BALTIMORE -- The Tampa Bay Rays usually work their way arou

[blueberryjerry]

BALTIMORE -- The Tampa Bay Rays usually work their way around the bases one at a time, so they took great delight in putting on a power-hitting display against a team known for the long ball. . Desmond Jennings opened the game with the first of Tampa Bays three home runs off Wei-Yin Chen, and the Rays got an impressive pitching performance from former Oriole Erik Bedard in a 5-4 victory over Baltimore on Saturday. Tampa Bay built a five-run lead in the fourth inning, then held off a late comeback bid to improve to 3-8 against the Orioles this season. Logan Forsythe and rookie Kevin Kiermaier each hit a two-run shot against Chen (7-3), who lasted only 3 1-3 innings in the shortest outing of his three-year career. Of the 15 home runs Chen has yielded this season, five have come against the light-hitting Rays. Tampa Bay started the day tied for 25th in the majors with 59 home runs and hit only two its previous nine games. Half the Rays 10 hits were for extra bases, including a triple by Ben Zobrist and a double by Ryan Hanigan. "Thats more like what we expect on a consistent basis, to play that game," manager Joe Maddon said. "Against this team here, fangs out late in the game, its nice to beat them that way." Nick Markakis and Manny Machado homered for the Orioles, who have a major league-leading 40 long balls in June. But it wasnt enough to beat the last-place Rays, who can win the four-game series with a victory Sunday. Bedard (4-5) struck out seven in a season-high seven-plus innings. The 35-year-old lefty gave up three runs and five hits against the team he began his career with in 2002. He walked none, and 68 of his 87 pitches were strikes. "Thats probably the best strike-ball ratio Ive ever thrown in my life," Bedard said. "The biggest thing was the first-pitch strikes and after that, I continued to throw strikes. I mixed in fastball, changeup, curveball and I came out on top." He was pulled after giving up a two-run homer to Machado in the eighth. Adam Jones added an RBI single off Jake McGee, who subsequently retired Nelson Cruz with two outs and runners on the corners. McGee returned in the ninth to earn his third save -- the second in two days. Chen gave up a season-high five runs, seven hits and a pair of walks. The Taiwanese left-hander was 4-0 in nine starts since May 3 and 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA in two games against Tampa Bay. "For every game, you dont want to give up any home runs," Chen said through a translator. "Lately, Ive been leaving more pitches up in the zone. Maybe the opponent hitters are studying me more than they used to, so if I didnt make the adjustment necessary, the results are going to look bad. So Im going to look at that." On Chens fourth pitch, a 91 mph fastball, Jennings hit his seventh career leadoff homer to put the Rays ahead for good. Prior to the at-bat, Jennings was 4 for 23 (.174) against Chen. In the second, Sean Rodriguez singled and Forsythe followed with his first home run in 142 at-bats this season. Forsythe went 3 for 3 with a walk and scored twice. Tampa Bay made it 5-0 in the fourth when Forsythe singled and Kiermaier drove a 1-2 pitch into the right-field bleachers. It was the fifth home run of the season for Kiermaier and the first by a left-hander against Chen. "I actually like the way weve been swinging the bats," Kiermaier said. "It was one of those things today -- Desmond hit the leadoff home run then Logan came up clutch and hit that other one." Bedard retired 10 straight batters before Markakis homered on a 1-2 pitch in the sixth. NOTES: Miguel Gonzalez will start for Baltimore in the series finale against RHP Alex Cobb, who has held the Orioles to a .176 batting average throughout his career. ... Tampa Bay SS Yunel Escobar missed his fourth straight game with a sore shoulder. ... Orioles RHP Dylan Bundy, returning from elbow surgery, will make his fourth rehab start Thursday, this time with Class-A Frederick. ... Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson, trying to come back from elbow surgery, ended his rehab start with Triple-A Durham on Friday night after three innings, complaining of discomfort. Maddon suggested Hellickson might return to Florida for an examination. . His second visit, not so much. Roark (7-5) allowed four runs on 10 hits and one walk over six innings in a 7-2 setback in front of several friends and family members, as the Cubs snapped his personal streak of four consecutive victories on Friday. . He was attracted by the punishing defence, the strong running game and a coaching staff he trusted. The 49ers announced Thursday that Manningham had signed a two-year deal to join the team he helped knock out in the NFC championship game two months ago in their latest offensive upgrade at wide receiver. .Fiji striker Roy Krishna scored in the 14th minute to give Wellington its fourth win, along with a draw, from its past five matches, putting the Phoenix fourth but only a point behind third-placed Adelaide. