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Rays look for fifth straight win vs. Orioles

Aug 31, 2008 - 8:07 AM Baltimore (63-72) at Tampa Bay (83-51) 1:40 p.m. EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Rays keep rolling toward their American League East title. The Baltimore Orioles are still holding out hope for a .500 season.

The Rays will look to take one more step toward their first playoff berth against the Orioles on Sunday.

Tampa Bay has won four straight games, including three by one run, and owns a 4 1/2-game lead over the Boston Red Sox (79-56) in the AL East.

The Rays battled back from deficits of 2-0 and 7-3 on Saturday before winning in the bottom of the ninth when Rocco Baldelli's double plated Carlos Pena with the winning run. Baldelli, Pena and B.J. Upton each drove in two runs.

The Orioles have dropped nine of their last 11 to fall nine games below .500. They have not finished a season with a winning record since winning the division at 98-64 in 1997.

Tampa Bay will send Opening Day starter James Shields (11-8, 3.75) to the mound. The righthander suffered a loss in his last outing, allowing four runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Shields has been strong against Baltimore in his career, going 2-1 with a 3.47 ERA in 10 starts.

The Orioles will counter with swingman Brian Burres (7-8, 5.79). The lefthander has served mostly as a starter this season while bouncing between the active roster and the minor leagues.

He is 0-3 with an 11.48 ERA over his last four starts. He has made two starts and one relief appearance against Tampa Bay this season, going 0-2 while allowing 10 runs in 11 2/3 frames.