Tampa Bay 15, Baltimore 5
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, June 23, 2017
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Paul Nauert, 1B -
Carlos Torres, 2B -
Clint Fagan, 3B -
Dana DeMuth
Attendance:
18929
By The Sports Xchange
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays moved four games above .500 for the first time in nearly two years, surging past the Baltimore Orioles with an easy 15-5 win on Friday night at Tropicana Field.
The Rays (40-36) jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three innings and reset their season high for scoring, getting home runs from Derek Norris, Shane Peterson and Logan Morrison.
The slumping Orioles (35-38) matched a dubious major league record by allowing at least five runs in 20 straight games -- the first team to do so since the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies.
"We feel good about where we are at," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It was nice to see us cash in and capitalize on those runs and not leave the guys on base."
Tampa Bay roughed up starter Ubaldo Jimenez (2-3), who didn't survive the third inning. Rays starter Chris Archer (6-4) threw six innings, not needing his best stuff to win his second straight start.
The Rays got four RBIs each from Evan Longoria and Peterson, who was called up before the game and had a two-run home run.
"Anytime we get a win and you have a chance to help the team, it's awesome, especially at the big-league level," said Peterson, whose four RBIs were a career high. "You go out there and try to do too much, next thing you know, you look up and you're not there anymore. For me, it's just do what I can do, do the best I can do and whatever happens, happens."
Tampa Bay hasn't been four games over .500 at any point since July 1, 2015, but has now won three of four games on their current homestand. Morrison's home run was his 22nd, extending his team lead as he makes a case for the All-Star Game.
"We're going to go as far we let ourselves go," Morrison said.
The Rays set their season high with 14 runs by the fifth inning, with unlikely stars leading the way. Norris, potentially being designated for assignment this weekend, had three hits, including a two-run home run.
Jimenez allowed nine runs on seven hits before his early exit. He walked the first two batters on 10 pitches, advanced them with a wild pitch and saw both score on a two-run single by Longoria. Morrison followed with an RBI triple and scored on an infield groundout for a 4-0 lead.
"It's tough. Sucks the air out of you a little bit," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of the rough start. "Our guys got back in it at 4-2, just couldn't get any shutdown innings. You walk seven or eight guys and hit somebody. I think we had the same number of hits they had (11 each)."
Archer gave up two runs on three hits in the second, but Longoria's sacrifice fly extended the lead to 5-2 in the second. Peterson hit a two-run home run in the third, and then Norris did the same to chase Jimenez.
"Command," Showalter said. "Never really had it. We're trying to squeeze every out we can out of him, to try to take some load off the bullpen. We couldn't get him through any type of length of an outing. You come out and walk the first two guys, it doesn't bode well."
Jonathan Schoop's two-run double in the fourth cut Tampa Bay's lead to 9-4, but the Rays got five more runs in the fifth off reliever Miguel Castro. Castro came in with the bases loaded and all three runs scored, first on a bases-loaded walk to Longoria, then back-to-back infield errors.
Peterson's sacrifice fly made it 14-4.
NOTES: The Orioles got RHP Darren O'Day back from the 10-day disabled list, and he pitched a scoreless eighth inning. RHP Gabriel Ynoa was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room. ... The Rays placed OF Colby Rasmus on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to June 19, with left hip tendinitis. Orioles manager Buck Showalter was back in the dugout after missing Wednesday's game for the birth of his first grandchild. Bench coach John Russell had stepped in Wednesday.
Top Game Performances
Hitting
| Baltimore |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Adam Jones
| Player |
Derek Norris |
|
3 |
Hits |
3 |
|
0 |
RBI |
2 |
|
0 |
HR |
1 |
|
3 |
TB |
7 |
|
.750 |
Avg |
1.000 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Baltimore
|
10 |
0 |
12 |
.278 |
14 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| Tampa Bay
|
11 |
3 |
24 |
.314 |
14 |
5 |
14 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
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