-eligible players – catcher Miguel Montero, third baseman Ryan Roberts and relievers Brad Ziegler and newcomer Craig Breslow.

The Diamondbacks traded for Breslow and starting pitcher Trevor Cahill last week. Acquiring Cahill could make Saunders expendable, although the team has had hopes of resigning him.

However, the Diamondbacks were not willing to pay Saunders the $8.5 million he likely would have been awarded in arbitration, which is why they declined the offer. They did extend a two-year offer to Saunders, but he refused it and made a counter offer that the team refused in turn.

Assistant general manager Billy Ryan told the team’s website that both Saunders and Owings could still be brought back, saying, “We communicated to them that we are still open to dialogue and encouraged them to keep the lines of communication open.”

The additions of Saito and Breslow would seem to make it less likely Owings will return, however.

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks have re-signed catcher Henry Blanco to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2013.

The deal was announced Thursday.

Blanco declined a $1.15 million mutual option for 2012 on Tuesday, a day after the team exercised its end.

He hit .250 with eight homers and 12 RBIs as Arizona’s backup catcher last season. The 40-year-old from Venezuela served as a mentor for young All-Star catcher Miguel Montero and was a sturdy leader in the clubhouse for a team that won the NL West after consecutive 90-loss seasons.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MILWAUKEE – The Brewers scored the winning run against Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz in the bottom of the 10th, but there were other moments that stood out to teammates that cost them in a 3-2, 10-inning loss in Game 5 of their division series Friday.

Most of them came with a Diamondbacks baserunner standing on second or third.

“We had a lot of chances,” Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero said. “A lot. Way too many. But we couldn’t capitalize.”

They seemed to have Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo on the ropes on a couple occasions, and they had opportunities against relievers Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford, but they fell at least one big hit shy of extending their season.

They had a runner on second in the first, two men on in the second, two more in the sixth against Gallardo, but the only run they had off him came on a Justin Upton solo home run in the third.

Against Rodriguez in the eighth, they had first and second with one out and loaded the bases with two away but failed to score. And even after tying the score against Axford in the ninth, they were unable to get the go-ahead run home from second with nobody out.

“How many guys did we leave on base?” Montero asked.

The answer? Eleven. The Diamondbacks went just 2 for 11 with men in scoring position, and only one of those hits – Willie Bloomquist’s safety-squeeze bunt – drove home a run.

“But they pitched great in tough situations,” he said. “You’ve got to tip your hat to those guys.”

Can’t stop ‘em

The Diamondbacks have prided themselves this season on being able to shut down the opponents’ running game, but they couldn’t keep the Brewers’ Carlos Gomez, perhaps the fastest player in the league, from stealing second in the 10th inning.

Gomez took off on a 1-0 fastball from Putz, a pitch that catcher Henry Blanco couldn’t come up with cleanly. Blanco said he saw that Gomez had a good jump and tried to hurry.

“I was just trying to be too quick, and the ball came out of my glove,” he said. “I don’t think we were going to get him, anyway. In that situation, I was trying to do the impossible. You never know what can happen, but it didn’t come out right.”

Rally starter

No one seemed surprised it was Gerardo Parra who started the ninth-inning rally, even if Parra had come to the plate hitless in 17 at-bats in the series.

“He just has that fight in him, as the entire team does,” center fielder Chris Young said. “Watching him walk to the plate that at-bat you wouldn’t have known he was (hitless). He went up there confident. He went up there aggressive. And he came up huge for us. It could have been a game changer.”

Said Upton: “We went over to ‘G’ and patted him on the butt and told him this was a big at-bat for us. He went out and stepped up for us.”

Short hops

Though it was a perfect autumn day in Milwaukee, officials from Major League Baseball opted to have the Miller Park roof closed, saying that they wanted conditions to be the same for Game 5 as they were for the first two games of the series. Many wondered if shadows would play a factor in the late-afternoon start time, but it didn’t appear to be the case.

- The Diamondbacks, who lost all three games at Miller Park, scored just seven runs here. They scored 18 in two games at Chase Field. Of their 25 runs, 18 came via home runs.