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Robinson Cano picked a grand time to break the Yankees out of their offensive slump. The second baseman went deep off Luke Hochevar with the bases loaded in the third inning on Sunday, and Nick Swisher followed with a solo shot two batters later, giving New York plenty of offence in a 10-4 rout of the Kansas City Royals. Alex Rodriguez added a three-run shot in the eighth inning, helping the Yankees to a four-game split. The series began with a freak, season-ending injury to All-Star closer Mariano Rivera, but ended with the Yankees best offensive output in a dozen games. "Great to see that from the middle of the order," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We know what these guys are capable of doing and eventually its going to come." The Yankees already led on RBI singles by Raul Ibanez and Curtis Granderson when Cano came to the plate with the bases loaded in the third inning. He connected on a 2-1 pitch from Hochevar (2-3), sending the ball over the wall in right field for his second homer of the season. Swisher added a solo shot two batters later, and A-Rods homer came in the eighth. "It took a huge day by Robbie to get us back on track," Swisher said. "Its just what we needed. These guys have been doing it their entire careers. Were not stressed about it." Phil Hughes (2-4) took advantage of the run support to go a season-high 6 2-3 innings. It was only the second time the right-hander had allowed fewer than four runs this season. The Royals had nine hits, but couldnt put them together for a big inning. "I kind of got into a groove after the second inning," Hughes said. "The few times there were guys in scoring position, I was able to execute my pitches and get out of jams." Billy Butler provided an RBI double in the first, Alex Gordon added a run-scoring single in the fifth, and Humberto Quintero snapped a 0-for-18 skid with a solo homer in the seventh. Jarrod Dyson tacked on an RBI single in the ninth. That was all the Royals could muster. The Yankees had been having a similarly hard time scoring lately. They managed a combined 11 runs over the past five games, their worst stretch since June 2009, and were coming off a game in which Derek Jeter, Cano, Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira combined to go 1 for 15 at the plate. They didnt have much problem against Hochevar. The Royals former No. 1 overall draft pick was battered for the second straightt start, his ERA soaring to 9. . 00 on the season. He was yanked after 2 1-3 innings, and has allowed 16 runs and 19 hits with four walks and a hit batter his past two starts. "I need to get back to square one and figure it out and get things going," he said, "and start helping this club and not be putting us in a hole early in the game." Hochevar got in trouble right from the opening pitch, giving up a leadoff single to Jeter, who reached base four times on the afternoon. But the Yankees didnt really capitalize until the third inning, when their bats finally awoke with a vengeance. No. 9 hitter Dewayne Wise started a string of three straight base hits, and Grandersons RBI single was the 1,000th hit of his career. Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to the load the bases for Cano, who delivered his first grand slam since last September against Baltimore. Cano has five grand slams in his past 78 games, regular and post-season combined. "You look at his at-bats today and they were really good," Girardi said. "We know hes a little behind where we expected him to be at this time of the year, but hes not the only hitter in Major League Baseball thats a little behind. Hell catch up." Swisher, who had the Yankees other slam this season, chased Hochevar when he sent a 1-2 pitch into the seats in right two batters later. Swisher had been out since hurting his hamstring last Sunday against Detroit, but looked just fine trotting around the bases at Kauffman Stadium. "It was just nice to be back in there," he said. Irving Falu provided the Royals with perhaps the only bright spot on the day. Falu had spent more than nine years and 949 games in the minor leagues before getting his first major league start at shortstop. He tripled in his first at-bat, and then added a single in the fifth inning, coming around to score on Gordons base hit. "It was great to see him and get a triple in his first major league at-bat," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "And then get another base hit, play great defence at shortstop. That was a real positive note." Notes: Andy Pettitte pitched five innings and allowed five runs, three earned, on eight hits Sunday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees Triple-A affiliate. Pettitte could join the major league roster this week. ... New York is off Monday before starting a six-game homestand against Tampa Bay. ... LHP Jonathan Sanchez starts for Kansas City on Monday night against Boston. ' ' '

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