BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Orioles turned back the clock to a happier era Sunday, and gave their fans reason to be optimistic about the team’s immediate future.

Melvin Mora went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs to back a strong pitching performance by a rejuvenated Sidney Ponson, and the Orioles beat the Texas Rangers 11-5 for their season-high sixth straight victory.

Donning the uniforms they wore in 1983 – the last time Baltimore won the World Series – the Orioles roughed up 13-game winner Kenny Rogers and defeated the Rangers for the eighth straight time over two seasons.

Finally playing the way they envisioned coming out of spring training, the Orioles got within five games of .500 (52-57) for the first time since June 14 and moved within eight games of AL wild-card leaders Texas and Boston.

It’s too early for Baltimore to begin watching the scoreboard, but it’s heady stuff for a once-proud franchise that has suffered through six consecutive losing seasons.

Yankees 8, Blue Jays 2

NEW YORK – Bernie Williams hit the 10th grand slam of his career Sunday, leading the New York Yankees to their fifth straight victory, 8-2 over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Jon Lieber (8-7) extended the Yankees’ streak of eight-inning efforts by starting pitchers to four, limiting the Blue Jays to four hits. He struck out five and walked one.

Williams connected in the first inning against Miguel Batista (9-7), who gave up infield hits to Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui and hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch to load the bases.

Braves 11, D-backs 4

PHOENIX – Chipper Jones homered and drove in four runs to lead the Atlanta Braves past the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-4 Sunday for their fifth straight victory.

Russ Ortiz got his 13th win and Eddie Perez went 4-for-5 with two homers for the streaking Braves, who have won 10 of 11 and 14 of 16. Atlanta, which is 31-9 since losing a season-high three straight games in late June, remained 5 games ahead of Philadelphia in the NL East.

The Diamondbacks have lost four straight and 41 of 50.

Brewers 2, Marlins 0

MIAMI – Chris Capuano pitched six shutouts innings and the Milwaukee Brewers ended a five-game losing streak by beating the Florida Marlins 2-0 on Sunday.

Bill Hall and Brady Clark had RBI singles for Milwaukee, which snapped its longest skid of the season with its fifth win in 20 games.

Capuano (6-6) allowed five hits and one walk before departing for a pinch hitter with a 2-0 lead. It was the first time in 15 starts that the rookie didn’t give up a run.

Expos 5, Astros 2

HOUSTON – Alex Gonzalez and Brian Schneider hit back-to-back homers and the Montreal Expos beat Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros 5-2 on Sunday.

Clemens (12-4) went seven innings and allowed three runs – one earned – on eight hits. He struck out five and walked one, and had his first career two-hit game.

The game was tied at 1 in the seventh when the Expos rallied against the All-Star Game starter.

White Sox 3, Indians 2

CHICAGO – Ben Davis delivered his second RBI double of the game in the bottom of the ninth to give the Chicago White Sox a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday and snap a four-game losing streak.

Davis lined a two-out double to right center off Cleveland reliever Rafael Betancourt (5-6) to score Timo Perez from first.

Cardinals 6, Mets 2

ST. LOUIS – Edgar Renteria tied his career high with five hits and the St. Louis Cardinals handed Al Leiter his worst loss of the year, completing a three-game sweep of the New York Mets with a 6-2 victory Sunday.

Jason Marquis (12-4) pitched six strong innings to win his ninth straight decision for the Cardinals, who have won 16 of 20 and raised their record to a major league-best 72-38.

Scott Rolen was 3-for-4 with an RBI and So Taguchi hit a two-run double for St. Louis, which had 12 hits.

Devil Rays 5, Mariners 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Rookie B.J. Upton hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth for his first major league RBI, and Rob Bell allowed one unearned run in seven innings to lead the Tampa Bay Devil Rays past the Seattle Mariners 5-1 on Sunday.

Upton, the Devil Rays’ top pick in the 2002 draft, went 2-for-4 after sitting the previous two games. He struggled in his first four games since being called up from Triple-A Durham on Aug. 1, going 2-for-14 with two errors at shortstop.

Reds 14, Rockies 7

DENVER – Wily Mo Pena homered and had a career-high five RBIs before leaving in the sixth inning with cramps and dehydration in the Cincinnati Reds’ 14-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

Pena, who has 11 home runs and 27 RBIs in his last 26 games, was 3-for-4 with two singles and his career-best 18th homer to help the Reds salvage the finale of the three-game series.

Felipe Lopez, D’Angelo Jimenez, Jason LaRue and Sean Casey drove in two runs each for the Reds.

, who set season highs with 14 runs and 16 hits.

Cory Lidle (7-10) benefited from the offensive surge, allowing three runs and nine hits over six innings in winning for the first time since June 30 at the New York Mets. Lidle had been winless in his previous six starts.

Jeromy Burnitz, Mark Sweeney and Kit Pellow homered for Colorado, which outscored Cincinnati 17-10 in the first two games of the series.

The Reds pounded Jeff Fassero (2-8) for a career-high 11 runs and 11 hits in three-plus innings.

Pena drove in the first two in a four-run first inning after Fassero walked Casey and Adam Dunn to load the bases. Jimenez drove in a run with a double to left, and Pena scored on Jason LaRue’s ground out.

Lidle doubled to left to open the second inning, Ryan Freel walked and Felipe Lopez reached on a bunt single. Casey followed with a two-run single.

Burnitz hit his 30th homer in the second to make it 6-1.

Juan Castro’s RBI double and Lopez’s two-run double in the third extended Cincinnati’s lead to 9-1.

Burnitz had an RBI double in the fourth to make it 9-1.

The Reds got RBI singles from Pena, Jimenez and LaRue in sixth to give Cincinnati a 14-2 lead.

Charles Johnson singled in a run in the sixth to make it 14-3.

Sweeney hit a leadoff homer off Gabe White in the ninth, Royce Clayton had an RBI single and Pellow hit a two-run homer to make it 14-7.

Notes: Every Cincinnati starter, including Lidle, had at least one hit. … The Reds avoided their first sweep in Colorado since Aug. 6-8, 2002. … Cincinnati and Colorado completed the season series tied 3-3. … Blood clots were discovered in both lungs of RHP Aaron Cook, and he’ll miss the rest of the season.

AP-ES-08-08-04 1808EDT