ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan
Longoria homered and drove in three runs, Matt Garza allowed two runs
over eight innings and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3
on Wednesday night.
Longoria hit a two-out, two-run double
in the fifth to give the Rays a 3-2 lead and added a solo homer in the
eighth.
Garza (1-0) struck out nine, walked
two and allowing four hits. He improved to 19-9 against AL East teams.
Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie (0-1) gave
up three runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander had six
strikeouts and two walks.
One day after a season-opening sellout
of 36,973, the announced crowd Wednesday night was 15,220.
The Rays opened the season with two
wins for the first time since 2002, the only other time they did it.
Rafael Soriano got his first save with
the Rays despite allowing a run-scoring double by Garrett Atkins in the
ninth.
Miguel Tejada had an RBI single during
a two-run first.
Tampa Bay made it 2-1 in the fourth on
a run-scoring single by B.J. Upton. The Rays later in the inning loaded
the bases with two outs, but the threat ended when Kelly Shoppach
struck out.
Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts
went 0-for-5 and is hitless in 10 at-bats. He was limited to six games
during spring training because of a slightly herniated disc in his back.
Notes
The Rays are 111-53 at home
since the start of the 2008 season. … Baltimore LF Felix Pie was out
of the lineup due to a left rotator cuff strain and was replaced by
Nolan Reimold, who is coming back from left Achilles' tendon surgery
last September. Pie pinch run in the ninth. … Orioles INF Robert
Andino cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.