DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles were struggling to score in a second straight game during a very long day.
Then came the home run barrage.
Nick Hundley homered to put Baltimore ahead and Nelson Cruz added a two-run shot to propel the Orioles to a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night for a doubleheader split.
In the opener, rookie Alex Colome gave up two hits over 5 2-3 innings and Brandon Guyer hit three doubles to lift Tampa Bay to a 5-2 victory.
After getting only three hits in the opener, the Orioles had one run and several wasted opportunities through five innings of the nightcap.
Hundley connected in the sixth off Juan Carlos Oviedo (3-3) for a 2-1 lead, and Cruz hit his 25th home run — tied for the major league lead — in the seventh off Joel Peralta after Adam Jones led off with his fourth hit of the game.
That gave Baltimore 38 homers in June, most in the majors.
“We have a lot of power on this team, a lot of guys who can hit it out anywhere on the field. That’s why this lineup is so dangerous,” Hundley said. “When you have a team, a lineup, with this much depth and this much power to all fields, it makes it tough to pitch to.”
Chris Tillman (7-4) gave up one run and four hits over eight innings to earn his first win in seven home starts this season. He was 0-4 with a 2.78 ERA.
Zach Britton got three outs for his 10th save.
Rays starter Jake Odorizzi allowed one run and six hits in five innings, striking out six.
“I had no pitches tonight. I had no fastball command, no off-speed pitches, slider was terrible, changeup was equally as bad,” the rookie said. “My curveball, I think I threw it twice. It was just an all-around bad, bad experience out there.”
But Tampa Bay pitchers got nine strikeouts in the nightcap, giving them a major league record 261 in June. Cleveland had 253 in June 1964.
James Loney’s fourth homer gave the last-place Rays a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but Baltimore matched that in the bottom half with an RBI single by Hundley. Odorizzi threw 31 pitches in the inning, the last a third strike to Manny Machado with the bases loaded.
Baltimore loaded the bases again in the fifth before J.J. Hardy fouled out and David Lough struck out. The Orioles stranded nine through five innings and were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
Hundley and Cruz put an end to that.
In the first game, Baltimore mustered only one hit after the second inning, a seventh-inning homer by Machado.
Added to the roster for the doubleheader as the 26th man, Colome (1-0) gave up one run and walked four in his second big league victory. The first came against Miami in his debut on May 30, 2013.
It’s been a strange year for Colome, who served a 50-game suspension until May 25 for violating the league’s drug policy. He was activated by the Rays and pitched four innings of relief against Toronto on May 26 before being optioned to the minors after the game.
In his last start for Triple-A Durham, Colome gave up nine runs in 1 1-3 innings against Syracuse on June 21. He had far more success against the Orioles, holding them to one hit after Nick Markakis opened with a single.
Jake McGee worked the ninth for his second save.
Orioles starter Kevin Gausman (3-2) yielded five runs, seven hits and a career-high four walks in five-plus innings.
Baltimore got a first-inning run when Markakis singled and scored on a groundout by Chris Davis.
In the second, Guyer hit an RBI double and came home on a single by Matt Joyce.
A two-out RBI single by Jose Molina made it 3-1 in the fourth. Doubles by Guyer and Joyce, along with a single by Sean Rodriguez, added two runs in the sixth.
NOTES: The first game was the makeup for an April 15 rainout. It drew a season-low crowd of 15,614. … The Orioles put RHP Bud Norris (strained right groin) on the 15-day DL and recalled RHP Evan Meek from Triple-A Norfolk. … TB SS Yunel Escobar tested his sore right shoulder by playing catch but was not yet ready to return. He last played Tuesday. … Evan Longoria had three hits in the nightcap, two off Tillman, and is 13 for 30 (.433) lifetime against the right-hander. … Jones’ four hits tied a career high.
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