Dylan Beavers homered for the third game in a row and Pete Alonso’s 30th home run of the season broke a tie to spark the Baltimore Orioles past the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Alonso’s two-run blast broke a tie with two outs in the fifth inning to help the Orioles snap a four-game losing streak that began with Monday night’s loss at Tampa Bay.
But now the Orioles have won four games against the Rays in an eight-night stretch.
Baltimore starter Trevor Rogers pitched seven innings for the victory. Alonso, who has a career-best 13-game hitting streak, and Colton Cowser each had two hits for the Orioles.
Kenny Piper, a catcher in his second career big-league game, homered for the Rays, whose nine-game road winning streak was snapped. Junior Caminero and Ryan Vilade had two hits apiece for American League-best Tampa Bay, which has lost six of its last eight games.
Rays starter Freddy Peralta (5-11, making the longest outing in four starts since arriving in a trade with the New York Mets, took the loss. He was charged with five runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Rogers (9-8) also worked seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Andrew Kittredge and Rico Garcia each worked one shutout inning out of Baltimore’s bullpen, with Garcia notching his sixth save.
Alonso’s first hit of the night drove in a first-inning run. The Rays countered with three runs in the second, with Chandler Simpson’s single driving in Caminero before Piper’s two-run shot.
Beavers homered in the bottom of the second. The Orioles put runners on first and third with no outs in the fifth before Jackson Holliday’s one-out sacrifice fly followed by Alonso’s long ball to left-center field. It was his seventh homer in the last 12 games.
