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Friday, Jun. 16 7:05pm ET
Florida's Floyd goes 4-for-5 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Derrek Lee might be one of the few NL players who will be sad to see Three Rivers Stadium demolished after this season. Lee drove in six runs with two homers, including his second career grand slam, and the Florida Marlins opened up a seven-run lead in beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3 Friday night. Cliff Floyd was 4-for-5 with two RBI singles to help the Marlins stop a five-game losing streak in Three Rivers Stadium. They are 13-28 at the ballpark since joining the National League in 1993. Lee hit a two-run shot in the fourth following Mike Lowell's leadoff double against Francisco Cordova (4-5), who was denied a career-high fourth consecutive victory. First baseman Kevin Young's second error of the game, on Floyd's grounder, a walk and Preston Wilson's single preceded Lee's grand slam off Cordova in the fifth. All 12 Lee homers and all but three of his 26 RBIs are on the road. Both of his career grand slams have been at Three Rivers, with the other coming off Esteban Loaiza in 1998. Lee is 4-for-8 with three homers against Cordova, all this season, and is 11-for-35 with six homers and 13 RBIs in Three Rivers. Manager John Boles has this suggestion: Maybe Lee should make believe the Marlins play in Road Player Stadium, not Pro Player. "I don't know how to explain it ... why he has power production numbers that are so much better on the road," Boles said. "To me, it's got to be something psychological. It's not a crutch or an excuse, you just hope it makes him feel confident and that he carries it over at home." Lee laughed off the suggestion he approaches hitting much differently on the road than at home. "I don't know what it is," Lee said. "Baseball is a game of opportunity, and every time I'm here I seem to get a pitch to hit with men on base." Lee's homers gave Marlins starter Reid Cornelius (2-1) a 7-0 lead in the fifth. But Cornelius couldn't make it out of the sixth, yielding former Marlins outfielder Bruce Aven's two-run double in the fifth and Brian Giles' RBI single in the sixth. "For some reason, I started to get the ball up," Cornelius said. Ricky Bones, outstanding so far in middle relief for the Marlins with a 1.86 ERA in 23 games, came on to walk Kevin Young and load the bases with one out in the sixth. Bones worked out of the jam as shortstop Alex Gonzalez turned Aven's hard-hit grounder up the middle into a double play. "We've been coming back in a lot of games, but coming back from 7-0 is tough," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. The Pirates have lost eight of 13 despite playing all but three of their last 14 games at home. "It seems when we get good pitching, we don't get give them a lot of runs," Brian Giles said. "Or when we get some hits, the pitching isn't as good. Today it was same thing, different day." Bones, who worked 2 1-3 scoreless innings, also got Mike Benjamin to hit into a double play -- the third turned by the Marlins -- in the seventh. "The infield play was as good as I've ever seen it," Boles said. "The play on Aven was the play of the game. That was two runs right there." Cornelius started with four hitless innings after pitching six no-hit innings in beating Tampa Bay on Saturday, but left after allowing three runs and five hits in his final 1 1-3 innings. Cordova was lifted after giving up seven runs, six earned, in 4 1-3 innings. He has yielded 12 runs in 10 1-3 innings in his last two starts after giving up four earned runs in his previous three starts. "We've been inconsistent with our starting pitching ... it hasn't been quite as good as we thought it would be," Lamont said. "Francisco's control hasn't been consistent enough, and I consider him a control pitcher." Game notesThe Pirates swept the Marlins in a three-game series May 29-31 in Three Rivers. ... The Pirates have lost eight of 13 and are 9-8 in a stretch that sees them play 16 of 19 of home. After Sunday, they play 20 of 26 on the road. ... Pirates RHP Marc Wilkins, recalled from Triple-A Nashville to replace demoted starter Jimmy Anderson, pitched a scoreless eighth inning. ... Luis Castillo had his 27th stolen base of the season in the second, leaving him three short of breaking Chuck Carr's Florida club record of 115 steals. ... Floyd has six multi-hit games this month. ... Lee didn't have a homer with a man on base until hitting a three-run shot Sunday at Tampa Bay. ... Lee also had a two-homer game April 29 at Los Angeles. ... Aven, the right fielder, made an outstanding sliding catch on Mark Kotsay's sinking line drive in the fifth. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Florida Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 7 Toronto 4
Florida 8
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