ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Everyone in Tampa Bay’s lineup didn’t have a hit or drive in a run. It just seemed that way during another tough outing for Baltimore’s struggling pitchers.
Evan Longoria and Shane Peterson drove in four runs apiece, Logan Morrison slugged his 22nd homer, and the surging Rays beat the reeling Orioles 15-5 for their fifth win in six games on Friday night.
“Everybody seemed to find a way to connect with the baseball,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after his team rocked starter Ubaldo Jimenez (2-3) for nine runs in 2 1/3 innings.
Peterson and Derek Norris hit two-run homers as Orioles pitchers allowed at least five runs for the 20th consecutive game, tying a major league record set by the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies.
“It’s not easy coming to the stadium every day knowing that you’re going to be struggling,” said Jimenez, who walked the first two batters he faced to set the tone for a long night.
“I know we’re all expecting things are going to end one of these days. It just can’t keep happening,” the 33-year-old right-hander added. “The only thing we can do is keep being positive and fight every day.”
Longoria had a two-run single during Tampa Bay’s four-run first inning, and Peterson and Norris both went deep in the third to chase Jimenez, who walked four and yielded seven hits in his shortest appearance of the season.
“Pretty much I didn’t have anything. The fastball wasn’t sinking at all, the breaking ball wasn’t there,” Jiminez said. “I just got hit.”
Chris Archer (6-4) wasn’t especially sharp for Tampa Bay but the right-hander didn’t have to be with the Rays posting a season-high for runs.
Jonathon Schoop and Trey Mancini each drove in two runs off the Tampa Bay starter, who allowed five runs and eight hits over six innings.
Rookie reliever Austin Pruitt inherited a 14-5 lead and pitched the final three innings for his first big league save.
The Orioles fell to 6-14 over a dubious stretch that’s seen them allow 10 or more runs six times. The Rays scored five runs on one hit - Norris’ infield single - in the fifth inning, and Jiminez’s ERA jumped from 6.25 to 7.26 during his shortest outing of the season.
Baltimore manager Buck Showalter rejoined the team after missing one game while attending the birth of his first grandchild. He remains at a loss to explain the pitching woes.
“The help’s got to come from within,” Showalter said, noting the Orioles finished with 11 hits, the same number as the Rays. “They earned some things and we made some things easy for them, obviously.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: RHP Darren O’Day (shoulder) was reinstated from the 10-day DL. … CF Adam Jones, who has missed time with a sore hip, was back in the lineup after being rested Thursday. Friday’s game began a stretch of six straight games on artificial turf for Baltimore.
Rays: SS Matt Duffy, who had his rehab assignment for offseason Achilles’ tendon surgery shut down due to heel soreness, had a pea-sized calcium deposit removed this week. … OF Colby Rasmus was placed on the 10-day DL with left hip tendinitis.
HELP ON THE WAY
Cash said there is a “good chance” C Wilson Ramos (right knee surgery) and RHP Brad Boxberger (flexor mass strain) will return from the DL this weekend. Neither has played a big league game this season.
UP NEXT
Orioles RHP Dylan Bundy (7-6) and Rays rookie RHP Jake Faria (3-0) are Saturday’s starters. According to Baseball Reference, Faria is the fifth pitcher since 1913 to go at least six innings, allow one or fewer runs and get the win in his first three career starts.
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