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 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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