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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- Preston Wilson is doing his best to help the Florida Marlins finish the season strong and make sure the Arizona Diamondbacks don't.
Wilson homered twice and Ryan Dempster pitched eight strong innings as the Florida Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-1 Saturday night.
"I want to finish strong, and I want the team to finish
strong," said Wilson, pointing out that the Marlins' 66 wins this
year are two more than last season. "That way, hopefully we can
use it to springboard into next year."
The Diamondbacks dropped five games behind first-place San
Francisco in the NL West -- their biggest deficit since the end of
the 1998 expansion season. The Giants beat the Chicago Cubs 13-2.
"As games dwindle, the outlook becomes tougher for us,"
manager Buck Showalter said. "But we do have 28 games left with a
five-game deficit, so there's still an opportunity there."
Wilson hit a solo home run off Curt Schilling (10-10) in the
sixth inning and a three-run homer off Darren Holmes in the ninth
for his third career multihomer game. Wilson has 24 homers on the
season.
"Schilling is a great pitcher," Wilson said. "He got a couple
of balls up that we hit well, but you're not going to have many
nights like that against that pitcher."
Derrek Lee added a two-run homer in the sixth for the Marlins.
Schilling allowed six runs and 10 hits in six innings to lose
his third straight start. The Diamondbacks have lost five straight
at home and eight of 11 overall.
"There's a sense of urgency," Schilling said. "When you're
not in first place, every game matters."
Dempster (12-9) allowed one unearned run and eight hits,
striking out nine.
He fanned Steve Finley, Arizona's best slugger, twice with two
runners on and nobody out.
"He's a great hitter, and you've just to try and stay
aggressive and get ahead of him." Dempster said. "I got a
situation where I could throw a finish pitch and, you know, he
swung and missed. It's not going to happen every time, but it
happened tonight."
Florida scored three times in the fifth inning to take a 3-1
lead, getting an assist from the bottom of the order.
Lee, the No. 6 hitter, Alex Gonzalez and Mike Redmond singled in
succession, with Lee scoring on Redmond's sharp grounder past a
diving Matt Williams at third.
Dempster sacrificed the runners to second and third, and Luis
Castillo drove in the go-ahead run with a groundout and Mark Kotsay
had RBI double.
The Marlins threatened in the fourth inning, which Kotsay and Henry Rodriguez led off with singles.
A double play erased Rodriguez while Kotsay reached third. Right
fielder Danny Bautista ended the inning with a diving catch of a
drive by Mike Lowell. Replays showed that Bautista's glove came off
as he rolled after the catch, but the ball stayed in the pocket.
The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead in their half after loading the
bases with no outs. Dempster struck out Steve Finley and, after an
RBI groundout by Williams, got Bautista to ground out to second.
"He got out of some tough jams," Florida manager John Boles
said. "He made big pitches when he had to."
Kotsay got his second RBI with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Game notes
Dempster is 3-5 in his last 11 starts. ... Arizona's Greg
Colbrunn had his fifth consecutive multihit game. ... Lowell kept
his 13-game hitting streak alive when he doubled in the sixth. ...
Todd Stottlemyre (8-5), activated Friday after being on the DL
since June 26, will face A.J. Burnett (2-3) Sunday in the series
finale. ... Arizona's Tony Womack had his NL-leading 12th triple in
the seventh, tying David Dellucci's franchise record set in 1998.
... Schilling had won three straight against Florida. ... Bautista
went 0-for-3, ending a 15-game hitting streak.
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