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Homers by Bynum, Mora key rally by Orioles

Apr 17, 2007 - 4:36 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Not even a three-error play and an early six-run deficit could slow down the Baltimore Orioles' charge past .500.

Freddie Bynum and Melvin Mora both hit two-run homers as the Orioles captured their fourth consecutive win with a 9-7 comeback victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the opener of a three-game series.

Denied a chance to complete a four-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on Sunday due to the major storm that swamped the East Coast, Baltimore (7-6) shook off a poor outing from Adam Loewen and some sloppy play to pull above .500 for the first time since a 13-12 mark last April 29.

"It was a tale of two games, it started out really badly with that circus play," said Orioles first baseman Aubrey Huff, who committed two of the three errors that allowed the Devil Rays to open the scoring in the third inning. "That's a lot of character this team showed tonight doing that."

Since being swept by the Minnesota Twins in the season-opening series, the Orioles have won seven of their last 10 games.

Trailing, 7-1, after five innings, Bynum hit his first homer of the season in the sixth off Devil Rays starter James Shields to ignite the Orioles' biggest comeback since May 2005 at Kansas City.

"I thought that was the one that got us within four and gave us some life and I thought the dugout responded that way," Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo said.

Coming into the game with just two pinch-hit at-bats, Bynum drove in the go-ahead run on a groundout in the seventh, two batters after Jay Gibbons tied it with an RBI double off Jae Kuk Ryu (1-1), who gave up three runs and three hits without retiring a batter.

"We just could not stop them from scoring," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "We did a lot of good things tonight but the one thing we did not do was hold a significant lead. We have to hold that lead."

Mora, who also finished with three RBI, hit his third homer of the campaign off Ryu earlier in the seventh and Aubrey Huff added some insurance with his first home run of the season in the ninth.

Huff, who finished with two hits and scored a pair of runs, was playing his first game against Tampa Bay since being traded to Houston at the trade deadline last year.

"It feels good to get the first one out of the way regardless of who it's against," Huff said.

Jeremy Guthrie (1-0) allowed a run, a hit and three walks in 2 1/3 innings of relief of Loewen, who was charged with six runs - four earned - and five walks in 3 2/3 frames.

"I did not have the feel out there today and I know I'm a smarter pitcher than what I showed out there," Loewen said.

Closer Chris Ray struck out one in a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Early on, the Orioles looked very shaky, committing three errors on one play that allowed the Devil Rays to open the scoring in the third.

Huff picked up his first two errors of the season when he misplayed a check-swing ground ball by B.J. Upton and then had an errant throw to Loewen at first.

Catcher Paul Bako, who was backing up on the play, then unleashed a wild throw to home, enabling Brendan Harris, who led off the inning with a single, to score and Upton to reach third.

"That doesn't happen very often," Maddon said of the miscue-filled play.

It was the first time that a team had three errors on one play since May 23, 1998, when the Houston Astros did it in the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres.

The Devil Rays extended the lead to 6-0 in the fourth when Ty Wigginton's three-run double greeted Guthrie, who replaced Loewen after he walked Carl Crawford to load the bases moments earlier.

Despite the stellar support, Shields could not make it stand up, finishing with five runs and nine hits allowed in 6 1/3 frames.

The righthander proved to be his own worst enemy, issuing a two-out walk to Kevin Millar in the sixth before Bynum drove the first pitch of the at-bat over the right field wall to start the comeback.

"You're up that many runs, you can't walk anybody," Shields said.