PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Kevin Young made the most of a rare opportunity in some familiar surroundings.

Young connected for a three-run homer and closer Mike Williams survived a shaky ninth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for an 8-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks .

Young, who lives in the Phoenix area, made just his 11th start of the season and first since April 30. He snapped a 1-1 tie with his second homer of the season, sending a pitch from rookie starter Chris Capuano (0-2) over the left field fence.

"I enjoy hitting here; it is home for me, so I look forward to it always," said Young, whose wife and son were in attendance. "I have pretty much accepted the role I have here, now a platoon situation. I want to get in and contribute any way I can."

Williams inherited the 8-5 lead to start the ninth inning but had major trouble with his command. He walked pinch hitter Steve Finley , Alex Cintron and Quinton McCracken to fill the bases with none out.

The closer recovered to strike out Luis Gonzalez . He fell behind 3-1 on David Dellucci - who homered earlier - before delivering a strike at the knees that had Arizona manager Bob Brenly shouting from the bench.

On the next pitch, Williams got Dellucci to ground into a double play for his 12th save in 14 chances.

"It is just lucky to get out of that," Williams said. "You get yourself in a jam like that, you have to keep making your pitches, and Gonzo is the last guy I want to face in that situation. With no outs, one outs or two outs, I didn't want him up at the plate that inning, whatsoever. I didn't want to see McCracken. We got lucky, that is all."

"I am used to it," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "I think he does it to (tick) it off. We haven't had an easy one."

Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and Dellucci had two hits and three RBI. But neither was able to come through with the game on the line in the ninth.

"I don't know if he threw Gonzo a strike," Brenly said. "They looked like they were down, but we know everybody wants to be the hero in that situation. You got bases loaded, down by three. That is stuff you dream about as a kid - hitting a grand slam, a walk-off homer. But Williams wasn't going to throw you any pitches you could hit out of the ballpark in that situation."

"It was tough in that situation," Dellucci said. "When you are facing Williams, you want to get the ball up in the zone and that put me against the wall right there."

Despite Williams' trouble, Pittsburgh's bullpen turned in a strong outing for the second straight night, yielding just a pair of hits in four scoreless innings. The bullpen has tossed nine straight scoreless frames in the series, including five in Friday's 8-5, 12-inning victory.

Pirates starter Salomon Torres (3-1) surrendered five runs and eight hits in five innings. He served up a pair of homers and notched his first win as a starter since September 27.

Joe Beimel allowed two hits in two innings and lefthander Scott Sauerbeck tossed a perfect eighth to get the ball to Williams.

The win ensured a series victory for Pittsburgh, its first at Arizona since the Diamondbacks' expansion season of 1998.

"This team traditionally has been real tough on us, and it is no surprise," McClendon said. "You talk about a championship-quality club here and we have been in a rebuilding stage for some time. We are finally getting to the point where we can be competitive."

Capuano, a Duke product making his his first career start, allowed seven runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He was returned to the minor leagues after the game.

"I don't know if they got a read on me as much as I had a lapse on focus," Capuano said. "I kinda pushed pitches there and not really let them go. I was really hoping to come up here and give the team a little boost, I'm disappointed I couldn't do that."

An RBI double by Dellucci in the first inning produced the game's first run. Pittsburgh tied it in the third inning without the benefit of a hit. Jeff Reboulet drew a leadoff walk, took second on a sacrifice, moved up on a groundout and scored on Capuano's wild pitch.

More wildness by Capuano set up Young's homer in the fourth inning. After retiring the first two batters, Capuano walked former Diamondback Reggie Sanders and hit Jason Kendall before Young made him pay.

"We thought we would be the type of team we have been the last couple of days, where we would be able to put some runs across the board," McClendon said.

Mark Grace 's second homer of the season cut Arizona's deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

The Pirates answered with four runs in the fifth. Brian Giles blooped a two-run single with one out and Aramis Ramirez 's two-out double finished Capuano. Oscar Villareal entered and yielded RBI hits to Sanders and Kendall that made it 8-2.

A run-scoring double by Gonzalez preceded a two-run homer by Dellucci - his first since August 1 - that pulled Arizona within 8-5. Dellucci raised his career average against Pittsburgh to .359 (14-for-39).