Brandon Lowe belted a two-run homer and Ryan Yarbrough tossed six strong innings as the Tampa Bay Rays opened a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles with a 4-2 win on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Yarbrough (4-3) allowed two runs, both unearned, on three hits and no walks with six strikeouts. It was his first start since he threw his first career complete game on June 3 in a 9-2 win over the New York Yankees.

Andrew Kittredge and J.P. Feyereisen each pitched a scoreless inning in relief before Pete Fairbanks retired the Orioles in order in the ninth for his second save.

Tampa Bay has won 21 of its past 26 games and owns the American League's best record at 40-24.

Trey Mancini gave Baltimore an early lead with a two-run homer in the third.

Orioles left-hander Keegan Akin (0-1) took the loss after surrendering three runs on five hits over four innings. He walked three and fanned two.

Baltimore was held to three hits and fell to 0-4 against Tampa Bay this season.

The Rays answered Mancini's homer with a run in the bottom of the third. Manuel Margot's sacrifice fly scored Mike Zunino, who singled to begin the inning, moved to second on Kevin Kiermaier's single and reached third on a wild pitch.

Tampa Bay moved ahead 3-2 in the fourth when Lowe snapped a 0-for-16 skid with a two-run blast to right-center field off Akin.

The Rays added an insurance run in the seventh. Kiermaier hit a leadoff double off Cole Sulser and scored on Margot's single to left field.

Baltimore first baseman Ryan Mountcastle went 0-for-4, ending his hitting and RBI streaks at eight games.

Kiermaier, Lowe and Mike Brosseau each recorded two hits for the Rays, who moved a season-high 16 games over .500 despite going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles threatened with two runners on and two outs in the eighth, but Feyereisen retired Anthony Santander on a pop fly to end the inning.

Baltimore left fielder Austin Hays went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts after missing the previous 15 games due to a strained left hamstring.

--Field Level Media