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Rays seek revenge sweep against Orioles

May 8, 2011 - 2:39 PM (Sports Network) - The Tampa Bay Rays try to make it a clean sweep this afternoon as they close out a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

During the first week of this season the Rays got off to an awful start, losing six straight games, including a three-game series against Baltimore at home to kick it all off and now it is time to return the favor.

On Saturday Evan Longoria hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs as the Rays beat up on Baltimore by a score of 8-2.

"I think baseball knows it's just a matter of time before Longoria gets going," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "We were just hoping it would be some other time."

B.J. Upton also hit a three-run homer for the Rays, who have won seven in a row on the road to tie the club record for one season, turning the trick back in June 2004. Tampa Bay is now one win shy of the overall team record for consecutive road triumphs (eight in 2009-10).

Johnny Damon also drove in a run and scored once for Tampa Bay which, after scoring all eight runs on the day with two outs, has won three in a row overall. Ben Zobrist went 4-for-5 with three runs scored to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson tossed five scoreless innings to pick up the win. He gave up three hits to go with five walks and four strikeouts in his third victory of the campaign.

"I wish I would've threw more strikes," Hellickson said. "But I got the win, thanks to these guys."

Jeremy Guthrie managed to work his way through just five full frames, allowing seven runs on 10 hits. He has dropped five straight decisions since kicking off the year with a win over this same Tampa Bay squad on the road.

Nick Markakis finished up 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Orioles, who have lost three straight and are now 4 1/2 games off the pace set by the Rays and New York Yankees, who are both five games over .500 at the moment. Baltimore went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12.

Scheduled to make the start today for the Rays is Florida native Wade Davis. The right-hander, who opened the 2011 campaign with a 5-1 loss against this same Baltimore squad at home, has won three straight decisions since beginning with back-to-back defeats. However, most recently Davis took the hill on Tuesday versus Toronto and even though he permitted just two runs on six hits over six innings and Tampa Bay registered the 3-2 triumph he failed to factor into the decision.

Davis, who is three games over .500 for his career (17-14), has a mark of 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA in six appearances all-time versus the Orioles.

As for Baltimore, it is going with right-hander Brad Bergesen today in hopes that the hurler might finally post his first win of 2011. Bergesen, who has an ERA close to five at the moment, last took the mound on Tuesday when he was touched for four runs, three earned, on six hits over five innings of action. Even though he was not tabbed with the loss as the O's fell to Kansas City by a score of 6-5, the decision did mark the sixth time in as many outings this season that Baltimore has landed in the loss column when Bergesen takes the hill.

In terms of a career record versus Tampa Bay, Bergesen has lost all four of his previous decisions and has struggled with a lofty 9.00 ERA in those meetings.

The Rays made some news off the field on Saturday as well when they found out that Upton had been fined and suspended for two games following an incident on Wednesday when he was ejected after heatedly arguing a called third strike with home plate umpire Chad Fairchild. MLB said Upton has elected to appeal the suspension, which will be deferred until the process is complete. If the suspension holds up, Upton will likely sit out during next week's series against the Indians.

If and when the Rays finally lose Upton to suspension it could well be a difficult blow seeing as how he has produced six extra-base hits over the last six games and has tempered his seven strikeouts during that stretch with just as many RBI.

Tampa Bay, which is just 9-10 at home thus far in 2011 but an impressive 10-4 on the road, produced a 6-3 record against the O's in Baltimore a season ago and are now 19-10 on the road versus the Orioles since 2008.