Snyder's four RBI helps Diamondbacks rally past Pirates <h3>ARIZONA 10, PITTSBURGH 6</h3>PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Chris Snyder picked a good time for aseason high. Snyder homered and knocked in four runs as the ArizonaDiamondbacks posted a 10-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirateson Wednesday. Mark Reynolds added two hits and two RBI for Arizona, which haswon 14 of 17 games and increased its lead in the National LeagueWest to two games over the San Diego Padres. San Diego lost tothe St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, earlier on Wednesday. Snyder, who had a previous high of three RBI vs. Pittsburgh onMay 20, did himself one better tonight. Edgar Gonzalez (5-2) allowed two hits and three walks in 2 2/3scoreless innings in relief of an ineffective Byung-Hyun Kim forthe victory. Closer Jose Valverde, the Diamondbacks' sixth pitcher, tied forthe major league lead with his 34th save by hurling the last 11/3 innings. With Arizona trailing, 5-4, in the bottom of the fifth, EricByrnes hit a single with runners on the corners to knot thecontest at 5-5. After rookie Justin Upton was intentionallywalked with two outs, Snyder drew a walk from Pirates starterPaul Maholm to give the Diamondbacks a 6-5 lead. "I knew he was going to come after me right there," Snyder said."I was looking for a pitch in one spot that I could drive andI was not going to swing at his pitch. He threw his pitch, itwas a little bit down and I drew the walk." Maholm (7-14) surrendered six runs - four earned - and sevenhits in five innings. "The Diamondbacks hit a couple of good pitches and went theother way with them and for some reason I couldn't make a pitchwhen I needed to," Maholm said. "It was one of those days whereour offense did its job, but I couldn't hold it." Arizona put the game away in the seventh when Reynolds platedByrnes with a single up the middle and Snyder smacked a two-runhomer to left, extending the Diamondbacks lead to 9-5. "Snyder has been unbelievable," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvinsaid. "He has really come of age. His offense is secondaryalthough it doesn't look like that right now, and he has becomea leader as well." After Adam LaRoche cut Pittsburgh's deficit to 9-6 with an RBIdouble in the eighth, Tony Clark's run-scoring single in thebottom half of the inning made it 10-6. The Pirates took and early 2-0 lead in the first off Kim but theDiamondbacks came right back by scoring four in the bottom ofthe frame off Maholm. Snyder had an RBI double in the first as Arizona sent nine mento the plate for a 4-2 lead. After Kim retired the side in order in the second, the Piratesagain got the offense going in the third. Nate McLouth led off with a homer to right-center and RyanDoumit ended Kim's night later in the frame with a bases-loadedRBI single. Ronny Paulino then knocked in the third run of theinning on a grounder to third off of Gonzalez, giving Pittsburgha 5-4 lead. Kim was tagged for five runs - four earned - and seven hits injust 2 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season. Thenative of South Korea was making his first start for Arizonaafter being claimed off of waivers on August 3 from the FloridaMarlins. "I didn't feel good today, I was tired and I don't know why,"Kim said. "It was a little different here than when I was inFlorida, nothing worked. My fastball, slider, everything wasn'tgood, but next time I will be better." LaRoche had a career-tying four hits for Pittsburgh, which is3-3 in its last six games after winning just two of its previous16. "It wasn't the prettiest game in the world obviously," Piratesmanager Jim Tracy said. "We didn't pitch well. We scored acouple of runs in the first, then gave up four. We walked sevenguys. You give up seven base on balls and I guarantee theother team is going to score runs."
