Hardy homers twice as Brewers beat Diamondbacks

[July 02, 2008]  PHOENIX (AP) -- J.J. Hardy homered twice and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-6 on Tuesday night, handing Randy Johnson his sixth straight loss.

Joe Dillon also homered for the Brewers, who beat Arizona for the fourth time in five meetings. The NL West leaders dropped to 42-42 and saw their lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers shrink to 2 1/2 games.

Salomon Torres got three outs for his 14th save in 16 chances.

Arizona's Conor Jackson drove in three runs with three hits, including his eighth homer.

The Big Unit (4-7) allowed seven runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings, his shortest start of the season.

The outing extended a discouraging trend for the 44-year-old Johnson, who has 288 victories.

It was the third time in four starts Johnson has given up seven earned runs, and his ERA has climbed to 5.46. The Big Unit's personal six-game skid is his longest since he lost eight straight decisions with Seattle in 1992.

After Dillon led off the game with a walk, Hardy hit an 0-1 pitch 405 feet into the seats high above center field. After Corey Hart singled and stole second and third, Mike Rivera singled to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.

Arizona got a run back in the first on Jackson's two-out single.

The Brewers stepped up their assault on Johnson in the second. Jason Kendall led off with a single, and Dillon hit an 0-2 delivery into the Arizona bullpen down the left field line for his first homer.

Hardy followed with a 384-foot shot into the bleachers in left to put Milwaukee up 6-1.

Manager Bob Melvin lifted Johnson after Hart's RBI single made it 7-1 in the fourth.

Johnson left to a smattering of applause and flipped his glove to a youngster sitting in the first row behind the dugout.

Arizona cut it to 7-3 in the fourth on Miguel Montero's RBI single and a groundout by Augie Ojeda.

In the fifth, the Diamondbacks closed to 7-5 on Jackson's two-run homer.

All the runs came off Brewers starter Jeff Suppan (5-6), who gave up nine hits in five innings.

Notes: Arizona has rallied from a six-run deficit to win five times, most recently June 19, 2007, against Tampa Bay. ... Jackson started in left field in place of Eric Byrnes, who went on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring, his second DL stint with a hamstring injury this season. ... With Chris Snyder on the 15-day DL with a left testicular fracture, Montero will take over as Arizona's everyday catcher. ... Before going deep Tuesday, Dillon had one homer in his first 169 major league at-bats.

[Associated Press; By ANDREW BAGNATO]

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