BALTIMORE (AP) — Gary Sanchez homered and drove in four runs, Ramón Laureano scored four times and the Baltimore Orioles stormed back from an early six-run deficit to rout the Tampa Bay Rays 22-8 on Friday night.
The Orioles were on the wrong end of a similar comeback against Tampa Bay just nine days earlier, when the Rays rallied from down 8-0 to beat Baltimore 12-8.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring with six runs in the second. Jonathan Aranda, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe homered in that inning, but Rays starter Ryan Pepiot couldn't make it through the bottom half. The Orioles scored four runs in the second and one in the third.
With Tampa Bay up 7-6 in the sixth, Sanchez hit a two-run shot off Eric Orze (1-1). Colton Cowser’s third double of the game brought home another run in the sixth. Sanchez then followed with his third hit — a two-run single that made it 11-7.
Laureano added a two-run single in the seventh. Jackson Holliday's solo homer in the eighth made it 16-8, at which point infielder José Caballero came in to pitch for the Rays and allowed six more runs. Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run shot — his fourth hit of the game — off him.
Sanchez finished with four hits as well. The Orioles had 21 as a team. Baltimore's final runs came when Coby Mayo hit his first career home run, a two-run shot off Caballero.
Tomoyuki Sugano (6-4) allowed seven runs in five innings for the Orioles. The 35-year-old rookie had gone his first 15 starts without allowing more than four.
Pepiot had gone 12 straight starts permitting three runs or fewer, and the Rays were coming off a three-game sweep of Kansas City in which they allowed only one run total.
Key moment
Laureano and Cowser led off the bottom of the fifth with consecutive doubles to bring the Orioles within one, setting up Sanchez's big homer that bounced off the top of the wall and over in left-center field.
Key stat
The Orioles fell one run short of their team record since moving to Baltimore — which was set when they beat Toronto 23-1 on Sept. 28, 2000.
Up next
Zach Eflin (6-4) takes the mound for the Orioles against his former team Saturday. Tampa Bay counters with Zack Littell (6-7).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Noah Trister, The Associated Press
