PHOENIX (AP)—Becoming NL West champions has been a notion off in the
distance for the Arizona Diamondbacks for weeks, something plausible, yet still
just out of reach.

Now that it’s closer to becoming a reality, the Diamondbacks are ready to
snatch it up.

Aggressive on the basepaths and with their bats, the Diamondbacks jumped on
the Pittsburgh Pirates early in an 8-5 win on Wednesday that cut their magic
number for clinching the division to two.

“You don’t want to beat around the bush too much, just go ahead and get it
done,” said Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley(notes), the biggest beneficiary of
Arizona’s take-it-now approach.

A day after stranding 11 runners in a loss to Pittsburgh, the Diamondbacks
put pressure on the Pirates from the start, setting a team record with four
stolen bases while scoring three runs off Russ Ohlendorf (1-3) in the first
inning.

Miguel Montero(notes) hit a homer for the first his three hits in the inning and
Arizona tacked on five more runs in the third with two-run hits by Aaron Hill(notes)
and Ryan Roberts(notes) to finish with 11 hits.

That was more than enough run support for Miley (4-2) and J.J. Putz(notes) closed
it out with a flourish, striking out the side in the ninth for his 22nd straight
save and 43rd overall.

Now, with 90 wins after a pair of 90-loss seasons, Arizona is on the brink
of closing out the Giants, who played the Dodgers later Wednesday. The
Diamondbacks get a day off on Thursday before opening a three-game series at
home against San Francisco on Friday.

“We can’t celebrate until happens,” said Chris Young, who had two hits and
drove in a run in a five-run third inning. “I’m sure a few guys will be
watching the Giants tonight and tomorrow, but if we can come into the Giants’
series ready and playing good baseball, we should be able to do this.”

Pittsburgh didn’t go quietly despite the big early hole.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle used 15 different position players and six
pitchers, and his team did manage to chip away at the lead in the later innings.
But Pittsburgh, like it has most of the second half of the season, came up just
short, losing for the 10th time in 14 games.

Derrek Lee(notes) homered and drove in two runs, and Ryan Ludwick(notes) added a solo shot
for the Pirates.

“The attitude and the effort has been there all year,” Hurdle said. “They
are playing the game to win, whether it is September 21st all April 21st that
hasn’t changed. The execution has been problematic the last 50 games.”

Arizona lost to Pittsburgh 5-3 Tuesday night, thanks to ineffective hitting
with runners on and several defensive gems by the Pirates, but still moved
closer to its first division title since 2007 with San Francisco’s loss to the
Dodgers.

The Diamondbacks went right at the Pirates in the series finale, pulling off
two double steals in the opening inning. Justin Upton(notes) had a sacrifice fly to
drive in one run and Montero added two more with his 18th homer to right.

Arizona piled it on the third, chasing Ohlendorf after three straight
singles—Young’s drove a run—and a walk. Roberts followed with a two-run
double to the corner in left off Jared Hughes(notes), who then issued a four-pitch walk
to Miley, a .083 hitter. Hill made it 8-1 with a two-run single to left after
fighting off several good pitches.

Ohlendorf allowed seven runs on seven hits in two-plus innings.

“I felt like the ball was coming out of my hand real good and I made good
pitches, and they took good swings,” said Ohlendorf said. “I had a really good
approach and I didn’t make enough good pitches.”

Miley wasn’t particularly sharp, but plenty good enough with the support his
teammates provided.

The left-hander worked through plenty of traffic, giving up Ludwick’s solo
homer in the second inning and an RBI single to Lee in the fourth. Miley was
lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth inning after allowing two runs on five
hits.

The Diamondbacks had some nice defensive plays to help the effort, including
Hill’s shovel throw from second to get Alex Presley(notes) in the third inning and
first baseman Lyle Overbay’s(notes) over-the-rail grab on Matt Pagnozzi’s(notes) foul pop in
the sixth.

“We’ve just got keep pushing, keep winning ball games and seal the deal,”
Miley said.

Another game or two like this and they will.

