Johnson ‘back’ in top form

He struck out 10 in Arizona’s 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — This can’t be a good sign for National League hitters. Randy Johnson’s back isn’t hurting as much as before and his strikeout numbers keep going up.

Johnson, rounding into shape at age 43 following offseason back surgery, struck out 10 in 52⁄3 innings to win his second start in a row and pitch the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday.

Johnson (2-2), often resembling the dominating pitcher he was while winning five Cy Young Awards, was lifted after throwing 102 pitches — regularly hitting 96 mph with his fastball. He gave up two runs and seven hits.

Shut down Pirates

The Big Unit has struck out 19 in 112⁄3 innings over his last two starts, fanning the Pirates’ No. 3-6 hitters a combined seven times Sunday. Jason Bay struck out three times and Ryan Doumit and Adam LaRoche twice each.

“It keeps getting better and better,” Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. “To me, this time, he was into the flow quicker than the past couple of times, [when] you saw the velocity climb. You saw it right away today and that’s a good sign.”

Johnson is resigned to not being 100 percent all season because of the back surgery, but he felt better than he did while striking out nine and limiting Colorado to one hit over six innings in a 3-0 victory Tuesday.

“Over the last couple of starts, the results have been good but I’ve been up and down physically,” Johnson said. “Today, I actually felt good and battled. ... I’m coming back from surgery, and I’m not going to feel good all year — until the season the over and I can rest the back.”

By beating the Rockies and Pirates in his last two starts, Johnson has 282 career victories — leaving him one away from tying Jim Kaat for 29th place on baseball’s career list and 18 short of No. 300.

Pirates manager Jim Tracy talked afterward about how his team got Johnson out relatively early in the game, though it looked to be Johnson’s pitch count and not the opposing hitters who forced him to leave.

“Every time he goes out there, the gas tank is improving,” catcher Chris Snyder said. “His stuff’s been there for three or four starts. The stamina gets better and better, so if he keeps that going it will be a good season for him.”

Snyder provides offense

Snyder made certain it was a good day for Johnson by getting a three-run double in the fourth that made it 5-1. Pirates starter Paul Maholm allowed rookie Mark Reynolds’ single, Reynolds’ fourth hit in two games, and walked two ahead of Snyder’s double.

“I’ve left a small village out there lately, so it’s good to finally come through one time and be productive,” said Snyder, who was 1-for-17 before getting hits his first two times up.

After walking two to load the bases, Maholm (2-6, 5.82 ERA) tried to get ahead of Snyder with a first-pitch fastball, but made it much too hittable.

“My stuff is good enough to win,” the left-handed Maholm said. “I’ve just need to be more aggressive throwing pitches in the zone. For some reason that’s not happening right now, but I’m confident I’m going to turn it around.”

A night after rallying from six runs down for a 9-8 victory that helped them out of their May hitting slump — they averaged 2.9 runs in their first 16 games — the Diamondbacks jumped on Maholm (2-6) with two runs in the third and three in the fourth.