Hechavarria Helps Depleted Rays Beat Rebuilding Orioles 4-3
BALTIMORE (AP) — Adeiny Hechavarria singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 Thursday night in a matchup of teams in selling mode near the non-waiver trade deadline.
Out of contention despite owning a winning record, the Rays dealt pitchers Nathan Eovaldi and Matt Andriese on Wednesday and may not be done yet. One of the players obtained for Andriese, catcher Michael Perez, made his big league debut after an eight-year run in the minors.
Deep in last place in the AL East, the rebuilding Orioles traded Manny Machado to the Dodgers last week, dealt Zach Britton to the Yankees on Tuesday and appear ready to unload center fielder Adam Jones.
In spite of their situation, the Rays are playing decent baseball. After taking two of three from the Yankees, they beat former teammate Alex Cobb (2-14) to improve to 53-50.
Cobb was pulled after giving up three straight hits in the seventh, the last of them to Hechavarria, and a throwing error by reliever Jhan Marinez made it 4-2.
The Rays started reliever Hunter Wood before switching to Ryan Yarbrough (9-5) with two outs in the second inning.
Yarbrough went 4 1/3 innings, Sergio Romo followed and Austin Pruitt got four outs for his second save.
Jonathan Schoop hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning for Baltimore and Chris Davis added a solo shot in the eighth. Schoop has connected in four straight games, the first Oriole to do so since Davis in August 2016.
TRAINERS ROOM
Orioles: OF Craig Gentry (rib fracture) will begin a rehab assignment Monday with Class A Delmarva. ... INF Steve Wilkerson (oblique) will play in a Gulf Coast League game before beginning his rehab assignment Wednesday with Class A Frederick.
RAPID DEBUT
Perez arrived in Baltimore knowing he was going to be in the starting lineup.
"(Rays manager) Kevin Cash called me yesterday and asked when was the last time I played," Perez said through an interpreter. "I said Monday. He said, 'All right, well I hope you're ready, because you're playing tomorrow.'"
Said Cash: "I don't think he knew who I was, and I didn't expect him to."
Perez doubled in the fifth, his first big league hit.
QUICK TURNAROUND
Dylan Bundy got lucky Wednesday night when rain washed out his start against Boston after he allowed three home runs in two innings. He will get a chance to right himself Sunday against the Rays on three days' rest.
"He liked the idea when I brought it up to him last night," manager Buck Showalter said. "I'd like to get him back out there and not sit on that (outing) for a while."
UP NEXT
Rays: With trade rumors swirling around the Tampa Bay clubhouse, RHP Chris Archer (3-4, 4.30 ERA) makes what might be his final start with the Rays on Friday night.
"I haven't thought that much about it," Archer said. "There's always a lot of speculation, so my main focus, as cliche as it sounds, is just pitching tomorrow and giving my team a chance to win."
Orioles: Andrew Cashner (2-9, 4.40 ERA) takes another crack at getting his third win. He's 0-4 in nine starts since May 21.
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