Mac Sits In Cards Loss

Another night, another one-run game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals.

Arizona recovered from a blown save in the ninth to wrap up a mostly disappointing 13-game home stand Sunday night with a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals in 10 innings.

Travis Lee tripled to lead off the 10th, then scored the winning run on pinch hitter Andy Fox's single.

The teams split the four-game series, and all four were decided by one run.

Arizona was 6-7 in its longest home stand of the season and won for only the second time in eight games.

"The good thing about this ball club is nobody panics," said Gonzalez, who threw a runner out at the plate in the third and made a sliding stop of Thomas Howard's double to save a run in the 10th. "We just keep going out there and grinding it out."

Lee lined Ricky Bottalico's 2-1 pitch to right field and the ball got past Howard, allowing Lee to easily make it to third.

"It's a situation where you take the wrong angle, cutting the ball off later in the game," Howard said. "Little things like that can cost you the game, and ultimately it did."

Hanley Frias hit a high bouncer Botallico, but no one covered first and the runner was safe. With the outfield playing in to try to cut off the run, Fox hit it deep to right-center to end the game.

"I was just trying to get the ball in the air," Fox said. "I didn't care if I hit into a fielder's choice, as long as we got the run."

Bottalico (1-5) took both St. Louis losses in the four-game series in Arizona. Vladimir Nunez (3-2) got Edgar Renteria to fly out with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th for the victory.

"It would have been a great win for us," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "Any time you miss a chance for a real reat win, it's a tough loss."

It was the second 10-inning game in as many nights for the two teams. St. Louis won 2-1 in 10 innings on Saturday.

"The last week, it's been tough. But our starting pitching has been picking us up like crazy," Lee said. "It just seems like the whole home stand has been like `Groundhog Day."' It's great to be home, but I think it's kind of been lulling us. It will be good to go on the road and do some damage."

Matt Williams broke out of a 1-for-20 slump with a two-run home run in the seventh to put Arizona ahead 2-1.

Armando Reynoso limited the Cardinals to one run on four hits through eight innings. But Byung-Hyun Kim, the 20-year-old South Korean sidearm reliever, couldn't hold the lead in the ninth, the 13th blown save in 27 opportunities for Arizona's shaky bullpen.

Fernando Tatis led off the ninth with a double high off the wall in center field, and scored the tying run on Edgar Renteria's triple.

Mark McGwire, who didn't start because of a sprained ankle, was walked intentionally and replaced by pinch-runner Eric Davis. David Howard grounded to second baseman Jay Bell, who threw to home and caught Renteria in a rundown for the first out.

Kim picked off Davis at second for the second out, then struck out pinch hitter Darren Bragg to end the inning.

St. Louis starter Kent Mercker had allowed two hits and had retired 15 in a row before Gonzalez singled with one out in the seventh. Williams followed and hit Mercker's first pitch into the left-field seats for his 21st home run, one more than he had all of last season.

The Diamondbacks had scored just one run in 25 innings before Williams' homer.

Joe McEwing doubled to lead off the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, third-longest by a Cardinal in the 1990s. But he was thrown out at home by Gonzalez trying to score on Willie McGee's single to left.

"Gonzo probably made the play of the game defensively," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said. "Throwing him out at the plate, we don't do that and we're not playing."

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