Orioles rally for 4-2 win; claim home-away series

Or the O's won the away-home series. Whatever floats your boat.

The Orioles strung together a few hits in the 7th inning, capped by a two-out, two-run single by Adam Jones to give the O's their 12th win on the year.

Starter Wei-Yin Chen wasn't outstanding, but he was certainly pretty good, tossing six innings, surrendering seven hits to go with two runs and two walks, while striking out four. Chen was constantly in the stretch, as Rays' leadoff batters reach based in three of his six innings on the mound. Chen caught a big-time break in the 4th inning, when Tampa second baseman Logan Forsythe lead off the inning with a liner to right center field, a ball that just barely fell over the head of Adam Jones. Forsythe easily had three bases on the play, but over-slid third, and Manny Machado simply tagged him out on the foot. The Rays added a walk and a hit later that inning, a break break the O's eventually took advantage of.

Tampa's two runs were the result of a badly located 0-2 fastball in the 2nd, which turned into a solo home run from James Loney, and a frustrating 5th inning that saw one too many seeing-eye singles between Machado and Everth Cabrera.

Rays' starter Nathan Karns stifled Oriole bats through five innings of work, allowing only two hits in five innings, making Kevin Cash's decision to pull his starter so early a confusing one. Though Karns did manage to limit the Orioles to only two hits, Baltimore bats were spraying line drives throughout the Trop, a sign of what was to come.

Down 2-0 on the 6th, the Orioles were sparked by a leadoff bunt single from Machado. An infield single from Jones moved Manny to second base before pinch hitter Rey Navarro singled him in on a hanging splitter, cutting the lead to 2-1. Navarro replaced Steve Pearce at second base for what was reportedly a stomach illness.

The 7th inning was the most fun for us fans watching at home and the orange in attendance in Tampa.

Travis Snider kicked off the bottom of the frame with a single to right, followed by a Machado walk two batters later. The next batter, Jimmy "The Best Hitter in the History of Baseball" Paredes lined a double down the left field line, scoring pinch-runner David Lough and putting runners in scoring position for Adam Jones. Despite being down 1-2, Jones battled back in the count before lining a single to center field, scoring both Machado and the best hitter in the world.

The Orioles' bullpen was lights out against a struggling Rays' offense, as Tommy Hunter, Darren O'Day and Zach Britton combined to allow only two baserunners, one the result of an Everth Cabrera error. Britton came into the ball game with two outs in the 8th, inducing a signature groundout to close out the inning before earning his fifth save in his sixth chance in the 9th.

With their 12th win, the Orioles moved above the .500 mark for the first time April 20, and the team heads to New York for back-to-back appearances against the Mets and Yankees.