Diamondbacks left fielder Gerardo Parra said there is nothing wrong mechanically in his swing.

He said there is nothing amiss with his mind-set. He feels no fear or nerves in his first step onto the postseason stage.

The box scores would argue that something is not right with him. Parra, a .292 hitter this season, is hitless in 15 playoff at-bats. He never went four consecutive starts without a hit during the regular season.

Manager Kirk Gibson said Parra had been pressing and impatient entering Game 4 but added that he would stick with him. Parra hit three grounders, reaching once on an error, and struck out. Six of his 14 outs have been strikeouts.

“I feel good,” Parra said Thursday. “I know I’m hitting. (Friday) is another day. Maybe (Friday) is a big day for me and a big game, too. The last four games, that’s over.

“I’ll stay comfortable and relaxed so I can hit the ball good. I feel comfortable. I feel happy because we’ve won the last two games. I’m going to stay positive that (Friday) is the big day. I see the ball good. I’ve got good contact. Now I think if I get one base hit, that a couple more will be coming.”

A major reason Gibson sticks with Parra is his defense, which rewarded him in Game 4 when Parra got a good jump on a bases-loaded drive by Corey Hart and caught it on the run in the park’s deepest area.

“When he made contact, I was thinking, ‘I got the ball, I got the ball, I got the ball,’ because that’s a big out,” Parra said. “When I got it, I said, ‘That’s my game.’ When you don’t get a base hit, you need to go to defense and play hard and be ready for everything.”

Still rookies?

It might not have been to the level of Josh Collmenter’s do-or-die win or Paul Goldschmidt’s grand slam from Game 3, but Collin Cowgill kept the theme of clutch Diamondbacks rookies alive in Game 4.

Gibson called on Cowgill to make his career playoff debut with two outs and two on in the third inning Wednesday night. Cowgill pulled a 2-0 slider for a single, scoring two to give the Diamondbacks a 7-3 lead.

“There were some nerves there, but nothing that I haven’t experienced before since I’ve been here,” Cowgill said. “I feel like I’ve had a few months in here now, and I’m prepared for whatever the game offers me.”

Cowgill started slow after being called up but had 15 hits in his last 41 at bats to finish his two-month, regular-season run at .239.

Take 2 vs. Gallardo

The Diamondbacks will face Milwaukee Game 1 winner Yovani Gallardo – and the Miller Park daytime shadows – again. The pairing foiled the Diamondbacks on Saturday, when they managed four hits and struck out nine times in eight innings against Gallardo.

“People talk about approach so much, like, ‘What plan do you change?’ or ‘What adjustment do you have to make?’ ” Diamondbacks center fielder Chris Young said. “Gallardo is going to make different pitches this game than he did last game. It’s just how the game goes. He could miss his spot and we take advantage of it. I’m sure he messed his spots a few times. We just didn’t square it up when he did.”

The Diamondbacks had two of the hits in the first inning off Gallardo, but Miguel Montero hit into an inning-ending double play.

Gallardo retired 14 of 15 Diamondbacks in one stretch.

“It’s all about if we’re able to get on him early, to get him uncomfortable,” Young said. “We had him on the ropes, I think in the first inning the last time we faced him. Maybe if we’re able to come through in a situation like that early in the game it changes the outcome of everything else.

“It’s all about staying relaxed. We have our plan against him. By no means are we going to change it too much. We’re going to still try to be aggressive.”

The Diamondbacks also face a crowd that was already rowdy for Games 1 and 2 – and that was without having their team’s postseason life on the line as it is Friday.

“They’re crazy,” shortstop Willie Bloomquist said. “They get into the game, and it’s a whole lot of fun. It was pretty loud and electric the first two games, but I imagine it’ll probably magnify a little bit more. That’s what makes baseball fun. That’s what we’re looking forward to.”

Slaying beasts

Though some have called the Brewers’ “Beast Mode” celebration unprofessional, Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz doesn’t have a problem with it.

“There’s been teams in the past that have had quirky little things that just kind of works for them,” Putz said. “My opinion is, you know, if you don’t give up hits, you don’t get to see ‘Beast Mode.’ So it’s our job to keep those guys off base.

