Two-out hits from Jonathan Aranda and Richie Palacios in the eighth inning allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to rally for a 5-3 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon, completing a three-game series sweep in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays had only two hits through seven innings before a four-run uprising to produce their fourth victory in a row.
Junior Caminero and Hunter Feduccia, who homered, each had two hits for the Rays, who finished a 5-1 homestand.
Baltimore’s Pete Alonso homered and drove in two runs and Shane Baz had his best pitching performance of the season against his former team, but those weren’t enough to allow the Orioles to avoid their sixth loss in their last eight games. Samuel Basallo also homered for Baltimore.
Baz held Tampa Bay to one run on two hits and three walks while striking out six batters in six innings. Until an offseason trade to the Orioles, he had only been a member of the Rays in his major league career that covered parts of four seasons.
Tyler Wells pitched a scoreless seventh before the Rays touched Anthony Nunez (2-1) for four runs in the eighth.
Aranda’s double on a 1-2 changeup in the eighth inning pulled Tampa Bay even. Palacios’ single two batters later put the Rays ahead before they tacked on a final run on a delayed double steal.
Oliver Dunn, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, scored Tampa Bay’s tying run as a pinch runner in his debut with the Rays.
Gunnar Henderson rapped three hits for the Orioles, while Alonso and Basallo both had two hits.
Jesse Scholtens (5-2) gave up two runs in four innings of relief and Ian Seymour worked the ninth for his second save. Rays starter Steven Matz was charged with one run and three hits in four innings.
The Rays scored first on Feduccia’s first homer of the season in the second inning.
Alonso’s run-scoring single in the third evened the game. Alonso hammered his ninth homer in the sixth before Basallo went deep for his seventh two batters later.
