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Huff leads Orioles past Devil Rays

Sep 5, 2007 - 4:14 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Former Tampa Bay Devil Ray Aubrey Huff continued to bedevil his old club and in the process momentarily stopped the Baltimore Orioles' slide.

Huff had three hits, including a two-run home run, Nick Markakis had four hits and Ramon Hernandez added a key three-run double as the Orioles posted an 8-4 victory over the Devil Rays on Tuesday night.

The win was only the second in Baltimore's past 14 contests and also was only Tampa Bay's third loss in its last 12 games.

"Huff is killing us," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He's hit the ball very well against us. Right now you can see that he's locked in. He's not taking bad swings. He looks like he's going to hit every ball hard when he swings at it."

Huff has hit seven of his 15 homers this season and is batting .373 (22-for-59) against Tampa Bay. Huff's home run in the seventh gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead.

"He has hit well here because he uses the other side of the field," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said.

After Tampa Bay pulled even in the bottom of the inning, Melvin Mora's RBI single off reliever Dan Wheeler put Baltimore back on top 5-4. Two batters later, Hernandez's double cleared the bases.

Markakis, who went 4-for-5, had the sixth four-hit game of his career.

Wheeler (0-3) retired only one batter in the eighth, allowing four runs.

Starter Scott Kazmir, who was 6-2 in his last eight starts, allowed nine hits and four runs with one walk and five strike outs.

"There's a couple of pitches I really wish I had back," Kazmir said. "I felt good out there. You can always second guess yourself after the game."

Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie scattered eight hits and allowed three runs in six innings, but remained winless since July 27 - a span of seven starts.

"It's great we came out with the win," Guthrie said. "We beat a good pitcher and a team that's hot. It' is important to have a winning record the last month and finish strong."

Jamie Walker relieved Guthrie to start the seventh and hit Tampa Bay's first two hitters - Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena. Chad Bradford (3-6) replaced Walker and retired the first three Devil Rays, but allowed Delmon Young's tying RBI groundout.

Baltimore took a 2-0 lead in the first. With one out, Corey Patterson hit his eighth home run of the year. Miguel Tejada followed with a double and scored on Markakis' RBI single.

Tampa Bay cut the margin to 2-1 in the second. Josh Wilson's RBI scored Brendan Harris, who had doubled.

The Devil Rays took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on B.J. Upton's two-run single. However, Huff's home run put the Orioles back on top in the seventh.

"I felt like I was making some pretty good pitches," Wheeler said. "It's kind of frustrating because I felt I had been throwing the ball good. I felt I was fine. I felt like I was making pitches. That just happens in baseball."