Orioles Finally Cool Off Rays in Quiet 5-1 Loss; 4-Game Win Streak Snapped

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays have been playing great baseball for a month now, so it almost seemed out of ordinary Tuesday night that they didn't do much at all in a quiet 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak and cooled off the Rays (40-33) after winning 19 of 25 games. Zack Littell, who pitched six ''frustrating'' innings and gave up three runs, took the loss to fall to 6-7. The Rays' offense, which scored 31 runs during the winning streak, managed just a Brandon Lowe double and Junior Caminero RBI single in the fourth inning.

And that was it. The Rays managed just seven hits off of Baltimore starter Dean Kremer and four relievers, and lost at home for just the third time in their last 16 games at Steinbrenner Field, dating back to May 9.

"It was just a quiet night offensively,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "A lot of things have been going our way lately, and tonight, just not as much.

''Kremer did a good job of the separation that he showed with his off-speed pitches and we just couldn't get him timed up. He made a lot of big pitches.''

The Orioles (31-41) have been playing good baseball lately, too, and they quickly flushed Monday night's 7-1 loss. They scored first in the second inning when Jordan Westburg opened the inning with a double, went to third on a groundout and scoring on an infield single that was just off of Brandon Lowe's glove at second base.

The Rays tied it in the fourth on Caminero's single, but the Baltimore center fielder Colton Cowser crushed an 0-2 cutter for a 405-foot homer to right-center. The Orioles went up 2-1, and never looked back.

"The pitch before was a two-seam up and I thought I did a really nice job of setting him up for that cutter that I obviously would have liked to get further in,'' Littell said. "That dead zone area is a place I've had success against him before, but I just didn't get it all the way there. At the time I thought it was the right pitch, I just didn't get it there.

"It was frustrating. After the second, the stuff got better and I kind of cruised along until that Cowser at-bat. It was frustrating because I felt like I was pretty locked in there, but I still gave up a couple. This was uncharacterstic for us, to go this long without having a night like this. The guys have gone out and grinded away every single night, and they even did that tonight when we were down 1-0. They got a run for us, and I gave it right back.''

Littell gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings, and then Mason Montgomery gave up a run in the seventh, and Cole Sulser allowed another in the ninth. Montgomery's allowed run off an RBI single by Gunnar Henderson was the first allowed by the Rays bullpen in 17 2/3 innings.

The Rays and Orioles are right back at it on Wednesday night, and finally losing a game is tough, but that 19-6 hot streak softens the blow a little bit, and makes this one a little easier to flush. Taj Bradley gets the start on Wednesday night.

And there was good news from New York as well, with the Yankees being shut out again. The Rays remain 2.5 games behind the Yankees in the American League East race.

"I think it's confident clubhouse to begin with, so we'll be fine,'' Littell said. "I know we lost those two (out of three) in Boston but then we got a sweep in New York after that, so that's a testament to how these guys respond. I expect us to come in (Wednesday) and play a complete game and give us a chance to win.''

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