Chris Davis hits slam, Miguel Gonzalez wins ninth as O's top Tampa Bay

For a team scuffling on offense, one swing was very big tonight. Chris Davis hit his fifth career grand slam in the third inning as the Orioles beat Tampa Bay 5-1 at Tropicana Field.

Miguel Gonzalez allowed just one run and five hits in 7 2/3 innings, in his longest outing since May 29. Gonzalez and Chris Tillman have pitched 14 2/3 innings the last two nights, allowing seven hits and two runs.

Rays starter Erasmo Ramirez began tonight with the best ERA in the American League since April 29 at 2.06. Then he retired the first six Orioles on just 18 pitches. But in the third, singles by J.J. Hardy, Jonathan Schoop and David Lough loaded the bases with one out. Then Davis hit his 22nd homer to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead. His last grand slam was Aug. 29, 2014 against Minnesota.

Davis worked the count from 1-2 to 3-2 before he hit a 93 mph fastball out to right field. The ball left the bat at 101 mph. Davis now has nine homers and 29 RBIs in 30 career games at Tropicana Field. It was the third O's slam of the season. Schoop hit one April 11 and Steve Pearce did the same on May 21.

David Lough, batting leadoff for the first time this year, went 2-for-4. In the eighth he tripled down the right-field line and then scored on the same play. Second baseman Logan Forsythe threw wildly past third base and Lough trotted home for a 5-0 lead.

Gonzalez improved to 9-6 with an ERA of 3.99. He took a shutout to the last of the eighth, but gave up a one-out homer to Curt Casali. Gonzalez threw 107 pitches, one off his season high, and went seven innings or more for the sixth time in 18 starts. Gonzalez had pitched to an ERA of 6.75 his last five starts.

In four 2015 starts versus Tampa Bay, Gonzalez is 2-1 with an ERA of 0.93. In eight career starts at The Trop, he is 5-2 with a 1.92 ERA.

The Davis slam made Ramirez the losing pitcher. He entered this start with a 6-1 record and 1.29 ERA over his last nine starts. He had allowed just four runs total over his last six starts, then gave up four on one swing.

The Orioles ended a four-game losing streak; they had lost 15 of 20 before this victory. They improve to 20-31 in road games, 6-5 against the Rays and 47-49 overall.

In the series finale on Sunday afternoon, Wei-Yin Chen (4-6, 2.86 ERA) pitches against lefty Matt Moore (1-1, 7.23 ERA) at 1:10 p.m.