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Brewers tumble to Diamondbacks

Photo

Associated Press

Arizona Diamondbacks' Eric Byrnes, right, gets tagged out by Milwaukee Brewers' Bill Hall while attempting to steal third base during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, June 30, 2008 in Phoneix.

PHOENIX — For the first time in a while, the Arizona Diamondbacks looked like a first-place team.

Slugging third baseman Mark Reynolds homered, doubled twice and drove in three runs as the Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Monday night.

With the victory, the Diamondbacks avoided the embarrassment of falling below .500. Arizona is 42-41 and has a comfortable 3½-game margin in the woeful West, where the other four clubs are a combined 54 games below .500.

“There’s 70-something games left and we’re still in first place, believe it or not,” Reynolds said. “We’re just out there struggling and fighting every night, trying to scrap something together.”

After starting the season 20-8, the Diamondbacks are 22-33 but have given up only 1½ games in the standings. They limped into Chase Field off a 2-7 road trip to Minnesota, Boston and Florida.

Stephen Drew added two doubles and Augie Ojeda tripled and singled as Arizona won for only the third time in 11 games.

One day after blowing a save in Florida, Brandon Lyon got three outs in the ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances.

Reynolds hit run-scoring doubles in the first and fifth off Milwaukee’s Dave Bush (4-8) and added a solo homer, his 17th, in the seventh off Carlos Villanueva.

“Mark Reynolds had an incredible night,” Arizona lefty Doug Davis (3-3) said.

The Brewers greeted Davis with two runs in the first. Rickie Weeks led off with a walk and scored on J.J. Hardy’s 400-foot double off the base of the wall in center. Prince Fielder’s single gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.

The Diamondbacks answered immediately. Ojeda, starting at second for only the eighth time, hit a leadoff triple and scored on Justin Upton’s grounder to short. Arizona tied it 2-2 when Reynolds doubled to score Drew, who also doubled.

“The way we’ve been playing, all of a sudden we’re 2-0 in the first inning, and sometimes that can deflate you a little bit,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “We came back right away in the first inning, scored a couple runs. It gets you feeling a little better about yourself.”

Ojeda sparked the Diamondbacks again in the fifth. He led off with a single, took third on Drew’s double and scored on Conor Jackson’s bloop single to right. Drew also scored on the play, coming in on right fielder Corey Hart’s throwing error.

Reynolds followed with a double to make it 5-2.

All the runs were charged to Bush, who gave up five runs, four earned, in five innings.

“I was fighting myself all night,” Bush said. “I felt like I had to work harder than I should to make some of the pitches I made. There was definitely a few that I didn’t make, and I paid for it eventually.”

Davis, by contrast, cruised through the second through fifth innings before losing his command in the sixth.

He hit leadoff man Fielder, then loaded the bases with two-out walks to Mike Cameron and Jason Kendall. Melvin summoned Chad Qualls, who walked pinch-hitter Gabe Kapler to cut Arizona’s lead to 5-3 before striking out Weeks.

Facing his former team, Davis gave up three runs in 5 2-3 innings for his first victory in seven starts.

It was the sort of performance Milwaukee manager Ned Yost grew accustomed to seeing when Davis was on the Brewers’ staff from 2003-06.

“It was kind of like vintage Doug Davis,” Yost said. “He could always bend a little bit but he’d never break, and he didn’t again tonight.”