Final
Johnson, Ross lead Marlins past Arizona 8-1
Jul 13, 2009 - 12:18 AM By BOB BAUM AP Sports WriterPHOENIX(AP) -- Josh Johnson heads to his first All-Star game a winner, and through 90 games so are his Florida Marlins.
Johnson pitched into the seventh inning and the Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 Sunday for a split of their four-game series.
"He is a really good pitcher and he kind of put their team on his back and took control of that game," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said. "It's as simple as that."
Johnson (8-2) allowed a run and seven hits - all singles - in 6 2-3 innings, striking out seven and walking two in his first victory in four starts. He lowered his ERA to 2.74.
"I felt good out there, which is the key for me," he said. "I threw a lot of good sliders. Not very many balls were hit very hard. It was just one of those days when balls seemed to keep falling but I just wanted to bear down and do whatever I could to stop it."
Cody Ross drove in three runs with a pair of doubles, Jeremy Hermida hit a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole and NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez singled three times as the Marlins (46-44) entered the All-Star break two games above .500. Florida remained four games back of NL East-leading Philadelphia.
"If you would have told me this on April 2, I would have said `Yeah, I'll take it,"' manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "But now it's July 12 and you want more. You want to win more."
Ross already was thinking about the Marlins' four-game series against the Phillies in Miami after the break.
"Four games right now is a lot," he said of Philadelphia's division lead, "but we've got them coming in the beginning of the second half. I don't want to think about it too much right now. I want to enjoy my All-Star break, but we've got to start getting serious and we've got to take those games."
The Diamondbacks won seven of nine going into the break and were 5-2 on the homestand.
"It would have been great to win three out of four in this series for our third series win in a row," Hinch said, "but I thought we had a really good homestand - to play better at home, which has been difficult for us, just to play better baseball."
Arizona left-hander Doug Davis (4-9), a leading candidate to be traded before the July 31 deadline, matched his shortest outing of the season at four innings, giving up five runs.
After two quick outs, the Marlins scored three times in the first. Ramirez singled and came home on Jorge Cantu's single. Dan Uggla walked and both runners scored on Ross' towering double off the overhang some 400 feet away in center field.
Emilio Bonifacio beat out an infield single with one out in the fourth, then Hermida fouled off three pitches before hitting Davis' 3-2 delivery high off the foul pole above the Florida bullpen for his 10th homer.
Ross doubled in another run in the seventh.
Brian Sanches relieved Johnson with runners at first and second, and Drew ended the shutout with his third single of the day. Justin Upton struck out for the third time to end the inning.
NOTES: Hinch moved back Dan Haren's next scheduled start to next Sunday to give the Diamondbacks ace four days' rest after his anticipated appearance in the All-Star game. ... A woman sitting in the second row near the plate was hit in the face by a Cantu foul ball in the first inning. Her head was wrapped in bandages and she was carried out on a stretcher. ... Arizona slugger Mark Reynolds, the majors' runaway strikeout leader with 123, fanned three times, went 0 for 4, committed an error that led to two unearned runs and finished the homestand 3 for 24. ... Johnson is 2-1 with a 1.35 ERA in three career starts against Arizona.
- NL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
FLORIDA 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 8 11 0
ARIZONA 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 9 1 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: FLA - JOSH JOHNSON, BRIAN SANCHES (7TH), DAN MEYER (8TH), LEO NUNEZ
(9TH) AND RONNY PAULINO
ARI - DOUG DAVIS, LEO ROSALES (5TH), JUAN GUTIERREZ
(6TH), ESMERLING VA
Jul 12 7:06 PM - NL
AT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY HANLEY RAMIREZ SCORED EMILIO BONIFACIO.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, H RAMIREZ ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: FLORIDA 8
ARIZONA 1 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR FLORIDA: J CANTU (.288, 2-FOR-4, RBI)
Marlins 8, Diamondbacks 1 Top 8, 0 OutsJul 12 6:45 PM - NL
AT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATE
ERROR BY MARK REYNOLDS ALLOWED BRETT CARROLL TO SCORE.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, E BONIFACIO ON SECOND, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: FLORIDA 7
ARIZONA 1 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR FLORIDA: J HERMIDA (.256, 2-FOR-4, HR, 2 RBI)
Marlins 7, Diamondbacks 1 Top 8, 0 OutsJul 12 6:43 PM - NL
AT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY STEPHEN DREW SCORED AUGIE OJEDA.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, S DREW ON FIRST, F LOPEZ ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: FLORIDA 6
ARIZONA 1 BOTTOM, 7TH
DUE UP FOR ARIZONA: J UPTON (.302, 1-FOR-3)
Marlins 6, Diamondbacks 1 Bot 7, 0 OutsJul 12 6:32 PM - NL
AT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY CODY ROSS SCORED HANLEY RAMIREZ.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, C ROSS ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: FLORIDA 6
ARIZONA 0 TOP, 7TH
DUE UP FOR FLORIDA: R PAULINO (.244, 0-FOR-3)
Marlins 6, Diamondbacks 0 Top 7, 0 OutsJul 12 6:18 PM - NL
AT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY JEREMY HERMIDA (10) TO RIGHT WITH 1 OUT
IN THE 4TH OFF DOUG DAVIS SCORED EMILIO BONIFACIO.
CURRENT SCORE: FLORIDA 5, ARIZONA 0
DUE UP FOR FLORIDA: H RAMIREZ (.346, 1-FOR-2)
Marlins 5, Diamondbacks 0 Top 4, 0 OutsJul 12 5:22 PM - NL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
FLORIDA 3 3 3 0
ARIZONA 0 0 0 (BOT 1)
CURRENT PITCHERS: FLA - JOSH JOHNSON
ARI - DOUG DAVIS
DUE UP FOR ARIZONA: F LOPEZ (.299, 6 HR, 25 RBI)
S DREW (.256, 6 HR, 34 RBI)
J UPTON (.301, 16 HR, 51 RBI)
Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 0 Bot 1, 0 OutsJul 12 4:26 PM
Related News
- 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks Reviews: #17 Andrew Saalfrank Dec 25
- SnakePit Round Table: Merry Christmas! Dec 25
- 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks Reviews: #18, Joe Mantiply Dec 24
- 2023 SnakePit Awards: MVP - nominations open Dec 24
- Snake Bytes: 12/24 Merry Christmas! Dec 24
- 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks Reviews: #19, Tommy Henry Dec 23
- 2023 SnakePit Awards: Pitcher of the Year - Merrill Kelly Dec 23
- 2023 Diamondbacks Reviews: #20 Kyle Nelson Dec 22
- Towards a 2024 Diamondbacks roster: Back-up catcher Dec 22
- 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks Reviews: #21, Drey Jameson Dec 21
- 2024 off-season: minor league signings in Reno Dec 21
- 2023 Diamondbacks Reviews: #22 Evan Longoria Dec 20