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Huff propels Orioles past Rays

Apr 3, 2008 - 4:47 AM By Sean Burns PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) - After some disparaging comments about the city in which he plies his trade, Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Aubrey Huff hasn't exactly been a fan favorite of late.

A few more nights like this and he may find his way out of the doghouse.

Huff homered and drove in four runs and the relief corps threw five scoreless innings as Baltimore rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

"It's a long season, but this is definitely a start," Huff said. "Hopefully we'll be able to win some hearts back with games like this."

A former member of the Rays, Huff belted a two-run homer in the sixth inning and added a two-run double in the eighth off Al Reyes (0-1) that plated Melvin Mora and Kevin Millar for a 7-6 lead.

"That was probably the sweetest home run I've ever hit," Huff said of the blast off Minnesota starter Matt Garza that started to turn the crowd in his favor. "As soon as I hit it, I just thought, 'Please, just let it go out.'"

After Huff's key hit in the eighth, Baltimore tacked on two more insurance runs. Ramon Hernandez lofted a sacrifice fly and rookie Adam Jones delivered an RBI single for the final margin.

"I felt fine, I was pitching the ball to where I wanted to," Reyes said. "I was trying to keep it low and away (on Huff), but you can't walk the leadoff (batter) like that."

Though Huff's heroics with the bat were responsible for sparking Baltimore's rally, he might not have had a chance if not for a standout performance from the bullpen.

The Orioles' bullpen made up for an ineffective outing by starter Daniel Cabrera. The righthander allowed six runs and six hits with five walks and two strikeouts in four-plus innings.

Cabrera allowed a go-ahead, two-run homer to Carlos Pena in the fifth and left with the bases loaded and the Orioles trailing, 5-3.

"Cabrera's a guy with great stuff, but we were able to get a couple of big hits off of him today," Pena said. "We just weren't able to make it work out in the end."

Rookie righthander Randor Bierd came in and limited the damage to one more run before working a scoreless sixth. Huff's two-run homer in the sixth cut the deficit to 6-5, and the bullpen held strong until the Orioles rallied in the eighth.

"Bierd did a nice job coming in there in a tough situation," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "You know I have seen him do it before in spring training, and he seems to match up well with left-handed hitters. ... He doesn't get rattled."

Chad Bradford sat down the Rays in order in the seventh and Jamie Walker (1-0) struck out the side in the eighth to pick up the win. George Sherrill worked around a pair of walks in the ninth for his first save.

"We did a good job out there tonight," Sherrill said. "Everybody stepped up big and got the job done."