Starting Ryan Yarbrough Wednesday turned out to be a mistake for the Rays, as he put them in an early five-run hole against the Orioles.
They made up for it, rallying late to get even and then again in the eighth to go ahead, the 9-7 victory improving their record to 25-19 and extending their season-high winning streak to six.
Ji-Man Choi had two of the biggest hits to celebrate his 30th birthday, his two-out single in the eighth putting the Rays ahead for the first time, an inning after his pinch-hit single sparked their three-run tying rally.
Randy Arozarena played a huge role with two homers and an RBI double, as did Kevin Kiermaier, who reached base three times and scored twice in his first game back from the injured list.
Though they got a late start, the Rays continued their offensive uprising, scoring seven-plus runs for the fourth straight game and a total of 53 over their last six.
Three-plus seasons of stats tell a story Yarbrough insists isn’t accurate: that he is much more effective in relief than when he is on the mound from the first pitch. (In 34 starts: 5-14, 4.60 and winless over his last 22; in 52 relief appearances: 25-5, 3.39.)
Given the starting assignment Wednesday, Yarbrough made a quick mess, with Trey Mancini — whose comeback season from a battle with colon cancer has been an inspiration and a tremendous success — doing most of the damage.
Yarbrough allowed a two-out homer in the first to Mancini, then a three-run double in a second inning that started with a homer by Freddy Galvis and was extended by shortstop Willy Adames’ one-out error, and another homer by Mancini leading off the fifth.
Shut down early by Orioles starter John Means, who threw a no-hitter May 5 in Seattle, the Rays slugged their way back into the game.
Mike Brosseau got them started, which shouldn’t have been a surprise given he was 4 for 9 with three homers off Means. After a strikeout in the third, Brosseau, hitting ninth, added to his total with a two-out, two-run homer in the fifth. Four pitches later, Arozarena also homered, cutting the O’s lead to 5-3.
Mancini’s second homer made it 6-3, but the Rays rallied again in the seventh.
A one-out hustle double by Kiermaier in his return to action after a 10-day injured-list stint with a sprained left wrist ended Means’ night with Brosseau coming up.
The O’s went to righty reliever Adam Plutko. The Rays countered with lefty pinch-hitter Choi, who in his third game since his own injured-list stint, delivered an RBI single. Arozarena, who robbed Pat Valaika of a homer in the seventh with a leaping catch of his own, launched the next pitch over the left-center-field fence for his first multi-homer game of the season.
The teams wrap up the series Thursday with a 12:35 p.m. matinee finale.
