Rays 3, Orioles 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays are back at .500 for the first time since the opening week of the season, winning their third straight game on Tuesday night thanks to Kevin Kiermaier's two-run homer in a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field.
The Rays (10-10) got out of all kinds of jams -- turning three double plays, another runner picked off -- and received production from the bottom of the order for the second night in a row.
Tampa Bay pitchers have allowed a total of two runs in their three-game win streak.
The Orioles (11-8) have dropped four of five games, with their bats unable to solve Rays pitching, at least with runners in scoring position.
Tampa Bay's bullpen pitched well, with four relievers combining for four innings of scoreless relief.
Enny Romero picked up his first career win after a scoreless sixth in relief of starter Jake Odorizzi. Alex Colome got the final two outs in the ninth for his fifth save of the season.
Kiermaier's third of the year came off Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez with two outs and an 0-2 count in the sixth, after Steven Souza had singled to start the rally.
Kiermaier, who made a running, leaping catch at the wall in the first inning to set the tone for a strong defensive night, brought in the winning runs while hitting No. 8 in the order, a night after No. 9 hitter Curt Casali drove in both runs in a 2-0 win over Baltimore.
For five innings, the Rays and Orioles traded missed opportunities, with Odorizzi and Jimenez consistently getting into and out of jams, leaving the score tied 1-1.
The Rays had ample chances early. In the first three innings, eight batters came to the plate with a runner at third and the only one to bring one home was Desmond Jennings, who had a sacrifice fly in the third to score Logan Forsythe, who had walked and gotten to third on Brad Miller's double.
Immediately after, again with a runner at third, Logan Morrison struck out to end another rally.
Forsythe doubled to lead off the game, took third on a passed ball but was stranded there.
Morrison doubled with one out in the second and stole third with one out, but again was stranded there.
Miller got to second with one out in the fifth, but the Rays could only strike out twice.
Odorizzi was equally impressive in stranding Orioles runners -- Mark Trumbo singled and J.J. Hardy doubled in the second, but Odorizzi got two outs to keep them off the scoreboard.
Baltimore was able to tie the score in the fourth when Trumbo singled to bring in Chris Davis, who hit a lazy ground ball past third with the Rays shifted hard to the other side for an unorthodox double.
The Orioles had the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth, but Odorizzi induced a weak pop from Jonathan Schoop, then got Caleb Joseph to ground into a double play to survive with a 1-1 tie.
NOTES: In driving in both of Tampa Bay's runs in Monday's 2-0 win, C Curt Casali became just the third Rays player since 2008 to drive in all the runs in a win while hitting in the No. 9 slot. ... With Chris Archer's 10 strikeouts on Monday, the Rays have six 10-strikeout games by starters in their first 19 games, matching the most in the major leagues' modern era. The 2001 Diamondbacks, with Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, were the last to do so. ... Tuesday's lineup featured the two longest games-started streaks in baseball -- Baltimore's Manny Machado is at 181 and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria has 123. ... Orioles OF Joey Rickard, taken from the Rays in the Rule V draft, hit safety in 14 of his 16 games played going into Tuesday, and the Orioles were 7-0 when he scores a run.