Major League Baseball

D-backs erupt in 12th to get by Pirates

Published Aug. 7, 2009 5:46 a.m. ET

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The Arizona Diamondbacks aren't letting late deficits keep them down.

For the second straight game, Arizona rallied for a win, this one in extra innings.

Alex Romero's two-run double highlighted a five-run 12th inning to cap a comeback from three runs down and give the Diamondbacks their fifth straight victory, 11-6 over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night.

"That was one of the more resilient victories that we've showed," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said. "To play the bottom of the sixth like we did and give up the four runs - we threw the ball around the field a little bit - but we bounced back. It was a good, resilient group tonight. We're confident, we responded. They missed some opportunities, and we finally broke through in the 12th."


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Romero's fourth hit was a double to right-center off Steven Jackson (2-2) with the bases loaded and one out in the 12th.

Pitcher Dan Haren followed with a sacrifice fly as a pinch-hitter, and Miguel Montero added an RBI single with Gerardo Parra scoring on a throwing error for the final run.

Mark Reynolds, Stephen Drew and Trent Oeltjen homered and Parra had four hits for Arizona, which won for the seventh time in eight games. Arizona, which finished with 21 hits, won for the 11th time this season when trailing after six innings.

"Nobody's giving up," Reynolds said. "We're playing hard, and we're having a good road trip so far."

Delwyn Young, Ronny Cedeno and Lastings Milledge all had two hits and at least an RBI for the Pirates, who have lost five straight and 10 of 12.

Kevin Hart was in line to win his debut with the Pirates a week after he was acquired from the Chicago Cubs, but Pittsburgh's bullpen again couldn't hold a lead.

"Arizona's hot right now. It seems like their whole lineup's hitting," Pirates manager John Russell said. "They're hot, and we had a chance to put them away and we didn't."

Jon Rauch (2-0) worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the 11th for the win. Romero went 4 for 7 with three RBIs and two runs, while Parra was 4 for 6.

Making his major league debut because Justin Upton was placed on the disabled list, Oeltjen hit a towering homer into the elevated right-field seats leading off the eighth to tie the game at 6.

"It's just unreal to have a special win like we did in the same game as hitting your first major league home run," Oeltjen said.

Reynolds' homer was his 33rd and 12th since July 1 - most in the majors in that time. It led off the sixth and went deep into the far bullpen in left-center to give Arizona its first lead, 3-2. Reynolds, who had an RBI double in the third, was removed from the game in the ninth after experiencing pain in his rib cage.

"It wasn't a big deal," said Reynolds, who is second in the NL in home runs. "I shouldn't miss any time."

Cedeno's two-run single in the sixth gave the Pirates a 4-3 lead and knocked out Max Scherzer. He allowed five runs, seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings.

Pinch-hitter Steve Pearce followed with a double to center off Juan Gutierrez to drive in Cedeno and he would come around to score on an errant throw by Montero.

"The game could have got out of hand there," Hinch said. "The way we fell behind was frustrating. A month ago, you'd question whether we had it in us to bounce back, but recently we showed we can be resilient. We're a good group of battlers and grinders, and it's showing up. We were rewarded tonight with a win."

Drew led off the seventh with his eighth homer and Montero had an RBI groundout.

Hart allowed three runs and nine hits with five strikeouts in six innings. He has yet to allow more than three runs in any of his five major league starts.

"I thought he threw the ball well," Russell said. "He had good stuff, used both sides of the plate and had a nice offspeed mix as well. He was aggressive with the fastball. We're very excited he's in the rotation. We're looking forward to seeing him pitch a number of years down the road."

Jackson was demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis after the game and the Pirates recalled right-hander Jose Ascanio, who was also part of the trade last week with the Cubs.

Notes

Diamondbacks 2B Ryan Roberts left the team Thursday to be with his wife, who was to give birth to the couple's first child. Roberts had homered three times the previous two days. ... Oeltjen, in his first major league game, was credited with an outfield assist in the first inning, he had his first single and stolen base after his first at-bat in the second.

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