Chris Davis hits seventh grand slam (O's win 12-5)

Orioles manager Buck Showalter wanted to get Chris Davis off his feet today and provided a couple of choices. Sitting out the game may have brought some appeal against Rays left-hander Drew Smyly, but Davis chose to serve as the designated hitter.

Good call.

Davis hit a grand slam in the first inning to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead and send the Camden Yards crowd into a frenzy.

Adam Jones walked, Joey Rickard singled and Manny Machado reached on an infield hit, with Rays third baseman Tim Beckham unable to make the diving stop. Davis fell behind 0-2 by missing two sliders, took another slider for a ball and hit a 91 mph fastball for his seventh career slam - most in the majors since 2011.

Davis' last slam was hit on Aug. 5, 2015 in Oakland. He's accumulated 179 home runs as an Oriole to tie Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for ninth place on the all-time list.

The Orioles have four slams this season. Davis has 18 home runs, connecting in back-to-back games.

Davis was 2-for-16 with two home runs and 10 strikeouts against Smyly, who began today 2-0 with an 0.82 ERA in four games at Camden Yards. Smyly walked two and struck out 25 in 22 innings.

After Davis made contact today, he dropped the bat and watched the flight of the ball before pumping his fist and going into his home run trot.

Smyly threw 28 pitches in the first inning. Tyler Wilson threw 11 in the top half, surviving a walk and single by getting a double play from Logan Morrison, but Desmond Jennings led off the top of the second with a home run to reduce the lead to 4-1.

The Orioles turned to small ball to go ahead 5-1 in the bottom of the second. Nolan Reimold doubled, moved to third on Francisco Pena's sacrifice bunt and scored on Jones' bunt single to the right side.

Jones was 2-for-18 with a home run and seven strikeouts versus Smyly before today.

Pena's sacrifice is the third for the Orioles this season.

Rickard had five hits in his last 12 at-bats and 13 in his last 31 before striking out in the second.

The Orioles are going for their 31st win at home today, their current total leading the majors. The Orioles are 14-17 on the road this season.

"There's two ways to look at it," Showalter said. "You've got to play well at home and you've got to be competitive on the road. Mathematically, it doesn't have to be that way, but if that doesn't happen you better play real well at home. There's always something.

"We know what the math tells you over the course of baseball in major league history, the old .500 thing and this percentage at home. But if you get caught up in these trends, what does this mean and that mean, then it starts weighing on you mentally a little bit, that you have to do something. We haven't even played half the season yet. I think July 3 is the halfway point so far unless we get rained out."

Update: Jonathan Schoop hit his 13th home run with two outs in the third to increase the lead to 6-1.

Update II: Oswaldo Arcia homered with one out in the fourth to reduce the Orioles' lead to 6-2.

Update III: The Rays keep pecking away. They scored again in the fifth on Logan Morrison's RBI double and Arcia's two-run double to cut the lead to 6-5. Dylan Bundy began to warm.

Update IV: Mark Trumbo hit a two-run homer in the fifth to increase the lead to 8-5. His 22 homers lead the majors.

Wilson allowed five runs and 10 hits in five innings, with two walks, one strikeout and two home runs. He came out after 80 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Update V: The Orioles completed their first four-game sweep of the Rays with a 10-5 win.

Bundy threw three scoreless innings and Odrisamer Despaigne retired the side in order in the ninth. Tyler Wilson earned his first career win at Camden Yards.

The Orioles added four runs off Ryan Webb in the eighth on Rickard's RBI double, RBI singles by Machado and Trumbo, and a wild pitch.

Jones had four hits and a walk today.

The Orioles improved to 45-30 overall and 31-13 at home. They've won five in a row.