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| Wednesday, May 2 7:05pm ET Rays avoid three-game road sweep | |||||||||||||
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GAME LOG
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Maybe it was the extra batting practice before the game. Perhaps it was just the law of averages kicking in, or nothing more than poor pitching by the Baltimore Orioles. Whatever the reason, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays broke out of their offensive funk in a big way Wednesday night. Ben Grieve had four hits, including a homer, and five RBI to lead a 15-hit attack as Tampa Bay averted a three-game sweep with a 7-1 victory. Gerald Williams had two hits and scored three runs for the Devil Rays, who had lost three straight and scored only 14 runs in losing five of six. Tampa Bay, the lowest-scoring team in the majors, tied a season high in hits after being limited to nine in the first two games of the series. Grieve hit RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings before capping his big night with a three-run homer in the ninth off Jorge Julio. He went 4-for-5 to boost his batting average 33 points to .217. "It's been a while since I've had a night like that," Grieve said. "I've been swinging the bat decent and not really getting many hits. I felt good up there for the most part, and was able to relax after I got a couple of hits." Grieve was among seven slumping Devil Rays to take extra batting practice before the game, a volunteer session that paid immediate dividends. "We kind of broke out tonight," manager Hal McRae said. "We finally scored some runs and had some clutch hits." Ryan Rupe (2-3) allowed one run and four hits in five innings. Tanyon Sturtze followed with four innings of scoreless relief for his first career save. McRae said Rupe (5.93 ERA) will be moved to the bullpen and Sturtze (0-2, 5.40 ERA) will fill the void in the starting rotation. "They've got to make a move and I can't do anything about it," Rupe said. Jay Gibbons hit his first major league homer for the Orioles, who were denied their first three-game sweep of the Devil Rays. Greg Vaughn stopped an 0-for-18 skid with a single off Jose Mercedes (0-5) in the fourth, and Vinny Castilla ended a 1-for-12 slump with a two-out RBI single for a 2-1 lead. Singles by Felix Martinez, Damian Rolls and Grieve made it 3-1 in the fifth. Williams hit a leadoff double in the seventh and scored on a one-out single by Grieve. Mercedes allowed four runs and 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings, lowering his ERA to 7.54. He led the Orioles with 14 wins last year. "He only gave up four runs tonight," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said. "We all need to step back and look at this start compared to other starts. ... I'm not trying to paint a rosy picture, but it was not a bad outing. Not great, but not bad." Tampa Bay got a first-inning run when Williams led off with a single and score on a sacrifice fly by Vaughn, whose 13 RBIs is tied for the team lead with Grieve. Gibbons led off the third with a drive to right that first base umpire Al Clark ruled a foul ball. The Orioles argued the call, and Clark discussed the play with plate umpire Rick Reed before reversing his decision -- correctly, according to the replay. Game notesUntil Chris Richard got an infield hit in the seventh, the top six batters in the Baltimore lineup were 0-for-16. ... Baltimore SS Mike Bordick was out of the starting lineup for the first time this season. Jerry Hairston and Brady Anderson are the only Orioles to play in all 28 games. ... Devil Rays 1B Fred McGriff was rested, a day after his six-game hitting streak was snapped. ... Baltimore RHP Josh Towers pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief in his major league debut.  Send this story to a friend
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RECAPS Tampa Bay 7 Baltimore 1
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