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Orioles continue domination of Devil Rays in series opener

May 9, 2007 - 4:39 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- No team seems to bring out the best in the Baltimore Orioles more than the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Nick Markakis hit a two-run homer and Jeremy Guthrie pitched six strong innings to notch his first win as a starter as the Baltimore Orioles downed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 8-3, in the first of a three-game set Tuesday.

With the Orioles leading, 2-1, Markakis hit a two-run homer in the second inning off Devil Rays starter Jae Seo (1-3).

"A first-pitch changeup," Markakis said on his home run. "I was just looking for a pitch and drive it and I put a pretty good swing on it."

The shot from Markakis snapped a 17-game homerless drought and marked only the third time in the last 10 contests that he plated a run for Baltimore, which has won nine of the last 11 meetings against Tampa Bay.

Guthrie (2-1), who has made three relief appearances since his last start on April 24, yielded just one run and six hits with no walks and two strikeouts to notch his second win against Tampa Bay this season.

"It was exciting," Guthrie said. "It was definitely good, especially to get through those (six innings) and never really to have a long inning."

Guthrie is being asked to step into the rotation to fill the void due to injuries to starters Kris Benson, Jaret Wright and, most recently, Adam Loewen.

"I always want to pitch well," Guthrie said. "You want to make the decision hard for them (on joining the starting rotation) to decide what they (Baltimore's management) want to do or make it easy in some terms, depending on how you want to look at it. Hopefully, pitching well will give them the flexibility to do what they want to do instead of forcing their hand."

Jay Gibbons broke a 3-for-38 slump with a homer among his three hits and Miguel Tejada had three hits for the Orioles, who have dropped 15 of their last 19 contests at Camden Yards.

"I had some good swings and I had some bad swings tonight," Gibbons said. "I did feel better, obviously with a couple of hits. Hopefully, I can take it into tomorrow and get a couple more.

Seo, who has allowed the most hits in the American League with 56 in just 32 2/3 innings, surrendered five runs and six hits with a walk and a strikeout. Before Tuesday, the righthander had allowed at least seven hits in every start, including three outings in which he failed to last more than three frames.

"Six hits, four hits on changeups," Seo said. "The changeup was too high. Everything else was OK - the fastball and the slider. Tonight, the problem was the high changeup."

Seo has only two wins in 23 starts with the Devil Rays since being acquired last June along with catcher Dioner Navarro from the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Mark Hendrickson and catcher Toby Hall.

"I always try to look at history," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "This guy (Seo) traditionally hasn't pitched as well in April as he does in May. That's probably something we can still look forward to."

Carlos Pena went 4-for-4 for Tampa Bay. It was the first time Pena tallied four hits in a game since he went 6-for-6 at Kansas City on May 27, 2004.