NOTES: Montero has an 11-game hitting streak at home. … Arizona gets
Thursday off before starting its series against the Giants. Rookie RHP Josh
Collmenter(notes) will start for the Diamondbacks after allowing three runs in seven
innings of a 3-1 loss to San Diego his last outing. … Pittsburgh heads home to
play Cincinnati with RHP Edinson Volquez(notes) facing Reds LHP Jeff Locke(notes). Volquez
will be making his third start in the majors after losing his first two outings
with a 6.75 ERA.

PHOENIX (AP)—Becoming NL West champions has been a notion off in the
distance for the Arizona Diamondbacks for weeks, something plausible, yet still
just out of reach.

Now that it’s closer to becoming a reality, the Diamondbacks are ready to
snatch it up.

Aggressive on the basepaths and with their bats, the Diamondbacks jumped on
the Pittsburgh Pirates early in an 8-5 win on Wednesday that cut their magic
number for clinching the division to two.

“You don’t want to beat around the bush too much, just go ahead and get it
done,” said Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley(notes), the biggest beneficiary of
Arizona’s take-it-now approach.

A day after stranding 11 runners in a loss to Pittsburgh, the Diamondbacks
put pressure on the Pirates from the start, setting a team record with four
stolen bases while scoring three runs off Russ Ohlendorf (1-3) in the first
inning.

Miguel Montero(notes) hit a homer for the first his three hits in the inning and
Arizona tacked on five more runs in the third with two-run hits by Aaron Hill(notes)
and Ryan Roberts(notes) to finish with 11 hits.

That was more than enough run support for Miley (4-2) and J.J. Putz(notes) closed
it out with a flourish, striking out the side in the ninth for his 22nd straight
save and 43rd overall.

Now, with 90 wins after a pair of 90-loss seasons, Arizona is on the brink
of closing out the Giants, who played the Dodgers later Wednesday. The
Diamondbacks get a day off on Thursday before opening a three-game series at
home against San Francisco on Friday.

“We can’t celebrate until happens,” said Chris Young, who had two hits and
drove in a run in a five-run third inning. “I’m sure a few guys will be
watching the Giants tonight and tomorrow, but if we can come into the Giants’
series ready and playing good baseball, we should be able to do this.”

Pittsburgh didn’t go quietly despite the big early hole.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle used 15 different position players and six
pitchers, and his team did manage to chip away at the lead in the later innings.
But Pittsburgh, like it has most of the second half of the season, came up just
short, losing for the 10th time in 14 games.

Derrek Lee(notes) homered and drove in two runs, and Ryan Ludwick(notes) added a solo shot
for the Pirates.

“The attitude and the effort has been there all year,” Hurdle said. “They
are playing the game to win, whether it is September 21st all April 21st that
hasn’t changed. The execution has been problematic the last 50 games.”

Arizona lost to Pittsburgh 5-3 Tuesday night, thanks to ineffective hitting
with runners on and several defensive gems by the Pirates, but still moved
closer to its first division title since 2007 with San Francisco’s loss to the
Dodgers.

The Diamondbacks went right at the Pirates in the series finale, pulling off
two double steals in the opening inning. Justin Upton(notes) had a sacrifice fly to
drive in one run and Montero added two more with his 18th homer to right.

Arizona piled it on the third, chasing Ohlendorf after three straight
singles—Young’s drove a run—and a walk. Roberts followed with a two-run
double to the corner in left off Jared Hughes(notes), who then issued a four-pitch walk
to Miley, a .083 hitter. Hill made it 8-1 with a two-run single to left after
fighting off several good pitches.

Ohlendorf allowed seven runs on seven hits in two-plus innings.

“I felt like the ball was coming out of my hand real good and I made good
pitches, and they took good swings,” said Ohlendorf said. “I had a really good
approach and I didn’t make enough good pitches.”

Miley wasn’t particularly sharp, but plenty good enough with the support his
teammates provided.

The left-hander worked through plenty of traffic, giving up Ludwick’s solo
homer in the second inning and an RBI single to Lee in the fourth. Miley was
lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth inning after allowing two runs on five
hits.

The Diamondbacks had some nice defensive plays to help the effort, including
Hill’s shovel throw from second to get Alex Presley(notes) in the third inning and
first baseman Lyle Overbay’s(notes) over-the-rail grab on Matt Pagnozzi’s(notes) foul pop in
the sixth.

“We’ve just got keep pushing, keep winning ball games and seal the deal,”
Miley said.

