Saturday, 3 a.m.

Maybe the Tampa Bay Rays have fallen in love with room service.

How else do you explain a team winning nine straight games on the road then tripping as soon as they return home?

The Rays saw their winning streak end Friday night, as a late rally couldn't overcome the Baltimore Orioles in a 6-5 loss at Tropicana Field. The Rays scored three times in the ninth inning, but fell a run short in their defeat.

Baltimore, the last-place team in the AL East, was led by Gunnar Henderson's four hits. He had a two-run homer in the eighth.

Both the Yankees and Red Sox lost, keeping the Rays' lead at 6.5 games over New York and 9.5 over Boston.

Jonathan Aranda singled in two runs in the ninth to make the final margin closer.

The Rays tried their opener strategy again, but Jesse Scholtens gave up two runs early. Garrett Cleavinger gave up two more in the seventh and Chris Roycroft gave up two more in the eighth.

Richie Palacios had two hits for the Rays.

The teams play again tonight at 6:10 p.m. at Tropicana. Ian Seymour (9-3) will start for the Rays against Kyle Bradish (7-11).

Thursday, 4 a.m.

Marco Polo had a good road trip. Dorothy had a good road trip. Lewis and Clark had a good road trip.

The Tampa Bay Rays had a great road trip.

For the first time, the Tampa Bay Rays have recorded a 9-0 road trip. They beat the Athletics again Wednesday, 8-4, for their third series sweep on the trip. They now have the best record in the major leagues.

In their series against the A's, the Rays scored 30 runs and had 38 hits.

It was their 13th sweep of the season, which leads the major leagues.

Newly acquired catcher Liam Hicks led the offense Wednesday, getting three hits including a three-run homer. Jonny Deluca also had three hits. Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero and Cedric Mullins all had two hits.

Drew Rasmussen lasted only five innings, but he ran his record to 12-5. He gave up just four hits.

Ninth-inning homers by Zack Gelof and Lawrence Butler off of Michael Grove made the score closer.

The Rays are off today. Theyare home against the Orioles on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. The Rays have not announced a starter. Baltimore will start Kyle Bradish (7-11).

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Don't look now, Junior, but Taylor Walls is gaining on you.

As of today, he's only 33 home runs behind.

Walls, the Rays' slick fielding (and weak hitting) shortstop, hit two home runs in Tuesday night's 12-4 victory over the Athletics. Walls, who hadn't homered in more than a year, hit oen from the left side of the plate in the fourth inning and one from the right in the sixth.

Caminero? Poor guy, he only had one homer, his 35th of the season.

In all, the Rays cranked six home runs: one by Yandy Diaz, one by Victor Mesa Jr. and one by Carson Williams as the Rays feasted on A's pitching. In all, the homers traveled 2,372 feet.

Tampa Bay has now won eight straight games on its road trip. In its two wins over the Athletics, the Rays have scored 22 runs and has had 21 hits.

Just as noteworthy as the home runs was pitcher Nick Martinez, who pitched the team's first complete game of the year to bring his record to 12-3. Martinez allowed just eight hits, three of them in the ninth.

It was the first complete game victory in Martinez' career.

The Rays' Chandler Simpson, Mesa Jr., Richie Palacios and Walls all had two hits.

The Rays and A's close out their series today at Sutter Health Park at 3:05 p.m. Drew Rasmussen (11-5) will start for the Rays against Jack Perkins (2-8).