The Orioles held off a ninth-inning scare to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 on Friday night at Tropicana Field, snapping a nine-game winning streak for a team that entered the night with the best record in baseball.
Gunnar Henderson's two-run homer in the eighth — his 20th of the season — put Baltimore ahead for good at 6-2, backing up a career .318 average against Tampa Bay that's his best mark against any opponent. It nearly wasn't enough. Yennier Cano allowed three runs on three hits in just two-thirds of an inning in the ninth, with Jonathan Aranda's two-run single and Junior Caminero's RBI groundout pulling the Rays within one and putting the tying run in scoring position. Cam Sanders came on in relief and retired Ryan Vilade to end it, sealing Baltimore's second straight win.
Dylan Beavers set up the late-inning heroics with a go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh off Kevin Kelly that made it 4-2, breaking a game that had been tied since the third. Baltimore's bullpen did its part ahead of Cano's rocky ninth — Josh Walker, Andrew Kittredge, and Rico Garcia combined for 2.2 scoreless innings to preserve the lead Beavers and Henderson built.
The win also marked Chris Bassitt's return to Baltimore's rotation, his first start since landing on the injured list June 8 with a lower back issue. He worked around traffic all night — Christian Encarnación-Strand's sacrifice fly gave the Orioles an early 1-0 lead, but Richie Palacios' RBI double tied it in the second, Colton Cowser's 10th home run of the season put Baltimore back ahead in the third, and Victor Mesa Jr.'s RBI single tied it again at 2-2, where it stayed into the sixth. Former Oriole Cedric Mullins made a running catch at the wall that inning to rob Tyler O'Neill, who was facing another former Baltimore pitcher, Tyler Wells. Bassitt settled in from there, finishing his return outing with 5.1 innings, five hits, two runs, three walks, and three strikeouts on 88 pitches.
The victory ends Tampa Bay's nine-game winning streak and hands the Rays, who entered the night 74-46, back-to-back series losses to Baltimore this season after the Orioles were swept at Tropicana Field earlier in the year. Baltimore improves to 59-63.
Orioles Schedule → · Orioles Playoff Odds & Standings → · Box Score →