Johnson Wins 10th With 13 Strikeouts

PHOENIX —  Randy Johnson struck out 13 in seven innings and earned his 10th victory Saturday night as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1.

Mark Grace, pinch-hitting for Johnson, singled in the go-ahead run with two out in the eighth inning.

With a fastball regularly hitting 98 mph, Johnson (10-2) scattered seven hits, walked two and hit a batter. The only run he gave up was unearned, due to his own fielding error.

“If I had that all the time, yeah, the game would be a lot easier, but I don’t have it all the time,” Johnson said of his slider.

Adam Bernero matched Johnson through six innings but left for a pinch-hitter to start the seventh after throwing only 71 pitches.

Bernero, called up earlier this season from triple-A Toledo, yielded four hits, struck out four and walked one.

Arizona’s only run against him came on a wild pitch. His strong performance came one night after Mark Maroth, in his second big league start, outpitched Curt Schilling in Detroit’s 6-3 victory.

Steve Finley doubled off reliever Julio Santana (3-1) with one out in the seventh. After Tony Womack flew out, the Tigers intentionally walked Alex Cintron to bring up Grace and make sure Johnson left the game.

Grace lined a 3-1 pitch to center, scoring Finley from second. Byung-Hyun Kim pitched the last two innings for his 18th save in 20 opportunities.

Johnson reached double-digit strikeouts for the sixth time this season and 177th of his career, second only to Nolan Ryan’s 215.

Tiger hitting coach Merv Rettenmund was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Detroit’s Robert Fick had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.