World Champions 1983, 1970, 1966 American League Champions 1983, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1966 American League East Division Champions 2014, 1997, 1983, 1979, 1974, 1973, 1971, 1970, 1969 American League Wild Card 2012, 1996 Monday, July 27, 2015 Game Stories: • Orioles score three in first, hold on to beat Rays, 5-2, and win series The Sun 7/26 • Orioles slip in eighth, continue slide with 3-1 loss to Rays The Sun 7/24 • 3-run first inning helps O's cruise past Rays MLB.com 7/26 • Notes on Lough, Pearce and Markakis' return (O's win 5-2) MASNsports.com 7/26 • Wieters and Showalter on the trade deadline MASNsports.com 7/25 • Game update and more Showalter (O's lose 3-1) MASNsports.com 7/24 • Caleb Joseph homers, Wei-Yin Chen gets win as O's take road trip finale MASNsports.com 7/26 • O's lose another close game as Tampa Bay rallies in eighth for win MASNsports.com 7/24 • Orioles top Rays 5-2 for second straight win AP 7/26 • Davis, Gonzalez help Orioles stop 4-game skid against Rays AP 7/25 • Orioles fall to Rays 3-1 in 1st loss when leading after 7 AP 7/24 • Orioles get a happy flight home after 5-2 win CSN Baltimore 7/26 • Gonzalez pitches brilliantly in Orioles 5-1 win CSN Baltimore 7/25 • Orioles woes continue in 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay CSN Baltimore 7/24 Columns: • Orioles prospect doesn't touch home on go-ahead home run, called out, team loses The Sun 7/27 • Orioles Monday morning thoughts and observations on the road trip, the reeling Rays and Markakis' return The Sun 7/27 • Chris Davis and the Orioles are at a major crossroads The Sun 7/26 • Nick Markakis, former O's teammates agree: return will be 'weird' The Sun 7/26 • Stiff back keeps Wieters out of lineup The Sun 7/26 • Orioles minor league report: Christian Walker regaining his power with Tides The Sun 7/25 • Looking back at the Orioles' loss Friday and looking ahead to Saturday's game The Sun 7/25 • Membership's privilege: Angelos gives Center Club an O's pub The Sun 7/24 • Fast start vs. Rays sparks Orioles MLB.com 7/26 • Chen battles through rough patches for win MLB.com 7/26 • Wieters out of lineup with back stiffness MLB.com 7/26 • O's ready to welcome back Markakis to Baltimore MLB.com 7/26 • O's offense breaks out at right time vs. Rays MLB.com 7/25 • Davis' grand slam helps Orioles knock off Rays MLB.com 7/25 • Christian Walker receives weekly honor (so does Corban Joseph) MASNsports.com 7/27 • The road trip, Markakis back in Baltimore and more on tonight's game MASNsports.com 7/27 • Wrapping up a 5-2 win (more quotes) MASNsports.com 7/26 • The reason Wieters isn't in today's lineup MASNsports.com 7/26 • Orioles going for series win to conclude road trip MASNsports.com 7/26 • Wrapping up a 5-1 win MASNsports.com 7/25 • More on Matt Wieters at first base MASNsports.com 7/25 • On the offense, tonight's game and a scoring change MASNsports.com 7/25 • Wrapping up a 3-1 loss MASNsports.com 7/24 • Updates on Pearce, the lineup and trade rumors MASNsports.com 7/24 • A look at the wild card race and a take on Nick Markakis' return tonight MASNsports.com 7/27 • O's game blog: It's Chen against Moore in road trip finale MASNsports.com 7/26 • Miguel Gonzalez with a bounceback outing, plus some Bowie banter MASNsports.com 7/26 • A few notes on the latest loss and more winning on the O's farm MASNsports.com 7/25 • Braves-Orioles Preview SI.com 7/27 • Orioles try to win third straight as Markakis returns CSN Baltimore 7/27 • Orioles will find out more about Pearce on Monday CSN Baltimore 7/26 • Stiff back prevents Wieters from playing first base CSN Baltimore 7/26 • Showalter doesn't want to hear 'buyers or sellers' CSN Baltimore 7/25 • Orioles yet to have complete game in 2015 CSN Baltimore 7/25 • Orioles looking for a spark, move Machado down CSN Baltimore 7/24 • Wear Orange, Get FREE Chicken At ‘O’s Days At Chick-fil-A’ CBS Baltimore 7/27 • New Home Run Medallions Installed For Chris Davis CBS Baltimore 7/24 • Friday Replay: Meet the Baby O’s Fans Named Camden and Yardley Baltimore Magazine 7/24 • What About Manny? FOX Sports 7/27 • A Guide To Baseball’s Best And Worst Stadiums Buzz Feed 7/25 http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-baltimore-orioles-beat-tampa-bay-rays-5-2- 