ended their 11-game losing streak Monday night, using a 15-hit attack
and an effective pitching performance by David Price to beat the
Baltimore Orioles 8-4.
The Rays avoided becoming the first
World Series team in history to lose 12 in a row the following year.
Rookie Reid Brignac had a career-high four hits — his first big league
homer, two doubles and a single — and B.J. Upton also connected for
Tampa Bay.
Held to eight runs in their previous
seven games, the Rays equaled that amount by the fifth inning. Tampa
Bay, which batted .183 during its 11-game skid, hadn't had as many as
15 hits in a game since Aug. 24 against Toronto.
Price (8-7) gave up four runs, three
earned, and seven hits in seven innings. The left-hander allowed four
runs and four hits in the first inning, then settled down. He retired
13 straight at one point.
Orioles rookie David Hernandez (4-8)
was staked with a 4-1 lead but immediately gave it away and fell to 0-4
in his last six starts. The right-hander yielded five runs and nine
hits, including two homers, in three-plus innings. He has surrendered
nine home runs over his last 9 2/3 innings.
After Tampa Bay got a first-inning
run on a sacrifice fly by Ben Zobrist, Baltimore took a 4-1 lead in the
bottom half. Price retired the first two batters, then allowed RBI
singles to Melvin Mora, Matt Wieters and Luke Scott before another run
scored on a throwing error by third baseman Evan Longoria.
The Rays tied it in the second. Upton
broke a 2-for-21 skid with a two-single and Brignac homered, a no-doubt
drive to right on a 1-0 pitch, before Jason Bartlett and Carl Crawford
hit successive doubles.
Upton's 10th homer gave Tampa Bay a 5-4 lead in the fourth, and a pair of Baltimore errors fueled a three-run fifth.
Notes
The Orioles have given up a
first-inning run in six straight games and eight of the last nine. …
It was the first time in eight games that Tampa Bay scored more than
two runs. … Brignac's homer came in his 67th at-bat. … Mora played
his 793rd game at third base, second-most in Orioles history behind
Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson (2,870).