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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- On a night when the Arizona Diamondbacks seemed
on the brink of crucial come-from-behind victory, Mike Lowell
spoiled the party.
|  | | Mike Lowell went deep twice Friday night, his second homer lifting Florida past Arizona 8-7 in 11 innings. |
Lowell hit his second home run of the game -- a two-run shot in
the 11th inning -- to give the Florida Marlins an 8-7 victory Friday
night.
Arizona dropped four games behind first-place San Francisco in
the NL West.
Lowell's 20th and 21st home runs extended his career-best
hitting streak to 12 games.
"I'm just seeing the ball good," he said. "I've just been
getting good at-bats. I really don't have any specific explanation
for it."
Jay Bell tied it twice for Arizona -- 4-4 with a two-out, solo
homer in the fifth, and 6-6 with a two-run single in the seventh.
"It's disappointing for everybody because you lay everything
out there like that to try to grind and get back in that ballgame
and get over the hump, but unfortunately we didn't," Diamondbacks
manager Buck Showalter said.
Greg Swindell (2-5), the last of seven Arizona pitchers -- a club
record for an extra-inning game, got Mark Smith to fly out and
struck out Cliff Floyd in the 11th, but Lowell hit a 1-2 pitch 406
feet into the left-field seats.
Vic Darensbourg (5-3), the sixth of Florida's seven pitchers,
went two scoreless innings for the victory.
Marlins closer Antonio Alfonseca walked the first two batters in
the 11th, but escaped for his major league-leading 38th save in 42
opportunities. Luis Gonzalez had his second RBI of the night with a
groundout.
Floyd was 3-for-5 with a two-run double, and Luis Castillo was
3-for-5 with an RBI for the Marlins. It was the second two-homer
game of Lowell's career. The other was also at Bank One Ballpark
last Sept. 18.
"This was the best offense that we've had in quite some time,"
Florida manager John Boles said. "It was great for us to be
swinging the bat so well. We were running out of players. We had
one position player and one pitcher. I think Buck had a few more
position players and another pitcher. We were both getting a little
lean."
Tony Womack doubled, singled and scored three times for the
Diamondbacks. Greg Colbrunn was 3-for-6 with a two-run double and
is hitting .457 (26-for-56) in his last 14 games. But he grounded
out with the tying run on third to end the game.
"It's frustrating but it's one game," Colbrunn said. "We'll
come back tomorrow and play good baseball and go from there."
Florida took a 6-4 lead in the sixth when reliever Dan Plesac
walked pinch-hitter Kevin Millar with the bases loaded, and
Castillo beat out a potential double-play grounder.
In the Arizona seventh, pinch-hitter Craig Counsell led off with
a single and advanced to third on Womack's double. Both scored on
Bell's single.
The Marlins scored three runs off starter Brian Anderson in the
first inning on Floyd's two-run double and Lowell's 20th homer.
Lowell's RBI single in the third made it 4-1, but Florida
starter Jesus Sanchez walked Womack and Bell with one out in the
third, then both scored on Colbrunn's two-out double down the
left-field line to cut the lead to 4-3. Bell's 14th homer of the
year tied it at 4.
Arizona reliever Byung Hyun-Kim walked two and gave up a single
to load the bases with two outs in the eighth, then struck out
Smith on three pitches to escape the threat.
Game notes
The roof at Bank One Ballpark was open for the first time
since June 20. ... Shortstop Alex Gonzalez, activated Friday after
being sidelined for 31 games with a knee injury, was 1-for-5 with a
double for Florida. ... Arizona's Matt Williams, already dropped
from cleanup to sixth in the batting order, broke an 0-for-19
streak with a dribbling single to lead off the eighth, then was
thrown out trying to steal second. He finished 1-for-5 and has two
hits in 25 at-bats. ... Anderson was called for a balk when he
appeared to have picked off Smith in the fifth. When Anderson was
pulled moments later by Showalter, he made an angry gesture at the
manager, apparently disgusted by the call. ... Arizona's Danny
Bautista extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games with a
two-out single in the 10th.
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Arizona Clubhouse
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