Walk-off win: O's top Rays on Hardy's single in last of the ninth

After a strong starting pitching performance and amazing escape act in the top of the ninth, the Orioles' offense did its part in the bottom of the ninth.

J.J. Hardy's two-out RBI single gave the Orioles a 2-1 win walkoff win over the Tampa Bay Rays in front of a loud sellout crowd of 45,505.

This was Buck Showalter's 400th win as O's manager and the Orioles' second walkoff win of the year. The first was April 25 versus Boston.

Travis Snider led off the winning rally with an infield single up the middle off Brandon Gomes, who then retired the next two batters. Lefty Xavier Cedeno came on to face Chris Davis, who singled, sending pinch-runner Everth Cabrera to third base. Then, the Rays made another change on the mound and right-hander Steve Geltz came in. Hardy singled to left on a 1-0 pitch and that ended the game.

In the top of the ninth Darren O'Day allowed two singles and a hit batter to load the bases with no outs. Then he fanned Steven Souza Jr. and Asdrubal Cabrera, and got Jake Elmore to ground out. It was some escape act that had the sellout crowd on its feet.

Miguel Gonzalez made a very strong start for the Orioles. He went a season-high eight innings, allowing just three hits and one run. He did not walk a batter and fanned six, throwing 96 pitches, 65 for strikes. His ERA is 0.84 in three 2015 starts versus Tampa Bay, and 2.52 in five starts at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have now gotten a start of seven or more innings in 10 of their last 16 games. Gonzalez has gone seven or more innings five times, one shy of his total from all of 2014.

It seemed a curious decision tonight when the Rays removed starter Nate Karns after six innings of one-hit ball. He had thrown 87 pitches, but in his previous three starts he had thrown 117, 92 and 100. Karns walked two and fanned seven, and the Orioles were probably not unhappy he left.

Kevin Jepsen came on and the second batter he faced was Davis, who crushed one deep to right on 1-0 pitch to tie the game at 1-1. It was No. 12 for Davis and his fourth in the last three days and four games.

In his past four games, Davis is 6-for-13 with four homers and seven RBIs. He has an RBI in five consecutive games.

The Rays had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Souza hit a homer to left on a 1-2 slider from Gonzalez. It was his team-leading eighth homer. Coming into this game, Souza was just 2-for-21 with 13 strikeouts batting this year against Baltimore pitching.

The Orioles got almost nothing going against Karns. He retired the side in order in four of the first six innings. He pitched out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth when he got Hardy to strikeout. He fanned seven through the first six innings.

In the last of the fifth, David Lough led off and lined out to short. Batting next, Caleb Joseph lined one to third and got robbed on a diving catch by third baseman Evan Longoria.

In the second game of this series on Saturday at 4:05 p.m., Wei-Yin Chen (1-3, 3.13 ERA) pitches against right-hander Erasmo Ramirez (2-2, 6.62 ERA).