Rally time: Orioles score three in seventh to post come-from-behind win over Tampa Bay

The Orioles have been hitting well lately with runners in scoring position. Although it took a while for the clutch hits to come today, they did arrive as the Orioles beat Tampa Bay 4-2 to win the series, two games to one at Tropicana Field.

In improving to 12-11, this is the third time this year the Orioles lost the first game of a series to an American League East team, but came back to win the next two.

The Orioles are 4-2 against Tampa Bay, and have won five of their last six games.

Down 2-1 heading to the last of the seventh, the Orioles scored three big runs to gain the lead. Travis Snider had a leadoff single and Manny Machado walked with two outs, which put two on for Jimmy Paredes. He doubled to left for a 2-2 tie, improving to 6-for-11 on the year with six RBIs with RISP.

Adam Jones followed, and the count went to 2-2 against Kevin Jepsen. A curveball that hung a bit came next, and Jones ripped a two-run single to center for a 4-2 lead, driving in his 20th and 21st runs. Jones is now 8-for-20 with a homer and 15 RBIs with RISP.

Jones went 4-for-4 to raise his average to .402. It is his third four-hit game of the year, his fifth of three hits or more and his eighth multi-RBI game. The four hits tied his career-high and this was his 16th four-hit game.

The Orioles were batting .514 in their last four games (18-for-35) with RISP and went 3-for-8 today.

The Rays took a 2-0 lead to the sixth inning. James Loney hit a solo homer off Wei-Yin Chen on an 0-2 pitch for a 1-0 lead in the second. It was Loney's second homer.

In the fifth, the Rays used three singles for a 2-0 edge. Logan Forsythe drove in the run with a two-out single to left. The Rays had five hits off Chen in the fourth and fifth innings but went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position in those innings, scoring just once. Rey Navarro's RBI single in the sixth made it a 2-1 game.

Chen provided the Orioles with a sixth consecutive quality start. Over six innings, he allowed seven hits and two runs with two walks and four strikeouts. He threw 91 pitches, and has an ERA of 2.83 through five starts.

Over the last six games, Orioles starting pitchers have worked to an ERA of 1.91, and they have seven consecutive starts of at least six innings. Chen leads the staff with three quality starts.

The Orioles improved to 5-2-1 in the series for the season. They'll take Monday off before they head to New York for six consecutive games, the first two against the Mets starting Tuesday and then four with the first-place Yankees starting Thursday.