Major League Baseball

Rays' Price beats Twins for first '09 win

Published May. 31, 2009 2:53 a.m. ET

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With Mark Reynolds, it's often been a strikeout or a home run, and not much in between.

On Saturday, it was his opposite-field double on an 0-2 count that paved the way for Arizona's 3-2, 11-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Eric Byrnes singled home Reynolds to give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 victory.

"Mark's developing as a hitter every day," Byrnes said. "He's got probably some of the best power I've ever seen. Obviously that's evident with the home runs. But I think he's really maturing as a hitter, starting to use the entire field and that's fun to watch."

Reynolds opened the 11th with a ground-rule double off Jeff Bennett (2-2) that bounced into the Atlanta bullpen down the right-field line.

Reynolds moved to third on Miguel Montero's sacrifice bunt. With the infield playing in, Byrnes hit a dribbler up the middle.

"It's fundamental baseball at its finest," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said, "and we executed well there. We got a two-out hit with Chris Young (in the seventh). We did things to help you win games today."

Juan Gutierrez and Tony Pena each pitched two scoreless innings of relief. Pena (5-2) retired all six batters for the win.

The Braves fell to 1-5 on their trip out West.

"That's a real tough loss," said Atlanta catcher David Ross, who got into a shouting match with Arizona's Justin Upton, clearing the benches. "It's not sitting well with me right now."

Javier Vazquez blanked the Diamondbacks through six innings but didn't make it through the seventh.

With one out and Arizona trailing 2-0, Byrnes beat out an infield single, then Ryan Roberts brought him home with a double to left-center. Roberts, a late addition to the starting lineup when Augie Ojeda was hurt in batting practice, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Young's pinch-hit single on a 3-2 pitch.

Left-hander Eric O'Flaherty came on to get Felipe Lopez to line out to right and Gerardo Parra to ground out to third.

"Vazquez was dynamite once again," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "We just didn't do enough hitting to get more runs after the deuce we put up. It was real hard to pull him. I don't think he was even tired, either, but they hit a couple of balls good and we had to hold it."

The Braves went up 2-0 in the third inning.

Ross led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Vazquez, then scored when Kelly Johnson doubled over the head of Byrnes in left. Garret Anderson's two-out double to the right-field corner brought Johnson home.

The benches emptied for a brief shouting match after Upton walked on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases for Arizona with one out in the sixth. Ross apparently didn't like the way Upton flipped his bat into the air after Vazquez threw the fourth ball. Upton turned and walked back toward the catcher, and the bullpens emptied. But order was quickly restored.

"That's stuff that goes on in the heat of the battle," Ross said.

Vazquez escaped the jam by striking out Stephen Drew and Reynolds.

Vazquez gave up two runs, one earned, and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out eight, walked one and hit a batter with a pitch.

Arizona starter Doug Davis went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking two.

Montero led off the Diamondbacks' ninth with a single off Atlanta reliever Rafael Soriano and was sacrificed to second on Byrnes' bunt. Roberts was intentionally walked, then pinch-hitter Josh Whitesell struck out. The runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, but Lopez bounced out to third to send the game to extra innings.

Anderson flied out to the fence in right field to end Atlanta's 10th.

Notes

Rays manager Joe Maddon said DH Pat Burrell, out since May 11 with a strained neck, underwent a third round of shots for the injury and will likely have his status reviewed on Tuesday. ... Twins OF Jason Kubel, bothered by a sore knee, was rested. ... Tampa Bay LHP Scott Kazmir (right quadriceps strain) is playing catch, but team officials are still talking about how to put together his overall throwing program. ... Crawford had his streak of 32 successful stolen base attempts - including 30 this season - stopped when he was thrown out trying to steal second during the third. ... Liriano threw 47 of his 93 pitches in the third.

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