Diamondbacks Win Without Their Aces

Chris Donnels didn’t show any rust when he got a chance for his fourth at-bat of the season.

Donnels delivered his first hit of the season, a pinch-hit, two-run triple with two outs in the 10th inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies, 7-5, Saturday at Denver.

“In that situation and without getting a whole lot of at-bats the last week or so I’ve just been working hard off the field to keep some kind of swing out there,” said Donnels, a former Dodger who was hitless in three at-bats before the triple. “The more pitches I saw, the more comfortable I got, and I was just trying to be aggressive and get a ball up in the zone to hit hard.”

The Diamondbacks won for the first time this season when World Series co-MVPs Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson did not start. Arizona is 6-0 when one of its aces pitch, and 1-5 when they do not.

Cincinnati 5, Philadelphia 2--Adam Dunn hit his first home run of the season, and Joey Hamilton (1-0) made his third consecutive strong start to lead the Reds at Philadelphia.

Red first baseman Sean Casey was briefly hospitalized after being hit in the side of the head by a pitch from Robert Person (0-2) in the first inning. Tests were normal, and Casey was released. He is day-to-day.

Gabe White and Scott Sullivan combined for two scoreless innings to set up Danny Graves’ fifth save in seven chances. The Cincinnati bullpen has not allowed a run in 191/3 innings over six games.

Florida 5, Atlanta 4--Preston Wilson’s broken-bat infield single with two outs and the bases loaded drove in the winning run in the 14th inning for the Marlins at Miami.

Wilson hit a slow roller to third baseman Vinny Castilla, who tried to bare-hand the ball but failed to come up with it as Mike Redmond scored from third. Wilson had been 0 for 6 with three strikeouts.

Redmond singled with one out in the 14th against Kevin Gryboski (0-1), making his major league debut. Redmond advanced on a groundout, and pinch-hitter Andy Fox was intentionally walked--the fifth intentional walk issued by the Braves. Marty Malloy then walked to load the bases for Wilson.

Montreal 9, New York 8--Vladimir Guerrero homered in the 11th inning and the Expos, after blowing a seven-run lead was primarily built on shortstop Rey Ordonez’s three errors, defeated the Mets at New York.

Ordonez, a three-time Gold Glove winner, had the worst fielding day of his career. The Mets made five errors.

Guerrero’s second homer of the season made a winner of former Dodger Matt Herges (2-0), who pitched three scoreless innings.

St. Louis 2, Houston 1--Eli Marrero singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning at St. Louis as the Cardinals extended their winning streak to five.

Houston lost its fourth in a row--wasting a strong effort by Roy Oswalt, who struck out 10 in six innings.

Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 2--Pirate rookie Josh Fogg shut down the Cubs for the second time in a week, and backup catcher Keith Osik homered at Pittsburgh.

Fogg (2-0), who pitched seven shutout innings against the Cubs at Wrigley Field April 6, gave up three hits and a run in another seven-inning outing.