Free baseball at The Trop (Cruz homers again, O's win 7-5)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - We're headed to the 10th inning today after another miscue in the ninth burned the Orioles. Zach Britton is charged with his fourth blown save after converting 18 in a row, but the tying run is unearned after Ryan Flaherty's error on Evan Longoria's ground ball leading off the inning. Flaherty made a high throw that pulled Chris Davis off the bag. He also committed an error in the ninth yesterday afternoon, and Nick Hundley's passed ball let the winning run cross the plate. James Loney singled off Britton and Brandon Guyer laid down a sacrifice bunt. Longoria scored on Sean Rodriguez's high chopper to third baseman Kelly Johnson, who took the out at first base. Should Johnson have gone to the plate? Should manager Buck Showalter have ordered an intentional walk to Rodriguez with first base open? It's a second-guesser's delight. It's also another extra-inning game. The Orioles are 12-5 past regulation. Brad Brach is warming in the bullpen. He's become a workhorse for this club. Quintin Berry is in left field, Adam Jones is in center, Jimmy Paredes is at second base and Hundley is behind the plate. Showalter is digging deep into his bench, though he hasn't used shortstop J.J. Hardy. The inability to bring home Nelson Cruz after his one-out, bases-clearing triple in the top of the ninth could prove costly. In the meantime, the Wiggles concert will have to wait. The Yankees lost today, so the Orioles lead the American League East by nine games and their magic number is 13. Update: Nelson Cruz knows nothing about hitting for the cycle. Needing a double, Cruz instead hit his second home run of the day, a two-run shot off left-hander Cesar Ramos in the 11th inning to give the Orioles a 7-5 lead. Cruz has knocked in all seven runs. Cruz has 13 multi-homer games in his career and three this season. He's got 39 homers and 101 RBIs this season. Update II: Game over. The Orioles avoid the sweep with a 7-5, 11-inning win over the Rays. Andrew Miller picked up his first career save. The Orioles (83-59) lead the Yankees by 9 1/2 games in the American League East. Their magic number is down to 12. The Orioles have won nine of their last 12 series finales and are 28-19 this season, including 16-8 on the road. They're now 13-5 in extra innings.