BALTIMORE, Maryland April 15, 2014 - Wei-Yin Chen threw 6 and one-third innings of 5-hit baseball, and Ryan Flaherty knocked in two runs as the Orioles pulled back to within one game of .500 with a 7-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night in Baltimore. J.J. Hardy and Matt Wieters each had three hits and three other Orioles had two hits apiece in the easy win. The Orioles scored in four of their first five at bats in opening a 7-0 lead. The Rays scored their only run in the sixth inning. After Chen started, Evan Meek and Darren O'Day finished the game without giving up a run. Both Meek and O'Day have ERA's of 0.00.
The Birds got on the board in their very first at bat. Nelson Cruz singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Chris Davis. Cruz later scored on Wieters' RBI single. In the second inning the Orioles scored three more times. J.J, Hardy led off with a double and moved to third on a ground out by Steve Lombardozzi. Hardy scored on a single by Flaherty. Flaherty then scored on a long double by Cruz. Cruz quickly scored himself when Chris Davis followed with another very long double to straight-away center field that narrowly missed being a home run. Chen, meanwhile, retired the first nine hitters he faced.
Baltimore struck for two more runs in the third inning. Wieters led off with a double to left field. He scored one out later on a double by Hardy. The next hitter, Lombardozzi, knocked in Hardy with a single to center field. Tampa got its first base runner in the fourth inning when Desmond Jennings walked with one out. But Jennings never moved off of first as Chen retired the next two hitters in order. Tampa got its first two hits of the game in the fifth inning in the form of a James Loney double and an infield single by Brandon Guyer. But Chen worked right out of the situation when Yunel Escobar grounded into a double play.
Baltimore scored what proved to be its final run in the fifth. Wieters led off with a single to left and moved to second one out later when Hardy also singled to left. With two outs, Flaherty singled to left, allowing Wieters to score from second base. The Rays finally got on the score board in the sixth. With one out, Ben Zobrist drew a walk and moved to second base on a single by Jennings. With two outs, Evan Longoria singled to left, scoring Zobrist and sending Jennings to third. Longoria took second on the throw to third. Chen, in serious trouble for the first time in the game, got out of it when Wil Myers lined to center fielder Adam Jones. Rays' starter Chris Archer left after the Orioles' batted in the fifth, and Brad Boxberger, recalled earlier in the day from Durham. Chen pitched into the seventh.
The Orioles improved to 6-7 on the season, and pulled to within one-half game of the Rays and one game of the division-leading Blue Jays and Yankees. Here are the American League East standings up to the minute:
1. New York Yankees: 7 wins, 6 losses, .538 pct
1. Toronto Blue Jays: 7 wins, 6 losses, .538 pct
3. Tampa Bay Rays: 7 wins, 7 losses, .500 pct, 0.5 games behind
4. Baltimore Orioles: 6 wins, 7 losses, .462 pct, 1 game behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 5 wins, 8 losses, .385 pct, 2 games behind
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