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Petit dominant as Diamondbacks defeat Marlins

Aug 24, 2008 - 5:13 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Not even rookie Chris Volstad nor the return of Hanley Ramirez could stop the Florida Marlins' uneven play in August.

Yusmeiro Petit pitched six dominant innings to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 7-1 victory over the Marlins on Saturday.

Petit (3-3), pitching against the team with which he began his career, yielded one run and two hits while striking out six en route to his second consecutive victory.

"All my pitches were working today," Petit said through an interpreter. "I was getting ahead and keeping the ball down. I am feeling more comfortable out there and was able to get the outs when I really needed to."

"He (Petit) has been very consistent for us," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "Looking at his ERA, it is below three. He was around the corners all night, the ball was down and he mixed his pitches. ... He ended up pitching a great game."

Chris Young and Miguel Montero homered for Arizona (68-61), which increased its lead in the National League West to three games over the Los Angeles Dodgers (65-64), who lost earlier in the day to Philadelphia.

While Arizona won for the fourth time in five games, Florida (66-64) continued its demise in August.

The Marlins (66-64), who were only 1 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East at the beginning of the month, dropped to 8-13 in August, failing to win consecutive games since doing so from July 30-31.

"We know all those numbers; we are trying," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Those guys in there are busting their butts trying to get that winning streak. The pitching has been there but we have to keep going. No one is going to feel sorry for us."

Florida's place in the division standings has taken a hit as a result, as it dropped 6 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets (72-58).

After Ramirez knotted the game at 1-1 in the fourth with his 28th homer Young belted an inside fastball from Volstad (4-3) into the left field stands - a solo shot - to restore a one-run advantage.

Ramirez had missed the last two games due to a thumb injury.

Volstad, who entered with a 2-0 record and 2.65 ERA in his last three starts, suffered his first loss since August 1. He surrendered four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"I felt pretty good out there," Volstad said. "My arm felt good, body felt good. In the first inning, there was not a lot I could do with a broken-bat hit (by Adam Dunn). The home run was on a pitch that ran back over. Overall, I felt pretty good out there."

Tony Clark increased the Diamondbacks' lead to 3-1 with an RBI groundout in the sixth, one batter before Stephen Drew singled home Montero with a single.

Renyel Pinto came on in the eighth and was greeted by Montero, who drove the righthander's offering into the left-center stands for his fourth home run of the campaign.

"Last year, I had pretty good power numbers but I am not a power hitter," Montero said. "I just want to go out there, make good contact and not try to do too much. Get the barrel of the bat on the ball and let everything do the rest. When I hit the ball hard to the opposite way, I am doing something right."

Jeff Salazar added a run-scoring single before Young capped the Diamondbacks' late offense with a sacrifice fly.