20150726-story.html Orioles score three in first, hold on to beat Rays, 5-2, and win series By Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun July 26, 2015 After his team was swept by the division-leading Yankees in New York this week, Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted his players had plenty of fight left in them. And while it’s still hard to make out whether these Orioles are legitimate playoff contenders, they showed enough resolve this weekend to take two of three games from a division rival that is having just as much trouble finding its footing. The Orioles’ 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays gave them series wins in two their three stops in their nine-game roadtrip coming out of the All-Star Break, though they finished the trip with a losing record (4-5). The Orioles (48-49) moved ahead of the Rays into third place in the American League East but didn’t gain any ground on the Yankees — New York beat the Minnesota Twins — and remain seven games out of first place. They are just 31/2 games back of the AL’s second wild-card spot. “I'm always encouraged,” Showalter said. “I always think today's the day we're going to get back to our track record a little bit. We're scoring more runs than they score after 27 outs and that's the whole deal. … I know it's how we evaluate a lot of things numerically, but there's so much more to it than that. It's a mindset. It's a test of your will sometimes when you've got a lot of people telling you the sky is falling and it's not.” For the second straight day, the Orioles built a five-run lead, plating the first three runs off Rays left-hander Matt Moore with two outs in the first inning to provide starter Wei-Yin Chen — who recorded his first victory since July 1 — a nice cushion. They scored twice more in the top of the fourth when catcher Caleb Joseph hit a two-run home run to make it 5-0. It was the first time the club scored five or more runs in consecutive games since June 20-23. “Any time you can jump up to a five-run lead there [in] the early innings, it always gives them some room for error,” Joseph said. “Being on the other side of that, when you’re down by five runs, you just got to kind of start grinding at-bats, you don’t want to give at-bats away, so you kind of get behind in the count and really works in your favor. If you could draw it up, that’s how you’d like to do it.” Chen (5-6) retired the first 11 batters he faced on Sunday before allowing back-to-back homers to Evan Longoria and Logan Forsythe in the bottom of the fourth inning. Chen has allowed a team-high 19 homers this year, though hadn’t yielded a longball in his previous two starts. He then stranded the bases loaded in the fifth inning and left the game with two on and one out in the sixth, with three right-handed hitters up in the bottom third of the Rays batting order. Right- handed reliever Tommy Hunter escaped that inning unscathed. Chen, whose streak of consecutive quality starts was snapped at six, acknowledged that he wasn’t pleased with being pulled from the game after completing just 51/3 innings on 86 pitches, his fewest in 19 starts this season. “I was taken out of the game because I allowed a couple runners to get on base,” Chen said through interpreter Louis Chao after the game. “Anybody will be angry when you get taken out of the game in that situation. But that’s not something I can control and I will just accept it.” As he left the mound with two runners on base, Chen appeared upset. “I think he's a little frustrated at himself for not being able to finish there, or maybe he's just frustrated at me,” Showalter said of Chen. “We got some good innings out of the bullpen and he got a well-deserved win. He was pitching as good as you can see anybody pitch.” With runners on first and second and two outs in the first inning, J.J. Hardy slapped a run-scoring single into left field, scoring Chris Davis from second. Right fielder Nolan Reimold then hit a ball into the left-center field gap that hit off the glove of diving center fielder Brandon Guyer, allowing Adam Jones and Hardy to score. Following a leadoff single in the fourth, Joseph hit his seventh home run of the season, giving the Orioles a 5-0 lead against Moore and the Rays (49-51).