PHOENIX - At the rate they're going, Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson will become the first teammates in 31 years to win 20 games in back-to-back seasons.

The last time that happened, it involved the Orioles. Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Jim Palmer were all 20-game winners in both 1970 and 1971. In the era of five-man pitching rotations, the 20-win season has become as rare as a no-hitter. Teams seldom have one pitcher accomplish the feat, let alone two.

Last night, the current Orioles club looked seriously unimpressed.

Tony Batista hit a two-run homer off Schilling in the first inning, and the Orioles never looked back, despite losing starting pitcher Sidney Ponson to a wrist injury. In the end, Schilling had one of his worst starts of the season, and the Orioles had a 6-1 victory at Bank One Ballpark.

"It was good to see," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "It's the first time we've faced Schilling [since 2000] and the guy's thrown 109 innings and has 150 strikeouts - jiminy Christmas, give me a break."

Schilling (12-3) matched a season high for runs allowed with six. He struck out 10 batters in six innings, so the Orioles witnessed some of his dominance but also did their share of damage against him.

After losing against Detroit on Friday, Schilling lost back-to-back starts for the first time since July 3 and July 8 of last season. Tonight, the Orioles will get their first crack at Johnson (10-2) since 1997.

Ponson never had a chance to finish his duel with Schilling. With two outs in the fourth inning, Steve Finley hit a ball that skipped in front of the mound and hit Ponson on his right wrist.

The ball caromed high into the air, and Batista retrieved it at third base. One run scored on the play, but the Orioles had bigger problems.

Hargrove and trainer Richie Bancells went to the mound. Ponson clenched his fingers into a fist, and pain covered his face. He tried to make two practice pitches, but one missed high and the other one bounced past catcher Geronimo Gil in the dirt.

Hargrove had no choice. He pulled Ponson, replacing him with Chris Brock. So on a night he might have had a win against Schilling, Ponson was gone after allowing one run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Ponson had X-rays taken at the ballpark, and they showed no broken bones. He was diagnosed with a contusion of the wrist and is listed as day-to-day.

"I think I'm going to make my next start," Ponson said. "It was one of those things where I decided I'm not going to be a hero."

Brock (1-0), who entered with a 10.80 ERA, became the hero of the night by pitching three innings of scoreless relief.

Had Ponson been able to field Finley's smash, he would have maintained his shutout. Instead, Brock came in, walked Tony Womack on four pitches, then got out of the inning with the Orioles still ahead, as Alex Cintron bounced out to second.

Batista silenced the crowd in the first inning with a two-run homer off Schilling that traveled 390 feet. It sailed just inside the left-field foul pole and landed beyond the Diamondbacks' bullpen.

After fouling off a 96-mph fastball with two strikes, Batista pounced on an off-speed pitch, which looked like a split-fingered fastball. He now has 17 home runs for the season, and this one seemed almost as big as his Opening Day grand slam off Roger Clemens.

"He's been pretty good this year," Batista said of Schilling. "He's leading the league, but he can make a mistake, too."

The Orioles, who haven't had a 20-game winner since Mike Boddicker did it in 1984, added a run in the fifth, when Gary Matthews doubled and scored on an opposite-field single by Gil.

And they pulled away with three runs in the sixth. Mora reached base, when Schilling struck him out, only to have the ball go to the backstop for a wild pitch. Chris Singleton singled, and with two outs, Matthews hit a two-run triple to the right-field wall.

In the past two games, Matthews is 4-for-7 with two doubles, a triple and four RBIs.

Afterward, he pointed to Batista's homer as last night's defining moment.

"Tony's done that all year it seems like," Matthews said. "He's gotten some big hits and some big home runs for us and he came up big tonight."

Orioles tonight

Opponent:Arizona Diamondbacks

Site:Bank One Ballpark, Phoenix

Time:6:05

TV/Radio:Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM)

Starters: Orioles' Rodrigo Lopez (6-2, 2.45) vs. Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson (10-2, 2.63)