 replaced opener Ryne Stanek in the second inning and gave up one hit in five scoreless innings get the win. He struck out six of the first seven batters he faced.It was the eighth straight home game in which the Rays gave up two runs or fewer. They have given up nine runs in their last eight games at home.Rio Ruiz hit his second home run for the Orioles, who have lost seven of nine.After singles by Austin Meadows and Choi in the first inning, Lowe hit a long three-run homer off Baltimore starter David Hess (1-3). It was Lowe's fourth homer in seven games and his fifth of the season.Between back-to-back homers by Choi and Diaz in the third, Orioles field coordinator Tim Cossins was ejected by home plate umpire CB Bucknor. Choi's home run was his first of the season, and Diaz hit his fourth.Hess gave up six runs and eight hits in two innings.TRAINER'S ROOMOrioles: Renato Nunez got his first start in the field when 1B Chris Davis missed a second straight game with a stomach virus, leaving the Orioles with a two-man bench. ... C Austin Wynns (oblique) was reinstated from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.Rays: LHP Blake Snell (broken right fourth toe) took some throws from 90 feet. ... INF Joey Wendle (strained left hamstring) played five innings at 2B in an extended spring training game and went 2 for 5.UP NEXTRHP Andrew Cashner (3-1, 3.51) will try to win his fourth straight start for the Orioles in Thursday night's series finale against a Rays pitcher to be determined.---More baseball coverage: www.apnews.com/MLB and www.twitter.com/-Sports)
Red-hot Rays using opener Stanek against Orioles Tampa Bay has used a mix of good pitching and timely hitting to jump off to a good start this season. The Rays are hoping for more of the same Wednesday in the second game of their series with the visiting Baltimore Orioles.In the series opener Tuesday, Tyler Glasnow gave up two runs in seven innings and improved to 4-0 this season. His ERA went up to 1.13, but the best part of his work was that the right-hander kept the Rays in the game after the Orioles took an early 2-0 lead and then kept Tampa Bay ahead after it took the lead.Avisail Garcia hit a two-run homer in the fourth that gave the Rays the lead for good and later added an RBI single in the eighth as Tampa Bay scored a 4-2 victory over the Orioles.The Rays improved to 13-4 this season, the best record in baseball.At this point last year, Tampa Bay had gotten off to a 4-13 start. Now, the Rays have a big lead in the American League East and are the only team in the division over .500.Their worst news of the day came when Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell had to be put on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to Sunday, when he broke a toe on his right foot due to an incident where something fell on his foot at home."I'm pushing to be back as soon as possible, but I've never broken a bone in my body, so this is a first," Snell said on the team's web site. "We'll see what happens. I think (I should miss) one start. That's my goal, at least." The team recalled Emilio Pagan from Triple-A Durham to replace Snell.Tampa Bay, which now has won seven of its last eight, will use an opener in this game, Ryne Stanek (0-0, 2.16 ERA). Baltimore will go with David Hess (1-2, 3.32) as its starter.Hess threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings against the Blue Jays in his first start but lost his last two (to the Yankees and Red Sox) despite pitching well. The right-hander has a career record of 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA against Tampa Bay.The Orioles got some good news about starter Alex Cobb, who is on the injured list with a lumbar problem. MLB.com reported that the right-hander is expected to start Friday night in Baltimore against the Minnesota Twins.Cobb has been out since April 9, and this was his second time on the injured list already this year (groin). He was scheduled to start on Opening Day, but the groin injury sidelined him.First baseman Chris Davis was supposed to start in the series opener, but he was a late scratch due to an illness that apparently cropped up during batting practice.The offense did well in the early part of Tuesday's game, scoring twice off of Glasnow but did not get a hit after the fourth. Renato Nunez extended his hitting streak to seven games with his RBI double in the fourth inning.Manager Brandon Hyde said his team will have to be ready to face different pitchers as the Rays are using the opener."They've got a lot of really good arms," Hyde said on MASN.com. "We're just going to do the best we can." --Field Level Media
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