Gausman and three relievers team for 5-0 win (with quotes)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Kevin Gausman had no real margin for error tonight against the Rays. Bending was permitted as long as he snapped back into shape without even the tiniest of breaks.

All of those meltdowns with a lead and with runners on base had to stay in the past. And that's precisely where Gausman kept them.

Gausman navigated through a bases-load\ed jam in the bottom of the third inning to preserve a one-run lead and continued to blank the Rays after surrendering a leadoff triple in the fifth, and the Orioles scored three times in the eighth to claim a 5-0 victory before an announced crowd of 15,187 at Tropicana Field.

The Orioles have won six of their last eight games and improved to 48-51 overall, 18-30 on the road and 3-1 at The Trop. They're 2 1/2 behind the third-place Rays.

Singles by Rubén Tejada, Joey Rickard and Adam Jones loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth and Manny Machado delivered a two-run single off Sergio Romo, making his Rays debut. The first two hits came against left-hander Blake Snell, who was charged with three runs.

Jonathan Schoop followed with a sacrifice fly for his 71st RBI, expanding the lead to 4-0. He has 17 RBIs in his last eight games.

Gausman escaped his final jam in the sixth, striking out Brad Miller after Jesús Sucre's two-out double, and turned the game over to Darren O'Day. He allowed five hits in six scoreless innings, with three walks and eight strikeouts, and came out after 98 pitches.

In his last two starts, Gausman has allowed one run and struck out 16 batters over 12 innings to lower his ERA to 5.79 in 112 innings.

O'Day, coming off a loss Saturday night when he surrendered a three-run homer to the Astros' Marwin Gonzalez, rebounded with a scoreless seventh. Tim Beckham walked on nine pitches to lead off the inning, but he was doubled off first base after Rickard ran down Adeiny Hechavarria's slicing fly ball near the right field line.

Jones hit his fourth home run in his last six games, demolishing a 95 mph fastball from Snell in the third inning. He almost cleared the last row of seats in left field.

Factoring in a leadoff double in the first and a single in the eighth, Jones is 16-for-32 with three doubles, four home runs and 11 RBIs in his last seven games. He's also batting .354 (17-for-48) since moving to the leadoff spot.

The Rays tried to answer right back in the bottom of the third, as so many opponents routinely do against the Orioles.

Gausman struck out two more batters, including Hechavarria on three pitches to give him six in the game, but he also loaded the bases on a single and two walks. He lost Corey Dickerson on four pitches with two outs to bring Evan Longoria to the plate.

Longoria directed a sharp ground ball toward shortstop Tejada, who gambled by throwing to second base and getting Dickerson on an extremely close play.

A shutdown inning just when it appeared that Gausman might implode.

Both teams failed to score after putting a runner on third base with no outs.

Mallex Smith led off the fifth with a triple to left-center field and Steven Souza Jr. walked with one out. Dickerson slapped the ball to Machado, who started a 5-4-3 double play to maintain a 1-0 lead.

The Orioles had Jones at third base with no outs in the first inning after his first-pitch double to right field and a wild pitch. Snell struck out Machado and Schoop and retired Mark Trumbo on a pop up.

Snell was averaging 5.9 walks per nine innings, but he issued only one tonight in seven-plus innings. He also had a 4.98 ERA and 1.625 WHIP in 11 starts while losing all five decisions, but the Orioles managed only one run off him before Romo let two inherited runners score.

Welington Castillo scored with two outs in the ninth on Hechavarria's throwing error.

Brad Brach struck out Miller to strand two runners in the eighth inning, Richard Bleier retired the side in order in the ninth and the Orioles had their fifth shutout.

The game also featured a spectacular double play to end the first inning, with Machado backhanding Longoria's grounder and throwing off his back foot in foul territory to Schoop, who lifted one leg to avoid contact and fired to first base to get Longoria.

Rays catcher Wilson Ramos left the game in the fifth inning after the barrel end of Tejada's broken bat nailed him in the helmet. Tejada grounded out to shortstop as Ramos stayed on the ground and eventually walked off the field with a towel pressed against his head.

Ramos suffered a laceration on his head and he received six staples. He'll continue to be evaluated.

Manager Buck Showalter on Gausman and defense being nice combination: "Obviously, Manny made a couple of plays that nobody takes for granted. They're so hard and he's one of the few guys who can make them. Joey played a good right field, too. Jonathan turning that double play, that's a tough one. But Kevin was good."

Showalter on tempo aided by Gausman and defense: "Kevin was throwing strikes and working with some tempo and command and he and Caleb were on the same page. There wasn't a lot of stepping off and catcher visits. There was some tempo that helped. Their guy was really good, too. Snell was tough."

Showalter on Jones responding to leadoff spot: "He didn't the first couple games. I was kind of going 'Aw.' But he's really been a spark for us there. The first inning we got man on third and nobody out. I think they did, too, and neither one of us pushed a run across. A lot of times you don't like the way that game starts, but Adam's swinging the bat well.

"He told me the home run was one of the easiest swings he's taken all year. Just pulled his hands inside the ball. I'd like to say something smart aleck like, 'Why don't you do that more often?' But that's just not Adam. That's what makes him so good, too."

Gausman on back-to-back quality starts: "Obviously, this time of year, especially in division, we need to win these games. Early on, I knew that I had really good command and the first couple of innings it felt like I could throw my fastball wherever I needed to. That's always a positive and makes things a lot easier."

Gausman on evening record to 7-7: "Obviously, to get to that point I've had to kind of battle and brush off some really bad starts. I also had good starts. It's kind of been a little bit of a roller coaster ride this year. It's all about how I finish and how we finish as a team. This series is big, and really every series from here on out is big.

"Caleb called a great game, and you have Manny and Schoop making plays like that. I don't think there's any third baseman and second baseman that roll that double play the way that they did. You feel really confident with those guys out there. Obviously, Manny's going to run down the line and try to get any ball that he can try to put a glove on. You always feel confident with those guys behind you."

Gausman on getting out of jams: "It's huge. You just try to limit the damage. Obviously, a leadoff triple is not how you want to start off the inning. I just knew if I kept making my pitches I was going to get some ground balls. Once I walked Souza, I knew I was in a good spot with who was coming up to get a ground ball and kind of put ourselves in a situation to turn a double play."

Gausman on expanding zone up and down: "That's something I did against them my last start, too, is expand the zone with my fastball up and down, so whenever I do that, I can be pretty tough, especially on left-handed hitters whenever I have my split in my back pocket, too. They swung at a lot of pitches that were out of the strike zone, but that's what we were trying to do. Those are executed pitches."

Jones on Gausman setting the tone: "When he goes out there and throws strike one, our defense, you can see what Manny was able to do today. That's what happens when you attack the zone, and we feed off that as an offense."

Jones on Schoop: "Just watching. I'm just watching him. Just watching him. Not trying to do too much with him. Just let him do his thing and let him come into himself."

Jones on how it's fun to watch Schoop: "It's always fun to watch people succeed. And he's doing it at a high level. That's 71 RBIs. That's a lot. He's third in the league. That's a lot and that good to see."

Jones on Orioles winning six of eight: "It all feeds off the starting pitching. When they go out there and they attack that zone and use our great defense, good things seem to happen. I just ride the wave. Baseball is a day-to-day game. So tomorrow, it's do exactly what we did today, come out aggressive and swing the bats."

Jones on success batting leadoff: "Just trying to get a good pitch and hit it. The more you think, the more you don't do. I'm just trying to get my body ready and my legs ready to hit and just try to put a good swing on the ball."