PNC PARK Schilling's strong showing leads Arizona past Pirates

The Bucs matched their longest losing streak in two seasons.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Curt Schilling has been so good for so long, the Arizona Diamondbacks usually don't get overly excited when he makes an exceptional start. This time, they did.
Schilling, finally looking like the dominating pitcher of the last two seasons, limited slumping Pittsburgh to four singles in his first shutout in more than a year and the Diamondbacks beat the Pirates 5-0 Friday night.
Rod Barajas drove in Arizona's first two runs and Junior Spivey hit a three-run homer as the Pirates lost their seventh straight -- matching their longest losing streak in two seasons.
Schilling (2-2) was much better than he was Saturday against Atlanta, when he allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings in his first start since April 17. He was out for 21/2 weeks after his appendix was removed April 19.
"That's the Curt Schilling we like to see," manager Bob Brenly said. "The ball was jumping out of his hand. He was throwing 97-98, and he was moving the ball in and out, up and down. When he's doing that, that's what can happen to a ballclub."
Strong pitching
Retiring 16 of the first 17 batters, Schilling (2-2) struck out 10 and walked none in by far his most effective start this season. He allowed at least two runs in each of his first five starts, lasting more than six innings only twice.
"I've probably been the worst starting pitcher on the staff, and it's been disappointing and frustrating," said Schilling, who won 45 games the last two seasons. "It's May, and I only had one victory. The way things are going for us, I'm expected to win."
Schilling repeatedly got ahead in the count with fastballs that reached 99 mph, then mixed in breaking balls and a splitter Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson said was unhittable.
"The ball was exploding out of his hand," Wilson said. "You couldn't even see the split. It got to the plate and disappeared."
The shutout was Schilling's 18th and his first since beating Milwaukee on April 7, 2002. He has pitched one shutout in each of the last five seasons.
With ace Randy Johnson out for another five weeks following knee surgery, the Diamondbacks badly need Schilling to return to his 23-win form of last season. Before Friday, Schilling and Johnson were a combined 2-4 -- a major turnaround from last season, when they were 13-2 at this point of the season.
"He hasn't been himself until now, with the appendectomy, but he was himself tonight," Barajas said. "He's back to where he's been in the past, and it showed. It was the ninth inning, and he was still throwing 98 miles per hour."
No doubt Schilling welcomed facing the Pirates, who were coming off a four-game sweep by Houston and six consecutive losses to end a 4-6 road trip. Schilling is 13-3 against them in 16 starts since the 1996 season and 14-6 in his career.
Schilling is 3-0 against Pittsburgh the last two seasons, including a pair of wins only five days apart last May.
Frustration
Manager Lloyd McClendon, perhaps reflecting the Pirates' growing frustration, was ejected in the fourth by first base umpire Charlie Reliford. McClendon became upset when Reliford called Kenny Lofton out on a close play as he scrambled back to the bag on Jason Kendall's line out to third.
"I'm still a little puzzled as to why I was thrown out. I didn't go off until after I got thrown out," McClendon said. "It wasn't a case of trying to get thrown out to fire up my team -- that stuff doesn't work against a guy like Curt Schilling."
Jeff D'Amico (2-4) tried to match Schilling for a while, limiting Arizona to one run -- on Barajas' RBI single in the second -- through five innings. But he appeared to tire in the sixth, when Danny Bautista singled for his third straight hit and Barajas followed with an RBI single.