BALTIMORE — For the second straight night, the Baltimore Orioles found themselves trailing Tampa Bay early and needing strong relief pitching and timely offense. This time they got both in a 7-6 victory before 19,250 at Camden Yards.
Coupled with Boston’s 7-3 loss to Toronto, the win catapulted the Orioles (9-5) back into first place in the American League East.
“This team always finds a way to get it done,” manager Lee Mazzilli said. “It’s hard to keep coming back, but we keep coming.”
The Orioles were again bolstered by their bullpen as three relievers combined to toss four shutout innings.
“Everyone’s pretty much lights out as of late,” said John Parrish (1-1), who pitched two innings to earn the fourth win of his career and first since 2001. “You can’t lose confidence in your bullpen, and I don’t think [Mazzilli] has. When the phone buzzes, everyone’s always ready.”
With the Orioles trailing 6-5 entering the bottom of the seventh, Melvin Mora smacked a game-tying RBI double off Chad Gaudin (0-1) and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Miguel Tejada. Although the throw appeared to beat Mora, catcher Toby Hall couldn’t come up with the tag.
“As soon as [Tejada] hit the ball, I was going home, “Mora said. “If they tried to stop me, I wasn’t going to stop. Those opportunities don’t come twice.”
The Devil Rays scored three times in the top of the second against Orioles starter Kurt Ainsworth, who allowed five earned runs and seven hits in five innings. After Robert Fick led off with a single, Ainsworth walked Tino Martinez and gave up an RBI single to Julio Lugo that eluded right fielder Jay Gibbons, allowing Lugo to advance to second. Hall increased the lead to 3-0 with a line single to center that scored Martinez and Lugo.
Devil Rays starter Damian Moss, who left the Orioles for Tampa Bay in the offseason after being acquired along with Ainsworth in the deal that sent Sidney Ponson to the San Francisco Giants last year, retired the first nine Orioles but floundered in the fourth.
Brian Roberts led off with a single, and Mora followed with a well-placed bunt that Moss threw wildly past first, allowing Roberts to race to third and Mora to second. Tejada delivered a single to center, scoring both to cut the deficit to 3-2. After Tejada scored on a fielder’s choice to tie the game, David Segui lined a two-out single to right-center to put the Orioles in front and chase Moss after only 58 pitches in favor of Jorge Sosa.
The Devil Rays responded in the top of the sixth, when Aubrey Huff laced an RBI double and scored on a towering home run to right by Fick. Ainsworth was then relieved by Parrish, who retired the next three Devil Rays to end the inning.
The momentum swung back to the Orioles in the bottom half when Rafael Palmeiro led off with a home run, his first at Camden Yards since May 23, 1999, when he was with the Texas Rangers.
“We were down by two runs, and I was just trying to get on base and get something going,” said Palmeiro, who has 102 career home runs at Camden Yards. “If we can get to our bullpen with a lead, we’re going to have a lot of wins.”
An inning later, Crawford again snatched possible extra bases away from Larry Bigbie, this time crashing into the wall to grab a low, screaming line drive. After Mora put the Orioles in front, it was Tampa Bay’s turn to answer, and the Devil Rays loaded the bases with one out courtesy of a two-base error by Matos. B.J. Ryan, however, retired Martinez and Lugo to end the inning.
Jorge Julio retired all three batters he faced in the ninth for his second save of the season.
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