Mark Reynolds and Chris Synder homered as the Arizona Diamondbacks assured interim manager Kirk Gibson of his first non-losing series with a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins on Saturday.
The win gives the Diamondbacks a 2-1 advantage in the series in Gibson’s third set at the helm since taking over on July 2.
The Arizona offense got to Florida starter Nate Robertson early, building a 3-0 through four innings as Chris Young and Justin Upton plated runs and Reynolds hit his 20th homer of the season.
After Florida closed to within 3-2 on single tallies in the fifth and six innings off Ian Kennedy, Snyder hit a two-run home run to push the advantage to 5-2.
Right-hander Juan Gutierrez earned the save, his second, to give Kennedy (4-7) his first win since May 19. Chad Qualls had started the ninth but the first three batters reached to close within 5-4 on a Ronny Paulino pinch-hit, two-run single.
Kennedy gave up two earned in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander allowed five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.
Robertson (6-7) allowed six hits, five runs and three walks.
Florida | Arizona | |
Nate Robertson | Player | Ian Kennedy |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 5.1 |
2 | Strikeouts | 5 |
6 | Hits | 5 |
7.50 | ERA | 3.38 |
Florida | Arizona | |
Hanley Ramirez | Player | Stephen Drew |
3 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 1 |
.750 | Avg | 1.000 |