The Tampa Bay Rays (74-47) defeated the Baltimore Orioles (38-81) 8-4 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays are now 14-1 against Baltimore this season, who has now lost fourteen consecutive games.
Elsewhere in the AL East the Yankees defeated the Red Sox 5-2 on Wednesday night to sweep Boston in a three game series. The Rays now lead the AL East by five games ahead of New York, who has now passed Boston for second in the AL East.
After the Orioles got two in the top of the first, Ji-Man Choi drove in two in the bottom of the first to tie the game. The Rays took the lead in the fourth with RBIs from Brandon Lowe and Wander Franco before beginning to pull away with three runs in the sixth inning. They added one in the eighth en route to the 8-4 win.
Louis Head gave up two runs as the opener in the first inning before giving way to Ryan Yarbrough. Yarbrough (7-4, 4.57) pitched five shutout innings in which he struck out three and walked none while allowing just one hit.
The Rays will now look to sweep the Orioles in the four game series on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM - pregame coverage begins with Neil Solondz at 12:30 PM on 95.3 WDAE & AM 620.
PHOTO COURTESY GETTY IMAGES