Schoop homers for fifth straight game in blowout win (with quotes)

Jonathan Schoop hit another homer tonight, tying a major league record for second basemen, as the Orioles routed Tampa Bay 15-5 at Oriole Park. The four-game series is tied at a win each.

Schoop connected on a solo shot for No. 16 in the fifth to give the Orioles a 4-1 lead. Schoop homered for the fifth game in a row, which tied the major league record for a second baseman. It was done for the eighth time tonight and the most recent before Schoop was Minnesota's Brian Dozier, who homered in five straight in September 2016.

Schoop, who hit that ball 107.7 mph and 446 feet off Chris Archer, has hit five homers in five games and six over his last seven. He hit five homers in 34 games in April and May. The last Oriole to homer in five straight games was Chris Davis from June 7-12, 2016.

The game also featured a three-run homer in the seventh by Adam Jones that provided an 8-3 lead. It was No. 11 for Jones and his first since June 2. He had gone 41 games without one. Both Schoop and Jones connected on 0-2 pitches.

Joey Rickard added a three-run double in that seventh inning where the Orioles scored eight times to open a 12-3 lead. It was their biggest inning of the season and turned a 4-3 lead into a 12-3 blowout. Schoop added an RBI single in the frame for a three-RBI night. Rickard, Schoop and Jones, who had four RBIs, combined for 10 RBIs.

Tampa Bay used two position players to pitch and they combined to allow three runs in the eighth as the O's added to their output against Carlos Gomez and Jesús Sucre. Gomez started his inning with two walks and two balks. It got messy, to put it nicely.

This was the biggest offensive output since the Orioles beat Tampa Bay 17-1 on May 13.

On the mound, right-hander Andrew Cashner provided the O's rotation their second quality start in two games after they had one in the previous 16. Cashner allowed two runs and five hits over six innings to improve to 3-9 with an ERA of 4.33. He threw 90 pitches and picked up his first win since May 21. He had been 0-4 his last nine starts. Cashner has an ERA of 3.46 his past nine outings.

This game started after a rain delay of 1 hour, 19 minutes. And then each team scored once in the first. Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier led off with the single and came around on Ji-man Choi's grounder. The O's tied it 1-1 in the home half when Tim Beckham doubled and scored on Jones' single.

Baltimore's two-run fourth made it a 3-1 lead. Danny Valencia singled in one and a second run scored on that play on a throwing error by TGomez.

Losing pitcher Chris Archer allowed seven hits and four runs (three earned) in six innings and is 3-5 with a 4.31 ERA. He began the night with a career ERA of 5.10 versus the Orioles, his third-highest of any opponent. The O's big inning came at the expense of Austin Pruitt, who got the save last night. Tonight, he allowed eight runs (six earned) in 2/3 of an inning. The Ray had pulled within 4-3 on a Daniel Robertson sac fly in the sixth and a Beckham throwing error in the seventh. Then the big inning allowed the Orioles to pull away.

The Orioles (30-74) won for just the second time since the All-Star Game and are 2-5. They are 18-35 at home and 5-6 against the Rays. On Saturday night, right-hander Kevin Gausman (4-8, 4.54 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles.

Postgame quotes:

Schoop on homering in five straight: "It's good. A good feeling. Especially when we get a W like that, too. Got the pitch I wanted and put a good swing on and things are happening right now. Even two months ago, I would get pitches to hit, but I wasn't doing damage. I was fouling them back or missing them. Right now, I'm putting good contact on it."

Schoop said he does not follow trade rumors: "No. No. I just come in here and try to help my team. Try to block all that out. I can't do anything about it. Even if I know, what can I do? Nothing. Just play the game the way I know how to play."

Schoop on two position players pitching in the eighth for the Rays: "One thing I remember is that guy got me out. I hit a fly ball. I hit the pitcher and the position player got me out. Maybe he has to pitch more."

Jones on the blowout win: "That was pretty good. That seventh inning was nice. Lot of guys passed the baton with some good at-bats throughout the lineup. It was really exciting to see. Cashner battled his tail off and gave up two in six. Take that any day of the week. We all know what's going on with trade rumors, but we still bring it every day and understand we have an obligation to ourselves and our teammates to come out and play the game hard every day. Everyone is being a consummate pro."

Jones on ending his homer drought: "A hit's a hit man. At the end of the day, you take all the hits you can get. I could be playing a lot worse. I could be playing a lot better. But I'm still playing."

Jones on Tampa Bay using two position players to pitch in one inning: "Haven't seen that before. I'm not the manager on that side. Never seen that before."

Cashner on getting a win for the first time since May 21 and for the first time at home: "Yeah. It's been a while. Been a long time. It's been a tough season. But I think it's just more just grinding it out. We put some good swings on some balls. Schoopy has a hot bat lately. Danny back in there tonight. Big swings by him and we opened it up. Nice to see Jonesy hit that homer, too. I believe in a lot of these guys in here and it's finally nice to see us put up some runs."