Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

28-30, 11-12 Away

Final
1 - 3

Baltimore Orioles

36-19, 20-11 Home

Mateo's 2-run double in the 6th lifts Orioles to a 3-1 victory over Rays

It was the first meeting of the season between the teams after the Orioles (101-61) edged the Rays (99-63) in a fierce race for the AL East title last year. Baltimore scored all three of its runs in the sixth after Tampa Bay's Aaron Civale took a shutout into that inning.

Civale left after Anthony Santander's one-out single, and Richard Lovelady (1-4) allowed singles to Colton Cowser and pinch-hitter Austin Hays, the latter of which tied the game. After Rámon Urías struck out, Phil Maton came on and yielded Mateo's drive to left-center field that scored both runners.

“He's gotten huge hits for us,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He hit that ball on a line to the deep part of the ballpark. ... When he stays on the baseball, really good things happen. If he can lay off the slider off the plate and try to get one on the plate, he can really drive the baseball.”

Cionel Pérez (1-0) got the win as the first of five Baltimore relievers after Albert Suárez worked five innings. Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 16 chances.

Suárez had a high pitch count early, but allowed only one run and four hits with two walks while striking out five. The 34-year-old journeyman might have a spot in the rotation for a while after the Orioles announced before the game that John Means and Tyler Wells need elbow surgery and will miss the rest of the season.

Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Ben Rortvedt in the second.

The Rays selected right-hander Justin Sterner from Triple-A Durham and optioned lefty Tyler Alexander to Durham. The 27-year-old Sterner, who went to BYU following a two-year mission in Samoa and eventually signed with the Miami Marlins as an undrafted free agent in 2020, entered in the seventh to make his big league debut and threw two scoreless innings.

“I got the call for the first pitch, and then my whole body just went numb,” Sterner said. “I was like, ‘Well, hopefully this goes over the plate.’ I honestly don't remember if it did, but then after that it felt good.”

Tampa Bay's Jose Siri was ejected after striking out in the ninth.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Orioles: INF Jordan Westburg missed a second straight game after being hit by a pitch around the hand.

Baltimore's Kyle Bradish (1-0) takes the mound Saturday against Tampa Bay's Taj Bradley (1-2). Bradish threw seven no-hit innings and struck out 11 in his most recent start Sunday.

How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles?

TV Channel: Rays at Orioles 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Orioles: 66.4%

Rays: 33.6%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Caballero struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Rortvedt grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Siri struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Kimbrel relieved Webb
	8th Inning	Rutschman flied out to center.
	8th Inning	Henderson struck out swinging.

Statistics

TB		BAL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
13	Ground Balls	7
9	Strikeouts	6
1	Runs Batted In	3
1	Sacrifice Hit	0
5	Hits	11
0	Stolen Bases	0
5	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
1	Runs	3
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
30	At Bats	35
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
13	Runners Left On Base	21
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	1
2	Doubles	2
9	Fly Balls	22
1	Caught Stealing	0
166	Pitches	147
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	1
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
7	Total Bases	13
36	Plate Appearances	38
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
2	Extra Base Hits	2
1.9	Runs Created	5.1
.167	Batting Average	.314
.000	Pinch Hit Average	1.000
.233	Slugging Percentage	.371
.200	Secondary Average	.143
.286	On Base Percentage	.368
.519	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.740
1.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.3
1.9	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	5.7
13.0	Batter Rating	27.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.61	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.87
.067	Isolated Power	.057
0.56	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.50
.139	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.079
.033	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.171
2.0	Runs Produced	6.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.4
65.8	MLB Rating	82.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0