Wednesday, July 09, 2014
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Ozuna's homer leads Marlins to victory

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[July 09, 2014]  PHOENIX -- Miami Marlins center fielder Marcell Ozuna decided to sit on one pitch, a fastball away. When he got it, he knew what to do with it.

Ozuna drove a 2-2 fastball into to the camera well in the center-field batter's eye for a two-run home run with two outs in the top of the ninth inning in the Marlins' 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday.

"He gave me one pitch to hit and I missed it, foul ball," Ozuna said of Arizona closer Addison Reed (1-5). "I said, 'OK, now I got it. Let me focus middle-away.' He left the ball middle-away. I felt it on my bat when I made contact it would be a home run."

Reed (1-5) walked third baseman Ed Lucas to open the ninth inning but got the next two batters before Ozuna hit his 15th homer of the season.

Reed has five blown save opportunities, tied for the National League lead, and three in the last 13 games. He has given up nine homers in 36 2/3 innings.

"He missed his spot by about 18 inches," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "He set up down-and-away. I think he threw two off-speed pitches (in the inning). He has to mix his pitches. Ozuna is a very good fastball hitter. He got it all."

Mike Dunn (7-4) struck out the only batter he faced for the victory, and Steve Cishek recorded his 20th save.


Ozuna has a 14-game hitting streak for the Marlins (44-46), who have won three of their last four.

"We were waiting for the hit," Miami manager Mike Redmond said. "They scored early, and we got the big hit.

"These guys keep battling. We all felt like we had a chance. Ed Lucas was the key for me to give us a chance to win that game. That kind of sparked it. It was just a matter of who was going to do it, and tonight it was O."

The Marlins ruined left-hander Vidal Nuno's Arizona debut. Nuno threw seven scoreless innings and scored the Diamondbacks' only run. He gave up three hits and struck out a career-high seven while retiring 17 of the final 19 batters he faced. He did not allow a runner past second base.

Nuno was obtained from the New York Yankees for right-hander Brandon McCarthy on Sunday. McCarthy was 0-6 with a 5.37 ERA in 10 starts at Chase Field this season.

"Just mixing my pitches, commanding every zone and putting up zeroes," said Nuno, who used five pitches. "Very pleased. It makes the hitter guess. It showed on the board. Now just move to the next outing."

Miami left-hander Brad Hand gave up seven hits and one unearned run in 6 1/3 innings on the third anniversary of his only major league victory as a starter, beating Houston on July 7, 2011. He is 2-11 in his career.

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"Just filled up the zone. Got a lot of ground ball outs, a lot of quick outs," Hand said. "Basically, everything was going pretty well. Made a pitch when I needed to. You just try to match what he does. He goes out and goes scoreless, you have to go out there and throw another scoreless."

Nuno reached on a fielding error by Miami third baseman Casey McGehee to open the fifth inning and took second on center fielder Ender Inciarte's bunt single past the mound. Second baseman Aaron Hill singled to left to break the scoreless tie. Hill has 44 RBIs, trailing Philadelphia's Chase Utley by one for the NL lead among second basemen.

Third baseman Martin Prado and catcher Tuffy Gosewisch had two hits apiece for Arizona (38-54), which had a two-game winning streak broken.

McGehee had a career-high 14-game hitting streak and a major league-long 21-game road hitting streak broken.

NOTES: Miami 3B Casey McGehee entered the game with a .416 career batting average against the Diamondbacks, the second-best career average among active players against any one team. Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez is hitting .432 against San Francisco. ... Arizona RHP Bronson Arroyo said he will use Diamondbacks physicians Dr. Michael Lee and Dr. Donald Sheridan for his Tommy John surgery, which he will have either July 15 or July 16. ... Arizona LF Mark Trumbo has four home runs in his first six games of a rehab assignment after a bases-empty homer for Triple-A Reno on Tuesday. Trumbo, who has been out since April 24 with a stress fracture in his left foot, is unlikely to be activated before the All-Star break, Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said, because the Diamondbacks don't want him idle for four days during the break next week.

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

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