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Arizona hammer Chris Young to close in on Padres

Director Spike Lee, left, his son Jackson, second left, and Brad Pitt, right, with his son Maddox watch the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 12-3 at Yankee Stadium in New York on Tuesday night. PHOTO: AP

The Arizona Diamondbacks hammered Chris Young again and defeated San Diego 9-1 on Tuesday to pull within .001 of the National League West-leading Padres.

Tony Clark and Eric Byrnes homered and Doug Davis (13-11) allowed one run in seven innings as he reached a career high in victories. Davis gave up six hits and five walks and struck out five.

While Davis cruised, Young (9-6) continued to struggle since coming off the disabled list with a strained left oblique muscle. He has allowed 14 earned runs in his last 13-and-one-third innings, a span of three starts.

No one hits Young harder than the Diamondbacks. Three of Young's six losses have come against Arizona, and he has allowed 16 earned runs in 19-and-two-thirds innings, a 7.32 ERA.

Josh Beckett won his major league-leading 17th game and rookie Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits, helping the Boston Red Sox beat Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Tuesday.

Ellsbury homered after Coco Crisp barely beat out the relay to stay out of a double play and avoid the third out in the fourth inning. Ellsbury, who also tripled and singled in the game, hit the next pitch from Halladay (14-7) into the Toronto bullpen to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.

Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia followed with back-to-back doubles to make it 4-0. Beckett (17-6) gave up a three-run homer to Matt Stairs in the fifth, but retired the last eight batters he faced before Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.

Kevin Youkilis hit a solo homer in the eighth to make it 5-3.

Yankees 12, Mariners 3

At New York, Wang Chien-ming smothered Seattle to get his 17th win, and Jorge Posada homered twice as New York's slumbering offense woke up.

Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu also homered, and Posada, Abreu and Robinson Cano had four hits each for New York, which boosted its American League wild-card lead to two games over the Mariners and 3.5 over Detroit. Abreu was in a 2-for-15 slump coming in and Cano was in a 2-for-16 slide.

Wang (17-6) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, tying Boston's Josh Beckett for the major league lead in wins.

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