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Pirates-Diamondbacks Preview

Jul 26, 2009 - 4:41 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Pittsburgh (43-53) at Arizona (41-56), 4:10 p.m. EDT

The Arizona Diamondbacks could make a convincing argument for Miguel Montero, Mark Reynolds or Stephen Drew being their best hitter since the All-Star break.

The Pittsburgh Pirates might opt for Justin Upton.

All four Diamondbacks have hit Pittsburgh's pitching hard - Upton in particular - and they'll look to stay hot Sunday afternoon as Arizona tries to close the four-game series with a third victory over the visiting Pirates.

The Diamondbacks (42-56) were tied for the third-lowest average in baseball (.247) heading into the All-Star break, but they've hit .276 in the second half.

Three hitters have especially been on a tear over the past nine games for Arizona. Reynolds and Montero are batting .455, with the latter delivering four homers and 11 RBIs, while Drew has hit .378 with a homer, five RBIs and eight runs.

That trio is a combined 16 for 35 (.457) in three games against the Pirates (43-54) this week, but Upton has especially hurt Pittsburgh. He hit a two-run homer in Arizona's 11-4 victory Thursday, then opened the scoring in the fourth inning Saturday with another two-run shot in a 7-0 win.

"It's great to get runs early to give (starter Doug Davis) some breathing room," said Upton, batting .455 (5 for 11) with six RBIs versus the Pirates after going 3 for 24 to start the second half. "In that situation, I'm trying to get a ball up in the zone where I can drive it to the outfield."

Virgil Vasquez (1-4, 5.54 ERA) will try to hold the Diamondbacks' offense down Sunday in his first appearance against Arizona. The right-hander has lost four consecutive starts, but Pittsburgh has totaled four runs in those games.

He got no help Tuesday against Milwaukee as he allowed two runs without a walk over 6 2-3 innings but lost 2-0.

"I felt like that control was there," Vasquez told the Pirates' official Web site. "That 'here it is, hit it' mentality instead of 'here it is, just miss it,' and it makes you just miss it."

Vasquez is 0-2 with an 11.05 ERA on the road.

Pittsburgh's offense hasn't given Vasquez much help, and Saturday's shutout was nothing new. The Pirates have been blanked 10 times and scored just one run on 15 occasions.

The lone bat in Pittsburgh's lineup that's been a consistent threat is Garrett Jones, who had two hits Saturday to improve his average to .538 (7 for 13) with a homer and four RBIs in this series.

The career minor leaguer is hitting .350 since his June 30 call-up, and has a major league-high 10 home runs in July.

Jones is hitting .388 against right-handers, a figure that will certainly put hard-throwing Max Scherzer (5-6, 3.86) on notice. Scherzer had issues with giving up homers in his first 10 starts, allowing eight over 54 1-3 innings while going 2-4 with a 4.47 ERA.

He's given up just two in 46 innings since, going 3-2 with a 3.13 ERA in eight starts. Still, Scherzer struggled in his last outing, allowing four runs and seven hits over four innings in a 6-5 win at Colorado on Tuesday, and offered a simple explanation for what he needs to improve.

"Throw strike one more often," Scherzer told the Diamondbacks' official Web site. "I think it was 10-of-20 (throwing first-pitch strikes), and I can be better than that."

Scherzer, who has a 5.01 ERA at home, made his only appearance against Pittsburgh in relief last season, allowing a run over 2 1-3 innings.