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Millar, poor Rays defense lead Orioles to series sweep

May 11, 2007 - 5:10 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Despite its reputation as the toughest division in baseball, the Baltimore Orioles do not seem to be fazed by the prowess of the American League East.

Kevin Millar homered and had four RBI and Aubrey Huff had two hits as the Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with an 11-6 victory Thursday in Camden Yards.

With their win over the Devil Rays, the Orioles improved to their winning percentage inside their division to .714 (10-4), the third-best mark in the majors.

"They are very important divisional games," Corey Patterson said. "It doesn't matter what time you are playing them, whether it is now or the end of the year. Everything adds up to what you get at the end of the season."

The fireworks began right away when Baltimore got five runs in the bottom of the first, starting with a walk to leadoff hitter Brian Roberts and a run-scoring double by Miguel Tejada that quickly gave Baltimore a 1-0 lead.

Following an RBI single from Huff that staked the Orioles to a 2-0 advantage, Millar then launched his third homer of the season - a three-run shot - to push the Baltimore bulge to 5-0.

"I hit a little sinker," Millar said. "(Casey) Fossum gets tougher throughout the game but if you can get to him early, (that) is our plan."

The five-run first inning continued a disturbing trend for the Devil Rays, as they been outscored this season in the opening frame, 36-4, by far the worst mark in the majors.

"It is hard to put yourself into that position (down five runs in the first) and then have to fight your way back," Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon said.

Corey Patterson had three hits and three RBI and Ramon Hernandez had two hits and two RBI as the Orioles garnered their 11th win over the Devil Rays in their last 13 contests.

"I think it was good that we swept Tampa in this series," Patterson said. "We have a tough series (coming up) against Boston. They are playing great, so we have got to focus and play great and see what happens."

Unfortunately for Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera (3-3), he nearly squandered a 7-2 lead in the fifth. After getting two insurance runs in the fourth due to a Ty Wigginton fielding error, Elijah Dukes blasted a three-run home run and B.J. Upton hit a solo shot off the righthander to narrow the Baltimore lead to 7-6.

Despite getting the win, Cabrera suffered his worst outing of the season, surrendering a season-high six runs and eight hits with a season-low two strikeouts.

"Everything about this game is about winning and that is what I got," Cabrera said. "Sometimes, I have a good game and throw seven innings and only give up one run and I get out of the game tied 1-1. It's a different feeling. I feel great because we won. That's why we are here, to win."

The Orioles would counter in their half of the fifth as they took advantage of a Dioner Navarro throwing error and got a run-scoring single from Patterson to push their lead to 8-6. Navarro attempted to throw Melvin Mora on a stolen base attempt and the ball trickled into shallow center field, allowing Mora to advance to third.

Millar added an run-scoring single and Patterson plated two with a double in the eighth to push the lead to 11-6.

"It's a big sweep against a team like that," Millar said. "We are playing good baseball right now and swinging the bats well as a group. Last night, we got shut out until the 10th and, tonight, we come out and score 11. Baseball is a crazy game like that."

"We came out and swung the bats early and got five runs in the first," Baltimore Manager Sam Perlozzo said. "I thought we had a nice little cushion going there for a while. The good thing was that the offense kept coming back and adding on the runs."

Casey Fossum (2-3) was hampered by three Tampa Bay errors that led to three unearned runs. In all, the lefthander allowed five earned runs - all in the first - and nine hits with three walks and two strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

"It wasn't like he was wild, he just wasn't getting the ball where he wanted to," Maddon said. "They weren't missing the ball, obviously. After that, he settled down and actually gave us a chance to come back and get into that ball game."

The outing marked the third time in four contests that Fossum has allowed five or more earned runs.

Wigginton was ejected for arguing the call involving Mora in the bottom of the fifth with third base umpire James Hoye.

Devil Rays reliever Shawn Camp left the game as he was warming up prior to the bottom of the seventh inning as he felt tightness in his left hamstring. He status is being called day-to-day.