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Sunday, Aug. 13 1:35pm ET
Colbrunn leads way for D-Backs | |||||
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks benefitted from this rule of pennant-race baseball: Winning isn't always dictated by how your starters start, but how your finishers finish. Greg Colbrunn homered and drove in three runs and Arizona's bullpen shut out Pittsburgh after the fourth inning, rallying the Diamondbacks past the Pirates 7-6 Sunday. Mike Morgan (5-3) pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory, Byung-Hyun Kim followed with two hitless innings and Matt Mantei finished up as the Diamondbacks overcame deficits of 2-0, 4-3 and 6-4. "Our bullpen came in and threw some zeros and we were able to come back," Morgan said. "Kim was outstanding again; we haven't been able to get to our closer lately, and he made sure we did." Kim has struck out four in three hitless relief innings since a brief demotion to Triple-A Tucson to work on his delivery. "The reason we sent him down was to get him pitching like this. He's come back and had two good outings," manager Buck Showalter said. "We need him to get to the ninth." The Diamondbacks' second victory in the three-game series -- they blew two leads in losing 9-6 Saturday -- and the Mets' 2-0 victory over San Francisco cut Arizona's deficit in the NL West to one game. "We knew what the (Giants') score was because it was right there in front of us, but I can't say we were thinking about it," Jay Bell said. Colbrunn had a two-run homer off Bronson Arroyo (2-5) that tied it at 6 in the fifth. Luis Gonzalez followed with a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth. Gonzalez went 2-for-3 and was 19-of-35 (.543) in the season series against Pittsburgh. Matt Williams, hitless in 12 at-bats before homering in the ninth inning Saturday, was 3-for-5 with two RBI as the Diamondbacks finished 8-2 in Three Rivers Stadium, which closes after this season. The never-on-Sunday Pirates, 18 games under .500 at 49-67, still can't see the light of day after losing their ninth in 12 games -- and their ninth in a row on Sunday. They are 3-15 on Sundays and have lost their last eight home day games, dating to May 14. Brian Giles hit a two-run homer in the first off Diamondbacks starter Brian Anderson, who opposed Pirates rookie Jimmy Anderson in the third Anderson-vs.-Anderson matchup this season. Jimmy Anderson couldn't hold the lead in the shortest of his five starts since returning from the minors, leaving after five successive singles by the top of the Arizona order made it 3-2 in the third. Tony Womack started the inning by beating out an infield single on a play the Pirates thought he was out, and Anderson never got another out. Jay Bell and Williams had RBI singles. The Pirates retook the lead at 4-3 on their second two-run homer, by Kevin Young off Brian Anderson in the third. Young went 4-for-5. Williams' second RBI single in as many innings tied it in the fourth, but the Pirates went ahead 6-4 in their half of the inning as the two teams combined for 20 hits, 10 apiece, through four innings. "Right now, I'd have trouble getting out a good college team," said Brian Anderson, who allowed six runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings. "It's ugly. It's not even borderline, I'm missing by 2 or 3 feet. I've got no ideas, I got no answers." Colbrunn tied it again in the fifth with his eighth homer, after Arroyo walked Steve Finley. "The big hit was the homer by Colbrunn," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. "We were holding them down until then, but they kept putting the runs up on us." Arizona won despite having two runners thrown out at the plate in successive innings, Gonzalez by center fielder Adrian Brown in the third and Bell by right fielder Emil Brown in the fourth. Matt Williams exchanged words with animated Pirates reliever Josias Manzanillo who screamed after Williams flied out in the sixth, but there was no incident. "Matt thought he was talking to him, and he wasn't," Lamont said. "But I can't blame Matt for thinking he was." Womack left in the fourth with irritation in his left knee. He will be re-evaluated Monday in Philadelphia, but doesn't expect to go on the disabled list. Game notesJimmy Anderson allowed three runs and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings after going 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA since returning from the minors. ... Young is 17-for-41 (.415) in August. ... Arizona is 18-7 against Pittsburgh since joining the NL in 1998. ... Gonzalez was 6-for-11 with two homers and 5 RBIs in the series. ... Colbrunn is 11-for-24 (.458) during a six-game hitting streak. ... Mantei converted his ninth save in 11 chances. ... Arizona made a post-game roster move, putting reliever Johnny Ruffin (groin) on the disabled list and recalling OF David Dellucci from Tucson. Ruffin allowed a grand slam to Aramis Ramirez on Saturday. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Arizona Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse Stargell's latest health woes create void in Pirates front office
RECAPS Tampa Bay 5 Chi. White Sox 3
Arizona 7
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