Major League Baseball
Tampa Bay 8, Baltimore 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Jeremy Riggs, 1B - James Hoye, 2B - Adrian Johnson, 3B - Brian Gorman
Attendance: 6673

Tampa Bay's Ryan Yarbrough returned from the injured list by firing five stellar innings of relief in the Rays' 8-4 win Wednesday over Baltimore, stretching the Orioles' losing streak to a season-high-tying 14 games in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Just activated from the COVID-related IL, the lefty Yarbrough (7-4) took over in the second and retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced in his first outing since his Aug. 6 start. He allowed one hit and fanned three in his 70-pitch effort.

Rookie Wander Franco reached base safely in his 20th straight game by going 3-for-4 with a double, walk and two RBIs.

Ji-Man Choi posted two hits and two RBIs for the Rays, who moved to 14-1 against Baltimore and beat the Orioles for the eighth straight time.

Tampa Bay's Louis Head worked as the opener and allowed two runs on three hits in his one inning -- all while striking out the side.

Baltimore's Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle slugged solo homers, and Maikel Franco went 2-for-4 with a double.

Spenser Watkins (2-5) tossed four innings and yielded eight hits and four runs. The right-hander lost his fifth straight start.

Mullins jumped on an 0-2 slider down in the zone, ripping his 21st long ball to right-center. Pedro Severino's RBI single gave the Orioles a quick two-run lead.

After two singles and a walk against Watkins loaded the bases in the Rays' first, Choi knocked in two with a single to right, but he was tagged out trying to advance to end the busy frame.

The Rays grabbed their first lead in the fourth when Brandon Lowe cued a two-out single just over third to score Joey Wendle, who had doubled and moved to third on a long flyout. Lowe scored for a 4-2 lead on Wander Franco's double after Lowe stole second.

Tampa Bay blew it open in a three-run sixth on Wander Franco's RBI single -- the frame's only hit -- and sacrifice flies by Nelson Cruz and Austin Meadows for a 7-2 advantage. Two of the runs were unearned following a leadoff fielding error by second baseman Ramon Urias.

Austin Wynns singled in a run in the seventh, and Mountcastle popped his 20th deep shot in the eighth.

Meadows responded by slicing an RBI ground-rule double that bounced off the left-field foul pole.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Baltimore   Tampa Bay
Spenser Watkins Player Louis Head
Loss W/L No Decision
4.0 IP 1.0
2 Strikeouts 3
8 Hits 3
9.00 ERA 18.00
Hitting
Baltimore   Tampa Bay
Maikel FrancoPlayer Wander Franco
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 2
0 HR 0
3 TB 4
.500 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Baltimore 8 2 15 .229 8 8 4 0 1 1
Tampa Bay 12 0 17 .364 18 5 8 6 1 0