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Snyder powers Diamondbacks over Pirates

Jun 8, 2008 - 2:41 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Earlier in the game, Chris Snyder perhaps had been robbed of a homer by the Pittsburgh Pirates' Jason Bay, who made a fine running catch along the wall in left. In the ninth, Snyder - who was hitless in his last 10 at-bats - wasn't going to be denied.

His sixth home run led off the top of the ninth to account for the winning run as the Diamondbacks beat the Pirates for the second night in a row with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night.

"He had a little something prove on that second one," Bay said.

Snyder's blast to left on a 1-1 pitch from John Grabow (4-2) proved to be the difference for the Diamondbacks, who had lost eight of 10 before arriving in Pittsburgh on Friday.

"I put a little more into that one than I did the first one," Snyder said. "It was a change-up out of over the middle of the plate. He'd been throwing a lot of change-ups. I was just looking for something up, out, over."

Chris Young went 2-for-4 with an RBI and starter Dan Haren pitched seven strong innings for Arizona (34-28), which maintained its four-game lead in the National League West Division.

"A lot of times you go up there thinking home run or trying to do too much in tie games, want to be a hero," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said of Snyder. "He hit a change-up, so it's not like he was searching for a fastball and trying to pull home run. He just let the ball travel a little bit and was rewarded for it."

Bay and Nate McLouth each hit their team-high 14th homer of the season for the Pirates, who battled back from a 3-0 first-inning deficit to tie the game only to lose and remain in last place in the NL Central.

Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny already had failed to get through the third inning three times this season and that appeared as if it might be the case again during a rough first inning. He allowed four of the first five hitters to reach - the out was Stephen Drew's sacrifice bunt - on two walks and two hard-hit line drives.

Conor Jackson's single scored Chris Burke, Young's double drove in Orlando Hudson and sacrifice fly from Mark Reynolds plated Jackson to make it 3-0. Pittsburgh has been outscored, 50-20, in the opening frame this season.

But Gorzelanny was outstanding after that disastrous start and allowed just three more hits and one more walk in his seven frames.

"He was misfiring, walking and getting behind hitters at the start," Pirates manager John Russell said. "After the first inning, he started to settle in and started attacking the zone better."

The Pirates tallied in the third when McLouth's double scored Adam LaRoche, who had walked. Bay's homer, his 10th at PNC Park this season and fourth in his past 11 games here, just cleared the 21-foot wall in right-center to lead off the fourth and make it 3-2.

McLouth's homer, to right with nobody aboard in the fifth, set a new career high for him. It was only his second homer since May 17, and it tied the contest at 3-3.

Other than the two home runs, Haren was excellent during his seven innings, allowing three runs and five hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

"I didn't have much today, to honest with you," Haren said. "I've had really good stuff the last couple starts ... but today, I didn't have much. I got an early lead and tried to battle."

Juan Cruz (2-0) pitched a perfect eighth to earn the victory, and Brandon Lyon worked the ninth for his 14th save and second in as many nights.

Pittsburgh did mount a rally in the ninth off Lyon, who allowed a leadoff single to Ryan Doumit. But after a flyout by Jason Michaels, Snyder threw out pinch runner Luis Rivas before Doug Mientkiewicz walked and LaRoche flew out to end the game.

"This is a really nice team win," Haren said. "To get back to where we want to be, we've got to win games like this. These are games which over the past four or five weeks we haven't been winning, and I didn't get the win per say, but I really couldn't be happier for the team.".