Machado had one hit on the day for Baltimore, the game-winner in the 14th inning
O’s sweep Rays remained tied with Yankees
Manny Machado had an RBI single with two outs in the 14th inning and the Baltimore Orioles completed a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays to remain in a tie with the New York Yankees atop the American League East. It was the 81st win of the season for the Orioles, and their 13th in a row in extra innings and ensured the team of no worse than a .500 record for the first time since 1997. Baltimore has won 14 of 19 overall and is 26-11 since Aug. 3.
“There’s a bigger goal in mind,” manager Buck Showalter said. “That wasn’t the goal from Day One this spring. Really, Day One of the offseason. It’s watching other teams for years and saying, ‘We want to do what they’re doing. We’d like to get a chair at the dance, you know?'”
For their part the Rays scored a total of six runs in a three-game series and has lost 13 of its last 16 one run games. “It’s just the same old story: We can’t score enough runs,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We pitched extremely well, we played well in the field overall, loved the effort.”
Wei-Yin Chen allowed two earned runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings for Baltimore, while Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson allowed four hits and three walks in five-plus innings.
The Orioles will now start a west coast road trip beginning with the Oakland Athletics, where Joe Saunders (8-11) will face Tommy Milone (12-10) in the opener. The Rays travel up the coast to New York to face the Yankees in a crucial three-game series for both teams. David Price (17-5, 2.54 ERA) will start Friday night for Tampa Bay against CC Sabathia (13-5, 3.56)
