Orioles 6 - 7 Diamondbacks
Final
  for this game

Orioles stay out west to battle Diamondbacks

Aug 12, 2013 - 2:45 PM (Sports Network) - The Baltimore Orioles continue their National League West road trip on Monday, as they visit Chase Field to begin a three-game interleague series with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Baltimore is off to a 4-1 start on its eight-game road trip against NL West competition. The Orioles swept a two-game set in San Diego last week and then took two of three from the Giants in San Francisco over the weekend.

"We've actually pitched pretty well (in NL stadiums), knock on wood, with it. I think it's good in a way," manager Buck Showalter said. "The one good thing about interleague play: the novelty of new ballparks, teams they haven't seen, pitchers hitting. Got a whole different attention span for the bench players, I can tell you that."

On Sunday, the O's cruised to a 10-2 victory over San Francisco, as all 10 of their runs were scored after the sixth inning.

Meanwhile, Arizona is looking to get back on track after dropping two straight at home to the New York Mets over the weekend. The Mets put up four runs in the fourth inning thanks to an error by Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Arizona is now 5 1/2 games back of Cincinnati for the National League's final wild card spot, and things won't get any easier in the near future.

The D'backs are without Cody Ross (hip) and Eric Chavez (knee, hip) due to injury. Ross was injured in the first inning of Sunday's game, and he was hitting .405 since July 26.

"It wrecked everybody seeing (Ross go down)," shortstop Cliff Pennington said. "And you know it's going to be an extended period of time."

Arizona will turn to Wade Miley, who is 5-1 with a 1.54 ERA over his last seven starts after going 1-6 with a 5.88 ERA over his previous nine. Miley said he has been able to refocus and not let one or two mistakes bother him when on the mound.

"He has really simplified things," manager Kirk Gibson said. "He got in a spot earlier where he was overthinking and he couldn't control the ball. Now he's just throwing the ball where he wants to more."

Baltimore starter Scott Feldman was picked up from a July 2 trade with the Chicago Cubs. He gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings against Seattle on Aug. 3.

Arizona has won nine of its last 10 interleague home games and faces Baltimore for the first tie since the 2007 campaign. The D'backs won five of those six meetings, taking two of three at home.






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