“It’s no different than the guy pimping a homer or pimping a strikeout. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I don’t think they’re trying to show anybody up by doing it. It’s just something they do to have fun.”

Republic reporter Nick Piecoro contributed to this article.

MILWAUKEE – The Diamondbacks will look across the field Saturday and see a team with power and speed, a lineup capable of scoring in a variety of ways, and they’ll see a club with a solid rotation and shutdown relief.

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How the 2011 D-Backs were built | Sizing up the Brewers | D-Backs’ postseason

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In many ways, the Diamondbacks will see a mirror image of themselves when they face the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series. First pitch for Game 1 is set for 11:07 a.m. Saturday at Miller Park.

“I feel like we’re a lot alike,” Diamondbacks center fielder Chris Young said. “They’re an exciting ballclub, as well. They have a mixture of good pitching and an exciting offense, like we do. It should be fun. We’ve played good games against those guys all year so it should be exciting to watch.”

The Brewers largely depend upon a pair of MVP candidates in the middle of their lineup in left fielder Ryan Braun and first baseman Prince Fielder, but they have other dangerous hitters, including Rickie Weeks, Nyjer Morgan and Corey Hart.

They have a former Cy Young Award winner in right-hander Zack Greinke and another right-hander, Yovani Gallardo, who reached the 200-strikeout mark for the third consecutive season.

“They’ve got some very powerful players and an interesting mix of speed,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “They’re very aggressive, much like we are. Fielder and Braun are exceptional. Their pitching staff is pretty solid.”

Braun finished second in the league with a .332 average, slammed 33 home runs and was 33 of 39 in stolen base attempts. Fielder hit 38 home runs and hit .291 with a .415 on-base percentage.

The Diamondbacks played competitively against the Brewers during the season, taking four of seven games, but they seemed to catch them at the right times. Braun played in only three of the games, and Fielder looked out of sorts offensively during a four-game series in Phoenix in July.

The Brewers were five games over .500 in late July before going on a 27-5 tear to take charge in the NL Central. They finished by winning nine of 12 games to hold off the Diamondbacks for home-field advantage.

“They’ve got good momentum going,” Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero said. “They’ve been playing pretty good in the second half. I don’t know if it’s going to be the same team that we played earlier. It’s the same players, but the momentum is a little different.”

Knowing that Fielder would eligible for free agency after this season, the Brewers began bolstering their club in the off-season in hopes of making one last run with their best players intact.

They added a pair of frontline starters in December, bringing in Greinke in a deal with Kansas City and adding the underrated Shawn Marcum in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. They added another major piece in July, acquiring closer Francisco Rodriguez from the Mets and plugging him into a setup role.

“When you have those kinds of years you hope to have, most of your moves have to work,” Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “And you have to have surprises from people you don’t even count on.”

Read More: Ian Kennedy (P – ARI), Eric Surkamp (P – SFG), Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants

Any concern that the Arizona Diamondbacks were going to have a let down or perhaps suffer hangover effects from their celebration the previous night were quickly nullified. The D-backs pounced on the Giants in the first inning and knocked San Francisco starter Eric Surkamp out of the game before the frame was over.

The offensive explosion spotted Ian Kennedy to a 6-1 lead which was far more than he needed to carry the team to a leisurely victory. Kennedy finished with five hits and two runs allowed six innings of work. Kennedy added his own bat to the party with a two-run double.

The scoring kicked off with a Ryan Roberts single which plated two of the three runners who had walked ahead of him. It was all down hill from there for a Giants pitching staff that played like their season is over…which is pretty much is.

The Diamondbacks rout was led by Gerardo Parra’s four RBI night with Roberts knocking in three. Parra got the start in right field in place of Justin Upton who was given the day off. Catcher Henry Blanco also say action in place of Miguel Montero and contributed an RBI triple to the cause.

The Diamondbacks remain one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the race for home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. 

The game was delayed for almost 30 minutes in the seventh inning when the lights at Chase Field went out.

Josh Collmenter pitches for Arizona on Sunday to wrap up the series with the Giants.