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RECAP
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Maybe returning to the ballpark where he
usually hit well during eight Pirates seasons was what Jay Bell
needed to get his bat going.
|  | | Diamondbacks starting pitcher Armando Reynoso allowed four hits in seven innings Friday. |
Armando Reynoso held Pittsburgh to a run over seven innings and
Bell, slumping badly for two months, drove in Arizona's first two
runs in a 6-1 victory over the Pirates on Friday night.
Bell, who played on three NL East championship teams in Three
Rivers Stadium from 1990-92, was batting .218 since June 1 before
his RBI single in the fifth and run-scoring double in the seventh.
"We have to pick it up offensively a little," said Bell, who
has 11 homers, down from 38 a year ago. "I saw a stat that we have
only been over five runs only twice in a month and a half. We'd
rather take that pressure off the pitchers, get them some runs and
make it easier."
Luis Gonzalez -- hitting .500 against Pittsburgh (14-of-28) -- finished up Arizona's go-ahead, three-run seventh inning with a two-run, two-out homer off Dan Serafini (1-1). It was the
Diamondbacks' first homer in four games.
"The thing that we did last year that we haven't done as much
of this year is get two-out rallies," Gonzalez said. "We had
those tonight."
Gonzalez's 25th homer followed Tony Womack's two-out single and
Bell's double in an inning that would have been bigger if rookie
Jason Conti hadn't been thrown out at the plate by center fielder
Adrian Brown trying to score on Womack's single.
"I had a break go my way, but then I gave him (Bell) a hittable
pitch to hit and that turned it around," Serafini said.
The Diamondbacks failed to homer in the final three games of a
4-5 homestand that ended with two losses to Montreal, including a
4-3 loss Wednesday when Geraldo Guzman -- making his first career
relief appearance -- couldn't preserve a late-inning lead for Randy Johnson.
That loss dropped the Diamondbacks three games behind San
Francisco in the NL West, their largest deficit in more than a
year. Arizona cut it two games Friday when the Giants lost to the
Mets 4-1.
"Last year at this time was when we really started to make our
run," Gonzalez said. "Obviously, we're behind now and we'd much
rather be in first, but I think we've got confidence. As badly as
we've played the last month in a half, we're still in it. We have the players, now it's up to us."
Reynoso (9-7) gave Arizona another well-pitched game, limiting
the Pirates to four singles over seven innings to halt a personal
four-game road losing streak. He didn't allow a hit until Aramis
Ramirez's infield single leading off the fifth, which led to Alex
Ramirez's RBI single, and struck out three and walked three.
"He's a pitcher who's never going to give in, and you've got to
get him on a night when he doesn't have real good control,"
Pirates manager Gene Lamont said.
Greg Swindell pitched the eighth and Byung-Hyun Kim, just back a
trip to Triple-A Tucson to work some mechanical flaws, finished up
the combined four-hitter in the ninth.
"If he can do that (setup) job for us again, that's going to be
big," manager Buck Showalter said. "It looks like they did an
excellent job repairing it in Tucson."
The Pirates failed to homer for the fifth consecutive game while
losing their third in a row and eighth in 10 games. They are a
season-low 18 games under .500 at 48-66 and have a better chance of
losing 90 games than winning the 90 that owner Kevin McClatchy
suggested before the season.
Serafini, a former Cubs reliever and Twins first-round draft
pick, gave up seven hits and four runs and walked four in 6 2-3
innings in his second Pirates start.
Serafini couldn't help himself at the plate in the fifth,
failing to get a bunt down before striking out with runners on
first and second and a run in. Adrian Brown then hit into an
inning-ending force play.
Greg Colbrunn and Danny Bautista added run-scoring singles in
the ninth off Jeff Wallace, who returned earlier in the day from
Triple-A Nashville.
Game notes
The Pirates are 10-18 since the All-Star break. ... Womack
stole third base ahead of Bell's double, his 32nd steal and sixth
in seven games. ... Arizona OF Steve Finley sat out a second
successive game after receiving an injection Wednesday for a sore
lower back. ... Some Diamondbacks players and staff attended the
Panthers-Steelers preseason game Thursday night. ... Reynoso had
lost his two most recent starts against Pittsburgh. His only career
complete game was against the Pirates in 1993. ... Arizona is 7-1
in Three Rivers Stadium since joining the NL in 1998. ... Conti, a
former Pitt player from suburban Pittsburgh, left tickets for 43
family members and friends. ... Pirates RF Alex Ramirez, who
dropped an apparent game-ending fly ball in the ninth inning
Wednesday to give Colorado a gift 4-3 victory, also misplayed
Bautista's single for another ninth-inning error. ... Lamont said
Serafini, who was used mostly by the Cubs to get left-handed
hitters, will stay in the starting rotation.
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