Ray falters, Miley dominates D-backs as Orioles cruise
BALTIMORE -- Robbie Ray put Arizona in an early hole and the Diamondbacks never recovered.
Trey Mancini hit his third homer in nine major league at-bats, Mark Trumbo connected for his league-leading 45th homer and the Baltimore Orioles beat Arizona 6-1 on Saturday night.
Ray allowed five runs and six hits with five strikeouts and four walks over 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since April 24. Arizona fell to 5-14 in interleague play this season.
"I didn't have my best stuff," Ray said. "My command was not where it usually is, so it was just a battle all night. I wasn't able to get my slider over like I usually do, and I was pitching really with my third and fourth pitch."
Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was 3 for 4 with a run. He has hit safely in 10 of the past 12 games and is batting .354 with six extra-base hits over that stretch.
Baltimore left-hander Wade Miley (9-13) dominated his former team. He allowed one run and seven hits and tied a career high with 11 strikeouts over 8 2/3 innings. It was Miley's second win in 10 starts since being acquired by the Orioles from Seattle on Aug. 1.
"His angle was good tonight," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said. "He was able to get in enough on the right-handed hitters, then he was going away with his changeup. He threw a lot of his breaking balls and just did a really nice job against us. We were not barreling them up much at all."
Mancini is the third player ever to homer in his first three starts, joining Arizona's Carlos Quentin (2006) and Colorado's Trevor Story (2016), according to STATS LCC.
Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Manny Machado off Ray (8-14). The Orioles later loaded the bases, but Ray struck out Mancini and got Jonathan Schoop to hit into a 1-2-3 double play.
Baltimore boosted the lead to 2-0 in the second on a sacrifice fly by J.J. Hardy.
Miley retired 12 straight batters before allowing an infield single to Mitch Haniger in the fifth.
Mancini led off the fourth with a towering shot over the center-field wall. A single by Chris Davis added two more runs and ended Ray's night.
The Orioles pulled a half-game ahead of the Tigers for the AL's second wild card and trail the Toronto Blue Jays by 1 1/2 games for the top spot.
"It was great to get a win tonight, especially with Detroit falling earlier," Mancini said. "We knew it was a big game going in."
Trumbo's solo homer made it 6-0 in the fifth.
Arizona's Brandon Drury went 1 for 4 with an RBI. He is batting .361 with eight doubles, three homers and 29 RBIs over his past 27 games.
Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Greinke likely will not pitch again this season even though the results of an MRI did not reveal structural damage to his sore right shoulder. "I know we were happy with the MRI results. It's just more swelling in there," Hale said.
Diamondbacks: RHP Braden Shipley (4-4, 5.59 ERA) is making his 10th career start Sunday. He has given up 12 homers in 11 appearances (59 innings).
Orioles: RHP Dylan Bundy (9-6, 4.13 ERA) tries to complete a three-game sweep in his first career game against Arizona.
