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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- With Curt Schilling on the mound, Arizona's
recent hitting and bullpen woes were irrelevant.
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Schilling vs. Maddux:
Past four head-to-head starts
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Schilling
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Maddux
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Wins
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4
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0
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ERA
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1.06
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1.33
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Earned runs
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4
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4
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Innings
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34
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27
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Strikeouts
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35
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19
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Schilling has three complete games in past four starts vs. Maddux.
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In a home debut that couldn't have been much better, Schilling
shut out Atlanta for the second time this season as the
Diamondbacks beat the Braves and Greg Maddux 2-0 Wednesday night.
"It's a lot of fun. This is what it's all about," Schilling
said. "We went out and did what we had to do tonight against a guy
who's won four Cy Youngs."
Schilling (8-6), who graduated from high school in Phoenix 15
years ago, is 2-0 since the trade that brought him back to Arizona.
Schilling, 7-2 with a 1.69 ERA in his last 10 starts, allowed
six hits and retired the final 13 batters. He struck out four and
walked one in his fifth complete game of the season and 15th
shutout of his career.
"That's impressive," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said,
"especially against a club like Atlanta."
The 33-year-old right-hander has allowed one run in 17 innings
for the Diamondbacks, and is 3-0 against the Braves this season.
Schilling shut out Atlanta 6-0 with Philadelphia on May 6.
"I think he was a little extra pumped for his debut,"
Atlanta's Brian Jordan said. "He had the crowd behind him and he
did just what they brought him here to do."
|  | | Curt Schilling limited the Braves to just six hits. |
Jay Bell's two-out RBI double in the third inning provided
Schilling with the only run he needed. Matt Williams drove in Bell
with a single for the second run.
Maddux (12-6) lost his third straight decision. He gave up two
runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked
two, one intentionally.
"It was a good duel," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "Maddux
is not going to pitch better than that."
Maddux said Schilling wasn't at his best.
"He threw better against us the first two times (this
season)," Maddux said. "He threw good tonight, no question. But I
don't think that was his 'A' game. That tells you how good he is."
With just their third victory in 10 games, Arizona climbed back
into a virtual tie with San Francisco for first place in the NL
West.
Schilling said with the Diamondbacks struggling at the plate and
in the bullpen, the starters have to pick up the slack.
"If we're not going to score runs, we still have to win,"
Schilling said. "Regardless of the fact our offense is struggling,
they're going to hit. But if we don't score a lot of runs, that
really is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, because we still have
to win. If we don't win, we're not going to go where we want to
go."
The Diamondbacks, batting just .220 with two outs and runners in
scoring position this season, scored both of their runs with two
outs in the third.
Tony Womack had perhaps the biggest at-bat of the night. With
two outs, after fouling off several pitches, Womack walked on
Maddux's 3-2 pitch, then stole second, his 22nd steal of the
season.
"In my mind, Tony Womack makes the game today," Schilling
said. "Guys behind him got big hits, but two outs and nobody on he
works on base, and Tony's in scoring position once he's on first.
He runs a pitcher, and one of the things you can do on Greg is
run."
Bell, hitless in his previous four games and batting just .173
since July 1, doubled to right-center to drive in Womack. Williams
followed with an RBI single to left.
"That was something that we did a lot of last year, and
certainly that's the objective again this year," Bell said. "We
haven't really clicked as a team offensively this year, and
hopefully a game like tonight will jump-start us throughout the
rest of the season."
Arizona right fielder Jason Conti threw out Jordan trying to
move from first to third on B.J. Surhoff's single with no outs in
the second.
Atlanta had runners on first and second with one out in the
fourth and fifth innings, but both threats were wiped out by double
plays. Paul Bako grounded to first to start the first one, Chipper
Jones grounded one to shortstop to start the second.
Schilling and Maddux have opposed each other as starters seven
times. Schilling has won the last four, Maddux won the first three.
The two had squared off since April 10, 1998.
Game notes
Bell was back in the No. 2 spot in the batting order after
being dropped to either No. 6 or 7 the previous three games. ...
Schilling threw 105 pitches, 77 of them strikes. ... The Braves
failed to take advantage of errors by Bell at second base in the
first and Womack at shortstop in the second. ... The crowd of
40,643 put Arizona over the 2 million mark, the ninth major league
club to do so this season.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Atlanta Clubhouse
Arizona Clubhouse
RECAPS
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Curt Schilling felt Tony Womack was the key to victory against the Braves.
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