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Davis, Diamondbacks cruise by Orioles

Jun 25, 2007 - 1:50 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Doug Davis pitched 6 1/3 effective innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks climbed into first place in the National League West with an 8-3 interleague victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Chris Young had two hits and scored three times and Stephen Drew and Chad Tracy each hit solo homers for Arizona, which has won four of five and seven of its last nine games.

The Diamondbacks (44-32), who have won three straight series, took over sole possession of first place in the NL West after losses by the Los Angles Dodgers and San Diego Padres on Sunday. It's the first time Arizona has been alone in first place since April 30.

"It feels good (to be in first) but it will be a dog fight," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We have been pretty good about winning series. We've focused on one game and have not looked too far ahead, at the standings or at our press clippings."

Davis (5-8) allowed two runs, 10 hits and two walks to earn his first victory in four starts.

"I felt that I was being more effective in the strike zone," Davis said.

The lefthander, who struck out three, had surrendered 16 runs in 13 innings in his past three outings.

"When I look at the games where I failed, I wasn't able to keep the ball down," Davis added. "But today I was able to get strike one, and when I did get into trouble I was able to battle back."

Arizona opened the scoring in the first inning when Drew smacked a line drive just inside the right field foul pole off Orioles starter Steve Trachsel for his fourth homer to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.

Arizona increased its lead to 2-0 in the second when Young opened the frame with a triple to center. Young was plated on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Quentin. The short fly ball to shallow center was caught by shortstop Chris Gomez, who made an over-the-shoulder catch, but his throw home was unable to get the speedy Young.

"The type of team we have, we have to continue doing the little things," Young said. "We can't just get lackadaisical out there and wait for the long ball. We have a lot of guys on our team that can run, so we are using our legs for an advantage now."

The Diamondbacks broke the game open in the fourth. With men on second and third, Davis hit an RBI single through a drawn-in infield and Eric Byrnes followed with a run scoring single for a 4-0 edge. The hit by Davis was just his second in 22 at bats.

Orlando Hudson added a sacrifice fly later in the frame.

Trachsel (5-6) was tagged for five runs, seven hits and four walks in four innings. The righthander, who struck out three, has surrendered at least four runs in four of his last five starts.

"They hit some ground balls that weren't at guys, a couple of bloopers that fell in, a sac fly to shortstop. They earned what they got," Trachsel said. "I thought I made a lot of good pitches and the location was good. I had two bad games. I pitched great for two months then two bad games. That's it."

After the Orioles had closed to within 7-3 in the eighth inning, Tracy hammered a pitch from reliever Chris Ray over the right field wall to complete the scoring.

Brian Roberts collected four hits, including his fourth homer, and Melvin Mora also homered for the Orioles, who have lost 11 of their last 14 games and concluded interleague play with a 6-12 record.

"On this road trip we went 3-3, but the approach to the way the guys played was a lot more convincing and a lot more encouraging," Orioles interim manager Dave Trembley said. "That is what we are looking for. Everybody wants the results to be in our favor but this is not intramurals here this is major league baseball. You are playing to win not just to feel good about yourself."