Kiermaier had two hits to lead Tampa Bay./JEFFREY S. KING
Sunday, 3 a.m.
In these days of advanced scouting and statistical breakdowns, perhaps someone with the Tampa Bay Rays should have noticed this about the Baltimore Orioles.
They aren't very good
Coming into Saturday night's game, in fact, the Orioles had won only 30 games and were a staggering 41.5 games back in the AL East Race. They had one of the worst offenses in the majors.
And then they took a bat to the egos of the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Jamie Schultz had a scoreless outing for Tampa Bay./JEFFREY S. KING
The Orioles won their second straight lopsided game against the Rays, an 11-2 decision. Baltimore now has six of its 31 wins against Tampa Bay, and in three of those, they've scored more than 10 runs. The last two nights, the Orioles have 26 runs and 30 hits against the Rays.
Ouch.
The Rays were beaten up fairly handily, giving up a three-run second, a four-run fourth and a four-run sixth in the game.
Sucre had two hits for Tampa Bay./JEFFREY S. KING
One of the most disappointing parts of the game was the way that newcomer Jalen Beeks was treated. Beeks went 3 1/3 innings, but he gave up 10 hits and three walks. Baltimore scored eight earned runs against him.
"It probably wasn’t the best outing," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "There were some unfortunate things that took place. There weren't a ton of hard hits until the end. He got placed to death.
"Ideally, I’d like to see him bounce back, throw some more strikes and control the count a little better. We’ll probably have some better outings from him."
Wendle robbed Jonathan Schoop of his sixth home run in six games./JEFFREY S. KING
Beeks was constantly behind hitters, throwing first-pitch strikes to only eight of the 21 batters he faced.
"I just didn’t get ahead of guys," Beeks said. "I put myself in bad counts. I was attacking guys but trying to be too fine."
Said Cash: "They didn't have a ton of hard hits. I'm not trying to take away their hits; they count. It was a matter of him falling behind."
For Baltimore, the bottom of the batting order -- Trey Mancini, Joey Rickard and Caleb Joseph -- had 10 hits and nine RBI.
The Rays were led by Kevin Kiermaier and Jesus Sucre, who each had two hits.
The Rays close out their series against the Orioles today at 1:05 p.m. Yonny Chirinos pitches for Tampa Bay against Dylan Bundy at Camden Yards.
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