Rays 7, Orioles 6
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Evan Longoria scored on an infield single by Kevin Kiermaier to cap a ninth-inning rally and give the Tampa Bay Rays a 7-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field on Sunday.
Baltimore led 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth when pinch hitter Brandon Guyer hit a game-tying solo home run off the first pitch of the inning by Orioles closer Zach Britton to tie the game.
After Britton recovered to strike out pinch hitter Steven Souza Jr., Longoria tripled to the wall in right field. Britton intentionally walked second baseman Logan Forsythe and walked pinch hitter Richie Shaffer to load the bases.
Kiermaier, the center fielder, hit a slow chopper to second on an 0-2 pitch and beat out the throw to first.
The Orioles scored two in the top of the eighth inning to take a 6-4 lead. Left fielder Steven Pearce scored from first on a three-base error by third baseman Longoria and shortstop Paul Janish scored on a single by outfielder Gerardo Parra.
Tampa Bay scratched a run across in the bottom of the eighth when Forsythe scored from third on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.
Britton blew his fourth save of the season and took the loss, falling to 4-1.
Kirby Yates pitched two-thirds of an inning in the eighth and earned his first win of the season.
NOTES: Rays OF Grady Sizemore was back in the lineup a day after he was hit in the knee by a pitch from Orioles reliever Darren O'Day. ... Both Orioles C Matt Wieters and Rays 3B Evan Longoria spoke about the interference call that home plate umpire Dale Scott called on Longoria after it was determined he interfered with Wieters' attempt to throw out pinch runner Mikie Mahtook on a steal of second base. Mahtook had to go back to first base and Longoria was declared out. "I knew I got hit with the back swing," Wieters said. "I thought worst case he's going to go back to first and Longoria was still going to be hitting." Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he would have challenged the play if it wasn't called. Longoria thought the contact was incidental. "I don't think it was the right call," he said. "I hit him with the back swing, I didn't really leave the box. At the very least, I thought it should have been a no-call and that at the most I thought it should have been incidental contact and Mikie should have just gone back to first."