BALTIMORE _ Thursday's game didn't start well for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Willy Adames, with throwing errors on the first two plays leading to a pair of Baltimore Orioles runs.
But he more than made up for that, ripping a home run and a two-run single as the Rays rallied, after a two-plus hour midgame rain delay, for a 5-2 victory.
By the end of the long night, the Rays improved to 75-54 and moved back into the AL playoff field, percentage points behind the Oakland A's for the top wild-card spot, and one-half game ahead of the outside-looking-in Cleveland Indians.
They also improved to 12-6 in the final days of their 21-game stretch against teams with losing records, with three more to come against the Orioles this weekend.
Ryan Yarbrough overcame the rough start and didn't allow anything else until the game was delayed with one on and one out in the fifth. He'd thrown only 68 pitches, but the delay was too long for him to return.
The Rays used Oliver Drake (who got the win), Colin Poche (who hit two of the three batters he faced), Chaz Roe, Jose Alvarado (who created a mess to start the eighth), Nick Anderson (who cleaned it up) and Emilio Pagan to finish.
Austin Meadows homered in the third, his 22nd, which allowed the Orioles pitchers to break a dubious major-league record, giving up their 259th round-tripper, surpassing the previous high by the 2016 Cincinnati Reds.
And Adames went deep in the fifth, his 16th of the season and 13th on the road, to get the Rays even.
Then Adames put them ahead in the sixth. Jesus Aguilar drew a one-out walk and Matt Duffy doubled to end an 0-for-15 stretch, then Adames delivered them both with a single to left. The Rays made it 5-2 in the ninth when Meadows doubled, went to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.
The two runs that scored, one earned and one not, were the first he'd allowed since Aug. 6, covering 17 2/3 innings over his past two outings and part of a third.
At a time when the Rays are desperately trying to piece together pitching to cover three games out of five, Yarbrough has stepped out from behind an opener and stepped right in behind Charlie Morton to give the Rays a solid second starter.
He showed that again Thursday, recovering from the early ambush to allow no other runs, and only two other baserunners, with a string of 11 straight Orioles retired in the middle, before the game was delayed by rain for more than two hours with one out in the fifth and the score tied 2-2. Play resumed at 10:59 p.m., after the 2-hour and 16-minute delay. Only a few hundred fans, if that, from the original announced 8,153 stuck around, though those who did were allowed to sit anywhere they wanted.
Manager Kevin Cash made it quite clear before the game that he felt Yarbrough, who came in with an 11-3, 3.34 record, was the right man to have on the mound.
"He's done more than step up, he's dominated,'' Cash said. "He's turned into a guy that we really count on, rely on for good reason. He just goes out there and competes. And it seems like every time he takes the mound we have a chance to win the game ...
"I think Yarbs is really driven. He came in, we talked a couple weeks ago. We talked about the opener, the bulk guys following and stuff like that. I think he was ready for a challenge to get an opportunity to get more traditional with the starting role.
"Obviously we're doing it a lot now because of how well he's pitched. And at the same time out of need. He's very motivated, very driven to be really good. And he has been.''
Yarbrough said it's more than just a good run. "I wholeheartedly think this is something I can do," he said Wednesday. "I'm really excited about where I'm at right now. This is what I know I can do."
