Diamondbacks Review

The Arizona Diamondbacks finished their nine game home stand with a 6-3 record and left town in a virtual tie for first place in the National League West with the streaking San Francisco Giants. Arizona won six of the last seven games during the home stand.

The Diamondbacks swept the Montreal Expos in a weekend series in which all three games were hotly contested. Arizona won the first game 6-3 behind Curt Schilling. Schilling improved his record to 6-1 and had two hits to lift his batting average by some 90 points before being retired on his last plate appearance. Mike Myers and B.K. Kim provided stellar relief work to salvage the victory. Danny Bautista, Steve Finley and Damian Miller clubbed back to back to back homers in the first inning to give the Diamondbacks a lead they never relinquished though the Expos closed to within one and had the tying runner in scoring position.

Arizona got the best effort of the season from Brian Anderson in their 6-5, 11 inning win over the Expos on April 4. Anderson left the game after the fifth inning after being struck by a line drive. Manager Bob Brenly used all of the roster players except the starting pitchers and got good results in the marathon victory.

The Diamondbacks completed the sweep of Montreal on May 5 with a 5-2 win. Mike Morgan got his first victory of the season. Rick Helling pitched well in the starting role. Arizona erased a 2-1 Montreal lead with two runs in the seventh and added two insurance runs in the eighth.

Randy Johnson suffered his first loss of the season on May 6 when the Diamondbacks fell 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates took advantage of a wild throw on an attempted double play to score the winning run in the seventh inning. The run was unearned.

The Diamondbacks got a great performance from Miguel Batista in their 7-6 win over the Pirates on May 7, but the versatile right hander did not get the win. The bullpen allowed Pittsburgh to tie the game at six in the top of the eighth. Danny Bautista collected his fourth hit of the game and drove in the winning run in the bottom of the frame. Greg Colbrunn had a homer and was three for four. Jose Guillen and Craig Counsell also had key hits. Kim was untouchable in relief, striking out the side in the ninth to preserve the victory.

Schilling gave up a three-run homer in the first inning, but shut down the Pirates the rest of the game in a 4-3 Arizona win on Wednesday. The win left Schilling with a 7-1 record, best in the majors. Junior Spivey and Counsell each had three hits. Bautista again knocked in the game-winner. Kim worked a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 10th save.

After Thursday off, the Diamondbacks opened a six-game road trip in Philadelphia against the Phillies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The team then moved to Pittsburgh for a three game set that ends tonight (May 15).

The Diamondbacks will return home to meet the Phillies again on Thursday in the first of four games. After an off day on Monday, the San Francisco Giants will be in for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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