Rays 5, Orioles 4: Logan Forsythe went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer and Erik Bedard won for only the second time in his last nine starts as visiting Tampa Bay held on to edge Baltimore.
Kevin Kiermaier also belted a two-run homer among a pair of hits and Desmond Jennings had a solo blast as the Rays won for the third time in four games. Bedard (4-5) allowed three runs on five hits over seven-plus innings with seven strikeouts and Jake McGee got the final four outs for his third save.
Manny Machado slammed a two-run homer in the eighth inning off Bedard and Nick Markakis added a solo blast for the Orioles, who have dropped two of the first three in the series. Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen (7-3) yielded five runs on seven hits over 3 1/3 innings – his shortest outing of 2014 – to lose for the first time in 10 starts.
Jennings led off the first by lining a pitch from Chen into the left-field seats and Forsythe followed a Sean Rodriguez single with his first homer of the season in the second. Forsythe led off the fourth with a single and trotted home when Kiermaier lined a 1-2 pitch over the right-field fence for a 5-0 lead.
Bedard cruised along until there were two outs in the sixth when Markakis homered to right. J.J. Hardy singled to lead off the eighth, Machado followed with a liner off the left-field foul pole and Adam Jones’ RBI single made it 5-4 before Nelson Cruz flew out to center off McGee to end the inning with the tying run at third base.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay pitchers struck out nine on Saturday to increase their total to 268 in June, the most of any month in franchise history. The Rays fanned 259 in September 2012. … Baltimore OF Steve Pearce had a double – his seventh extra-base hit in eight games against Tampa Bay this season. … Tampa Bay SS Yunel Escobar missed his fourth consecutive game with a sore right shoulder.
Tampa Bay | Baltimore | |
Erik Bedard | Player | Wei-Yin Chen |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 3.1 |
7 | Strikeouts | 2 |
5 | Hits | 7 |
3.86 | ERA | 13.50 |
Tampa Bay | Baltimore | |
Logan Forsythe | Player | Nick Markakis |
3 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 1 |
6 | TB | 5 |
1.000 | Avg | .500 |