Another game or two like this and they will.

NOTES: Montero has an 11-game hitting streak at home. … Arizona gets
Thursday off before starting its series against the Giants. Rookie RHP Josh
Collmenter(notes) will start for the Diamondbacks after allowing three runs in seven
innings of a 3-1 loss to San Diego his last outing. … Pittsburgh heads home to
play Cincinnati with RHP Edinson Volquez(notes) facing Reds LHP Jeff Locke(notes). Volquez
will be making his third start in the majors after losing his first two outings
with a 6.75 ERA.

(Sports Network) – If the Pittsburgh Pirates won’t cooperate, the Arizona
Diamondbacks won’t mind getting help from elsewhere.

The Diamondbacks seek to avoid a series loss this afternoon in the finale of a
three-game series with the Pirates and lower their magic number of three for
clinching the National League West.

Arizona moved closer to securing its first division title since 2007 on
Tuesday despite a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh. That’s because the Giants lost to
the Dodgers, maintaining the Diamondbacks’ 5 1/2-game edge for the division
lead with seven games to play.

Following an off day on Thursday, the Diamondbacks open a three-game series
with the visiting Giants.

Daniel Hudson was tagged with the loss on Tuesday after giving up three runs
on seven hits over five innings. The rough outing snapped Arizona’s two-game
win streak and was their sixth loss in the past eight games versus Pittsburgh.

“Give them credit, he made some mistakes and they got on him,” Diamondbacks
manager Kirk Gibson said of Hudson’s outing.

For the Pirates, Charlie Morton hurled six scoreless innings and both Pedro
Alvarez and Derrek Lee hit home runs. Pittsburgh snapped a four-game slide in
which it had been outscored, 29-4.

“The timely hits, we could use a few more of those,” said Pittsburgh manager
Clint Hurdle. “Both teams left a large amount of people on base but we did
play excellent defense.”

Ross Ohlendorf will start today’s finale for the Pirates fresh off his first
victory in over a year. The righty improved to 1-2 with a 6.82 earned run
average in seven starts this season after holding the Dodgers to a pair of
runs on four hits over a season-high seven innings on Thursday.

Ohlendorf struck out six without a walk in his first win since July 2, 2010,
and also hit a three-run homer off Dodgers starter Dana Eveland.

“I was really excited,” Ohlendorf said of his first career homer. “Dana knew I
wasn’t a very good hitter. It was a first-pitch fastball and I got lucky.”

The 29-year-old is 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two career starts versus Arizona.

Wade Miley will make his seventh career start this afternoon for the
Diamondbacks and had a three-decision win streak end on Friday with his first
loss since his MLB debut on Aug. 20.

The 24-year-old southpaw pitched well in a loss to the Padres, hurling five
scoreless innings after giving up a pair of runs during a 28-pitch first
inning.

“I wasn’t very effective in the first inning. I got behind guys and wasn’t
making good pitches,” Miley said.

Miley is 3-2 with a 4.24 ERA on the year and faces the Pirates for the first
time.

The Sports Network

Ross Ohlendorf was recently picked as the smartest player in baseball in a survey of major leaguers by Sports Illustrated.

The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander didn’t need his Princeton degree to explain the way he pitched Friday night.

“I didn’t pitch well at all,” he said.

Omar Infante and Logan Morrison homered during a nine-run third inning and the Florida Marlins pounded out 22 hits in a 13-4 rout.

Ohlendorf (0-2) had his string of winless starts reach 15 as he was rocked for six runs and 10 hits in two-plus innings. He needed 54 pitches to record six outs.

Ohlendorf has not won since July 2, 2010, against Philadelphia, and is tied with Cincinnati’s Dontrelle Willis for the longest active winless streak. Ohlendorf has been limited to six starts this season because of shoulder problems.

Infante drove in five runs, adding a solo shot in the first, while Morrison had four hits and three RBIs. The Marlins had a club-record 10 hits in the third. Morrison and Bryan Petersen each had two hits in the inning as Florida broke the record of nine, which had been done four times, most recently on Sept. 17, 2001, at Montreal.

Ohlendorf gave up four straight hits to start the third before being lifted.

“Almost all of the hits came off fastballs,” Ohlendorf said. “Stuff-wise, I wasn’t real great but location was the main thing, especially in the third inning. They were just very hittable pitches in terms of being up in the zone and in the middle of the plate, too.”

Ohlendorf has gone 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA in four starts since coming off the disabled list Aug. 23, allowing 33 hits in 16 innings. With less than three weeks left in the season, Ohlendorf is running out of time to break his winless streak or find the answers to his problems.

“He’s been working on things since he got here,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think some things he’s trying to figure but hasn’t are things that would give him the opportunity to get the ball down in the strike zone with consistency. We’re not getting good locations. Hitters have been too comfortable because Ross is making too many mistakes up in the zone.”

Florida’s 13 runs tied a season high, set July 16 against the Cubs at Chicago. The Marlins beat the Pirates for the 12th time in the last 14 meetings.

“I’m pretty sure this happens every week for the Yankees and the Red Sox, but it doesn’t for us,” Morrison said, alluding to the Marlins being 11th in the NL in runs scored. “It was a lot of fun.”

Infante hit his three-run homer in the third. It bounced off the glove of left fielder Alex Presley, who was on the warning track, and into the bleachers.

“It was a freak thing and I really don’t have an explanation for it,” Presley said. “I should catch it in my mind. It happened. Hopefully not again, though.”

The homer stretched the Marlins’ lead to 9-1.

Petersen, Emilio Bonifacio, Gaby Sanchez, Donnie Murphy, John Buck and winning pitcher Ricky Nolasco (10-10) all finished with two hits for the Marlins.

Pedro Ciriaco had two hits and two RBIs for the Pirates. Presley and Ryan Doumit had two hits apiece.

Nolasco’s streak of 22 scoreless innings against the Pirates ended in the second when Doumit doubled and scored on Ciriaco’s single to draw Pittsburgh within 2-1. Florida then countered with its big inning to put the game away.

Florida’s third inning came with a downside, though, as both right fielder Mike Stanton and first baseman Jose Lopez strained right hamstrings while running out hits and were forced to leave the game. Stanton, who has been bothered by hamstring stiffness since spring training, was making his first start since Sept. 3.

Florida took a 2-0 lead against Ohlendorf as Infante hit a solo home run down the left-field line in the first and doubled home Nolasco, who had singled, in the second.

The Marlins’ big third inning was started by Stanton, who singled. Murphy pinch ran, went to third on Morrison’s double and scored on a throwing error by right fielder Ryan Ludwick.

Lopez, Buck, Petersen and Nolasco followed with consecutive singles, with Lopez’s and Nolasco’s driving in runs. Bonifacio then hit a sacrifice fly, Infante hit his defense-aided, three-run blast and Morrison added his his two-run homer.

Florida made it 13-1 in the fifth as Murphy tripled and scored on Morrison’s single before Buck hit a run-scoring single.

Notes: Pittsburgh RHP Jeff Karstens will return to the rotation Tuesday against St. Louis after missing two starts because of shoulder fatigue. … Pirates LHP Jeff Locke will make his major league debut Saturday night when he faces RHP Anibal Sanchez (7-7, 3.83) in the middle game of the three-game series. Locke, 23, was a combined 8-10 with a 3.70 ERA in 28 games with Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis. Though Sanchez has struck out a career-high 173 batters in 171 1-3 innings this season, he has only one win in his last 15 starts. … Five Pittsburgh prospects have joined the club for the weekend but won’t be placed on the active roster: Indianapolis LHP Justin Wilson, 1B Matt Hague and OF Gorkys Hernandez and Altoona RHPs Kyle McPherson and Bryan Morris.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Pirates recalled RHP Ross Ohlendorf from AAA Indianapolis and have designated reliever Joe Beimel for assignment.

Ohlendorf is expected to start on Tuesday night when the Pirates host first-place Milwaukee. It will be his first start with Pittsburgh since being placed on the disabled list in April with discomfort in his left (throwing) shoulder. Ohlendorf went 1-1 with a 3.65 ERA in seven minor league starts. He is 0-0 with a 7.37 ERA in two starts with Pittsburgh.

Beimel went 1-1 with a 5.33 ERA in 35 games for Pittsburgh but has struggled this month, giving up eight runs in 5 2-3 innings, including a two-run homer to Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun on Monday night.

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