PIRATES Kendall's 4 hits net Marlins a loss

The Bucs catcher doubled against Florida ace Dontrelle Willis.
MIAMI (AP) -- The Florida Marlins wish Jason Kendall would leave them alone. Instead, he's doing plenty to derail their playoff drive.
Kendall went 4-for-4 with two RBIs as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Marlins 3-2 Tuesday night, further clouding the NL wild card race.
Kendall, who went 6-for-11 in a three-game sweep of the Marlins last week, had three singles and a double off Dontrelle Willis and Nate Bump.
"He's the guy who's killing us," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. "He did it up there last week and again tonight. You can't leave anything up against him. He's a tough out. He's always been a clutch hitter."
Wild card race
Florida fell back into a tie with Philadelphia for the top spot in the wild card race.
"I'm not playing this game to be a spoiler every August and September," Kendall said.
Kip Wells (7-7) allowed two runs and six hits in seven-plus innings. He has just two victories since July 30 -- both in the last week against Florida.
"I felt like I did a good job of throwing strikes when I needed to, and the defense played great behind me and made some plays when we needed them," Wells said.
Julian Tavarez pitched two innings of perfect relief for his fourth save.
Willis (11-6) fell to 0-4 in his last five starts for the Marlins, who had a four-game winning streak was snapped.
Another loss
Willis, who helped his own cause with two hits and an RBI at the plate, allowed three runs -- two earned -- and six hits over 62/3 innings. He struck out eight.
It wasn't enough, though, to keep him out of the loss column. Willis, who made the All-Star team as a rookie, has three wins in 12 starts since July 2. After walking Jack Wilson, Willis left with two outs in the seventh.
Kendall then greeted Bump with a double to the left-field gap to give Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead.
"I made some good pitches, but they put just enough wood on some of them to drive in the runs they needed," Willis said. "I like how we're playing ball. We're in every game down the stretch, and that's all you can ask."
Wells left after giving up consecutive walks to Todd Hollandsworth and Juan Pierre to lead off the eighth.
Tavarez came in and Luis Castillo advanced pinch-runner Gerald Williams and Pierre with a sacrifice. Ivan Rodriguez hit a run-scoring grounder to make it 3-2. Newly acquired Jeff Conine then grounded out to end the inning, stranding Pierre at third.
"We pitched well and that's the key," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "It's all about timely hitting and pitching. We want to be like those guys. That's a championship-quality club."