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Orioles-Rays Preview

Aug 20, 2009 - 4:20 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Baltimore (48-71) at Tampa Bay (64-54), 7:08 p.m. EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays are making some progress in their battle for playoff position. Having the Baltimore Orioles in town has helped their cause.

The Rays look to continue their climb in the wild-card standings with their fifth straight win Thursday night when they finish a three-game series against the Orioles, struggling mightily on the road against AL East rivals.

After matching a season high with five consecutive losses to fall five games behind Boston for the wild card, Tampa Bay (65-54) has pulled within three games by winning four in a row.

The Rays have taken advantage of the lowly last-place Orioles, winning the opener 5-4 on Tuesday before riding solo homers from Pat Burrell, Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upton to a 3-1 victory Wednesday night. Burrell and Upton have homered in each of the first two games of this series.

"When (B.J.) starts hitting those line drives to left-center, heads up, that means he's kind of locked in," manager Joe Maddon told the Rays' official Web site. "He's got a good bounce about him right now. He really feels good. I can see the confidence coming up.

"And of course, Pat, like I said, just keeps plodding along nicely, and he's working nice at-bats."

Wednesday's defeat dropped Baltimore (48-72) to 8-24 since the All-Star break and 3-20 when visiting division rivals. Dating to last season, the Orioles have dropped 32 of their last 36 road games against the AL East. They're 2-11 at Tropicana Field since the start of 2008.

Nick Markakis' performance Wednesday didn't help. The outfielder, hitting .307 on the season, went 0 for 4 to snap his 11-game hitting streak. He failed to reach base for the first time in 39 games as Baltimore managed three or fewer runs for the 16th time in the season's second half.

"To win, you have to score runs," rookie catcher Matt Wieters said

Markakis will try to start a new streak with James Shields (7-9, 3.88 ERA) taking the mound for the Rays in the finale. The right-hander has lost three of his last four starts, including a 5-2 defeat against Toronto on Friday in which he gave up five runs in eight innings.

Shields is 5-1 with a 2.97 ERA in 13 career starts against the Orioles, including 5-0 with a 2.37 ERA over his last eight - all Rays wins.

Markakis has a .289 lifetime average against Shields, 12 points below his overall mark, but Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones is 6 for 15 (.400) with four doubles against him.

The Orioles will counter with Brian Matusz (1-2, 6.75). The rookie left-hander has lost consecutive starts since winning his major league debut Aug. 4 at Detroit. He gave up five runs and 11 hits in 5 2-3 innings of a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.

Rays outfielder Carl Crawford is 11 for 20 with seven doubles over his last five games. He's hitting .378 with one homer, seven doubles, 11 RBIs and 19 runs scored in 19 home games against the Orioles since 2007.