BALTIMORE — Carlos Pena hit a
three-run homer off Matt Albers in the 10th inning, and the Tampa Bay
Rays extended Baltimore's early season swoon with an 8-6 victory Tuesday
night.
It was the fifth straight loss for the
Orioles, whose 1-7 start is their worst since they opened the 1988
season with 21 straight defeats.
Ben Zobrist led off the 10th with a
walk off Albers (0-1) and took second on a wild pitch. After Evan
Longoria walked, Pena hit a 2-2 pitch into the right-field seats.
Lance Cormier (1-0) worked the ninth,
and Rafael Soriano gave up Ty Wigginton's second homer of the game but
got three outs for his second save.
Luke Scott also homered for the
Orioles, connecting with a man on in the eighth after Tampa Bay took a
5-3 lead in the top of the inning.
Orioles starter Brian Matusz took a
two-hitter and a 3-0 lead into the eighth. The rookie left-hander struck
out Willy Aybar to start the inning, then yielded four straight
singles. The last, by Sean Rodriguez, got the Rays to 3-1 and forced
Orioles manager Dave Trembley to go to the bullpen with the bases
loaded.
Jim Johnson got Zobrist to pop up, but
Longoria tied it with a single to left. Will Ohman then gave up an RBI
single to Pena and B.J. Upton capped the uprising with a run-scoring
double.
Those in the crowd of 13,731 who stuck
around on the chilly night were rewarded in the bottom half. After
Garrett Atkins drew a walk from Dan Wheeler, Scott came up to pinch-hit.
Rays manager Joe Maddon brought in lefty Randy Choate, and Scott sent
his second pitch over the 25-foot scoreboard in right.
Matusz struck out eight and walked one
in the longest of his nine career starts. The only hits he allowed over
the first seven innings were a bunt single by Zobrist and an infield
chopper by Pena.
Rays starter Jeff Niemann gave up
three runs and eight hits in seven innings. He faced only four batters
in his previous appearance, which ended when he was struck in the
shoulder by a liner off the bat of Baltimore's Miguel Tejada.
Eager to bolster an offense averaging
fewer than three runs per game, Trembley shuffled his lineup by putting
catcher Matt Wieters in the cleanup spot for the first time, moving
Tejada from fourth to second and dropping slumping Adam Jones three
notches to fifth.
The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the
third but were left wanting more. After two singles and a walk loaded
the bases with one out, Wieters drove in a run with a grounder to first
and Jones popped out.
Wigginton made it 3-0 in the sixth
with a two-out homer.
Notes
Five of Baltimore's eight
homers have either tied the game or put the Orioles ahead. … The Rays
placed C Kelly Shoppach on the 15-day disabled list with a right knee
sprain and recalled C John Jaso from Triple-A Durham. … Tampa Bay's
Jason Bartlett extended his hitting streak at Camden Yards to 18 games
with an eighth-inning single.