Orioles score two in eighth to beat Tampa Bay and take series opener

Ryan Flaherty began tonight batting just .194 with just three hits over his last 20 at-bats. But his bases-loaded single in the eighth gave the Orioles the lead and they beat Tampa Bay 5-3 at Tropicana Field to open a three-game series. After Tampa Bay tied the game 3-3 in the seventh, the Orioles scored twice in the eighth. Matt Wieters singled and went to third on Steve Clevenger's double. A walk to Steve Pearce loaded the bases for Flaherty. His single off Joel Peralta made it a 4-3 and another run scored on Nick Markakis' fielder's choice grounder. Flaherty has six RBIs with three coming over his last two starts. He is now 2-for-2 when batting with the bases loaded. The O's were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position over the first seven innings. The Orioles are now 5-2 when the game was tied after the seventh inning. Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Tommy Hunter. But Hunter got Desmond Jennings to fly out to shallow right and he struck out Logan Forsythe to record his ninth save. Chris Tillman threw 49 pitches in the first inning in his last start. Tonight he threw 17, but one was hit for a two-run homer by Evan Longoria. It was his fifth homer in 25 career at-bats against Tillman. The Orioles moved ahead, scoring single runs in the third, fourth and fifth. Steve Pearce hit a solo shot in the third and the O's got sac flies from J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones in the fourth and fifth. Tampa Bay tied it 3-3 in the seventh on Ben Zobrist's sac fly. Tillman did not get a decision. After pitching to an ERA of 7.63 over his previous three starts, he went six innings plus two batters and gave up five hits and three runs with two walks and two strikeouts. He threw 99 pitches. The Orioles' five runs tonight are one less than they scored in three games combined in Minnesota. They improved to 9-8 on the road, 11-8 against the AL East and 16-14 overall. After going 6-13 in 2013 against Tampa Bay, losing 11 of the last 13 games, the Orioles are 3-0 this season and have outscored the Rays 15-4. Minor league notes: The Double-A Bowie Baysox beat Altoona 11-7 tonight to record the 1,500th win in franchise history. The Baysox all-time record is now 1,500-1,507 in 22 seasons. The Baysox scored seven runs in the fourth inning, producing their biggest inning of the season off Wandy Rodriguez, who was making a minor league rehab start. Bowie's Christian Walker and KD Kang hit three-run homers off Rodriguez. Walker leads all O's farmhands with seven homers. Triple-A Norfolk won 9-4 at Louisville. Pitching on a big league rehab assignment, lefty Aroldis Chapman was knocked out by Norfolk during a five-run first inning as he recorded just two outs. Buck Britton went 2-for-4 with a double, homer and five RBIs in the Tides win.