BALTIMORE -- On the night when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays found their hitting touch, the Baltimore Orioles lost their grip on first place in the AL East.
Tino Martinez and Rocco Baldelli homered to lead a rare Tampa Bay power surge, and the Devil Rays ended Baltimore's five-game winning streak with a 7-3 victory Wednesday night.
The Devil Rays snapped a three-game skid in which they failed to get an extra-base hit. They ranked last in the AL in runs (43 in 12 games) and had scored only six runs in their previous five games.
This time, however, Tampa Bay had 12 hits -- including two homers and a double.
"Our bats, they came alive," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said. "That was a good win for us. Now I'd like to see if we can get a little consistency going."
The upstart Orioles had been in first place since April 16, but the defeat dropped them a half-game behind Boston, which beat Toronto 4-2.
Paul Abbott (2-1) allowed three runs and two hits in six innings. He was perfect through four innings, but he walked the first two batters in the fifth before Jay Gibbons hit a three-run homer.
The drive brought the Orioles to 7-3, but Baltimore got only three more hits after that.
Abbott now has many wins this season as he did in the past two years combined. He underwent shoulder surgery in 2002 and finally appears to have returned to peak form.
"When you win two games in two years, you're kind of off the radar a little bit," he said. "We got the win, and I feel great."
Tampa Bay feasted on Baltimore starter Matt Riley (1-1), who gave up seven runs, nine hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings. He came in second in the AL with a 1.35 ERA but finished at 4.58.
"It's frustrating," Riley said. "This team has done a great job of scoring runs, but I just didn't do my job. I didn't give us a chance to win."
It was a struggle from the outset, as Riley gave up two first-inning runs and never retired the side in order.
"He just couldn't get it going," Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said. "I just don't feel like he was ever in sync at all. It seemed like he was fighting himself most of the night."
The Devil Rays' two-run first inning matched the total runs they scored in their previous three games. After Carl Crawford drew a leadoff walk, Damian Rolls doubled to end Tampa Bay's run of 113 at-bats without an extra-base hit.
Eduardo Perez then singled in a run with one out and Martinez drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Julio Lugo hit a two-out RBI single to right, but Gibbons threw out Perez trying to score.
Baldelli led off the third with drive that carried over the center-field wall, snapping a 1-for-13 skid with his first extra-base hit of the year.
The Devil Rays batted around and chased Riley during a four-run fifth. Martinez hit his team-high third homer, a three-run shot to right, and Crawford added an RBI single to make it 7-0.
"We have good hitters on this team and we know that," Martinez said. "Hopefully this game will get us going and kick our offense into gear. It feels good tonight."
Notes
Tampa Bay's Aubrey Huff was held out
of the starting lineup with a virus, but he pinch hit in the ninth to
extend his club-record streak of consecutive games played to 288. It's
the second-longest active streak behind Baltimore shortstop Miguel
Tejada's 608. ... Tampa Bay started the game tied for last in the AL
with 10 homers. ... Javy Lopez went 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak
to 16 games, including the final three games of last season. ... Abbott
has given up just 10 hits and five runs in 19 innings.
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