ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Yovani Gallardo labored in the Orioles' first game coming out of the All-Star break on Friday night at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Orioles, however, are opening the second half playing a Rays team that stumbled into the break having lost 22 of 25 games, but these are games an eventual division winner capitalizes on.
And despite falling behind early, the Orioles came back to beat Tampa Bay, 4-3, in their second-half opener in front of an announced crowd of 17,676.
Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop broke a tie at 3 with a home run to lead off the eighth inning off Rays starter Chris Archer, sending a 90-mph slider on a towering ride into the left-field seats at an estimated 407 feet.
The win gave the Orioles (52-36) their fifth victory in their past six games.
Schoop's homer, his 15th of the season, was the Orioles' second of the night _ Pedro Alvarez hit a solo blast in the third _ and their major league-leading 139th of the season.
Schoop has 10 winning RBIs this season, and since June 1, he is hitting .351 with 21 extra-base hits (14 doubles, seven homers) and 25 RBIs.
Gallardo fell behind 3-1 after three innings _ needing 77 pitches to get that far in the game _ but the Rays stranded seven base runners in those opening three frames.
Perhaps the best example of how the Rays allowed Gallardo off the hook occurred in the first inning. Four batters into the game, Gallardo loaded the bases with one out after a single and two walks. Gallardo had already thrown 27 pitches in the inning, but the next two Tampa Bay hitters _ Steven Souza, Jr. and Corey Dickerson _ were each retired on one pitch, and the Rays managed just one run.
Gallardo lasted five innings, removed after throwing a season-high 108 pitches and allowing 12 baserunners (eight hits and four walks). Despite struggling early, Gallardo retired seven of the last eight batters he faced.
The Orioles bullpen tossed four scoreless innings, capped by a scoreless ninth by closer Zach Britton, who is now a perfect 28-for-28 in save opportunities this season.
Britton stranded the tying run at third base, striking out Logan Morrison and Souza. After yielding a one-out double to Brad Miller, Britton intentionally walked Evan Longoria to bring up Morrison and Souza.
