Schilling Is Heavy in Praise for Leiter

Curt Schilling was more interested in talking about Mark Leiter than his 12 strikeouts.

“He’s throwing better than I’ve ever seen him throw with anybody,” Schilling said after he and Leiter combined for a three-hitter Thursday night as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1.

For the sixth time this season and the 35th time in his career, Schilling (3-2) reached double-digits in strikeouts, raising his major league-leading total to 90.

And for the second time in as many nights, Leiter helped the Phillies win by pitching the last two innings. Leiter, who got the win in Wednesday’s 10-inning, 7-6 victory over Colorado, picked up his third save.

“To throw two days in a row for two innings is good because I haven’t done that for years,” said Leiter, a starter throughout most of his nine-year career but filling in as the closer until Ricky Bottalico returns from elbow surgery.

Schilling gave up three hits and three walks in seven innings. Leiter didn’t give up a hit while striking out two and walking one.

Arizona had only one hit until the seventh, when the Diamondbacks scored their only run on Andy Stankiewicz’s RBI single.

“He was on his game tonight,” Arizona starter Andy Benes said of Schilling.

“If he throws the ball on both sides of the plate like he does, he’s virtually impossible to hit.”

Benes (2-3) did a commendable job too. Until the Phillies strung together four hits and scored their final two runs in the eighth, he had limited Philadelphia to four hits and two runs.

“He matched Schilling for the most part,” Arizona Manager Buck Showalter said. “We just can’t get him any support offensively.”

The Phillies, who won for only the third time in their last eight games, got a solo homer from Bobby Abreu, an RBI groundout from Gregg Jefferies and a two-run infield single by Scott Rolen.

Arizona has yielded a league-high 51 homers. Benes has given up 11, and Brian Anderson 10.