The Orioles welcomed the Rays back to Camden Yards after meeting at the beginning of the season in early April. This current series included a doubleheader that was played on Saturday due to a rainout during the team’s previous series in Baltimore.
Game One: Orioles: 6, Rays: 3
The series would open with a matchup between Yovani Gallardo and Matt Moore, both of which had struggles over the course of the game.
For Gallardo, those struggles came right in the first inning. It started with a two run home run by Corey Dickerson which was later followed by a Logan Morrison RBI single, making it 3-0 at the time. That is all the Rays’ offense would produce during the game.
Gallardo ended up going 5 1/3 innings allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out only three and walking two.
As for the Orioles, their scoring got started in the bottom of the fifth with a J.J. Hardy RBI single. This was followed in the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run by Adam Jones and a three RBI single by Chris Davis, making it 5-3. This lead was insured by a Manny Machado solo home run in the bottom of the eighth, making his presence felt again after missing four games due to his suspension.
As for other notes regarding this game, it was Ashur Tolliver‘s first MLB win in his career.
Game Two: Orioles: 5, Rays: 0
Speaking of first wins, Kevin Gausman got his first win of the 2016 season during the first game of the doubleheader against the Rays. Gausman pitched exceptionally well going 7 2/3 innings allowing no runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking nobody.
He was helped out on the offensive side by a pair of RBI singles in the second inning courtesy of Hardy and Jones, a Francisco Pena RBI single in the sixth inning and a two RBI single by Pedro Alvarez in the seventh inning.
Game Three: Orioles: 8, Rays: 6
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Rays brought more of a fight and Chris Tillman seemed to be on the wrong side of it. Tillman was only able to go five innings allowing six runs on 10 hits while striking out and walking two batters, respectively.
Things were not much easier for the Rays’ starter, Jake Odorizzi, either. Odorizzi also only lasted five innings but only allowed five runs on eight hits in comparison to Tillman’s six runs on 10 hits. Odorizzi also only had one strikeout and one walk during his appearance.
The big blasts during the game for the O’s came from Matt Wieters twice, Adam Jones and Chris Davis. The Orioles were also able to get two separate RBI singles, one from Jones and one from Davis, in the seventh inning to give the Orioles the lead which Wieters would later extend with a home run. The O’s had trailed the entire game up until that point.
Game Four: Orioles: 12, Rays: 5
What started off as what was seeming to be a blowout, actually became one. In the first inning, Chris Davis got things going on the scoreboard with a grand slam, making it 4-0 which the Orioles would make into 6-1 by the third inning.
Tampa Bay was able to get within one run in the top of the fifth at 6-5 but the Orioles offense took off and did not look back from that. Mark Trumbo, on his t-shirt day, would get a two run home run making it 8-5 at the time in the fifth.
In the eighth, four more runs would score thanks to a Joey Rickard RBI double, a Manny Machado RBI single, a Mark Trumbo RBI single and Chris Davis scoring on a wild pitch by the Rays’ pitcher and former Oriole, Ryan Webb.
This is also the second straight Sunday game in which the Orioles scored double digit runs; they scored 11 against the Blue Jays in their contest last week.
The O’s are now riding the high of a five game win streak to the west coast in which they will start against the San Diego Padres, a team they just played during the middle of last week.
The series will open up with Ubaldo Jimenez going for the Orioles against Erik Johnson and the Padres with Yovani Gallardo and Christian Friedrich going in the series finale. No starters have been announced yet for the series against the Mariners following the trip to San Diego.
