Matt Wieters slammed a tiebreaking two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Baltimore Orioles snapped visiting Tampa Bay’s five-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory over the Rays on Tuesday night.
Wieters, who entered the game batting .352 for his career against Tampa Bay, homered for the second straight night and eighth time in 19 games to halt Baltimore's three-game skid.
Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer for the Rays, who lost for only the second time in 10 games and fell four games behind the Red Sox in the American League wild card race. Boston crushed Toronto 18-6 on Tuesday.
Jake Fox delivered a two-out, pinch-hit double off Tampa Bay ace David Price in the seventh inning to tie it at 2-2. Price allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six in 6 2/3 innings.
Troy Patton (1-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings for his first career victory while Jim Johnson recorded the final out for his fifth save. J.P. Howell (2-3) took the loss.
Orioles starter Alfredo Simon had a career-high nine strikeouts in seven innings but remained winless in his last four starts.
Tampa Bay's Johnny Damon swiped his 400th career base in the second inning to become the ninth player in major-league history with 200 homers and 400 steals.
Tampa Bay | Baltimore | |
David Price | Player | Alfredo Simon |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.2 | IP | 7.0 |
6 | Strikeouts | 9 |
4 | Hits | 6 |
1.35 | ERA | 2.57 |
Tampa Bay | Baltimore | |
Evan Longoria | Player | J.J. Hardy |
2 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |