Zunino, Rays hit 5 HRs, blast Orioles 13-6 to win 5th in row

<p>BALTIMORE &mdash; Mike Zunino hit two home runs and the Tampa Bay Rays connected five times in all, hammering the Baltimore Orioles 13-6 Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.</p>
<p>Brett Phillips and Austin Meadows hit three-run homers in the second inning and Ji-Man Choi hit a late drive as the Rays matched their longest winning streak of the year. Tampa Bay is a season-high five games over .500 at 24-19.</p>
<p>Baltimore has lost eight of its last 10 and fell to a majors-worst 6-16 at home. It was the first of 19 meetings this season between the AL East rivals, all crammed between May 18 and Aug. 29.</p>
<p>The Rays tagged Matt Harvey (3-4) in the second. They opened the inning with consecutive singles, and an out later Phillips hit Harvey’s fastball to right for his second homer.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay’s Willy Adames poked a double off the third base bag, and Randy Arozarena reached on an infield single before Meadows drilled his ninth homer of the season to make it 6-0.</p>
<p>Harvey yielded six runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. It was Harvey’s shortest start since a 1 1/3-inning outing against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 6 while pitching for Kansas City and the second shortest of his 153 career starts.</p>
<p>Zunino hit two-run shots in both the third and fifth innings for his eighth career multihomer game and first since Aug. 8, 2018.</p>
<p>Choi added a two-run homer in the eighth, his first of the year after spending the first 40 games of the season on the injured list recovering from knee surgery.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay starter Luis Patiño was chased in the middle of Baltimore’s three-run fourth. He went 3 1/3 innings, yielding four runs on six hits while striking out six.</p>
<p>Andrew Kittredge (4-0) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for the Rays.</p>
<p>Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a third-inning single.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Rays: OF Kevin Kiermaier (left wrist sprain) took part in a full workout Tuesday. Manager Kevin Cash said Kiermaier, who is eligible to be activated Wednesday, will not need a rehabilitation assignment. “He’s very, very close,” Cash said. … RHP Michael Wacha (right hamstring tightness) will throw a simulated game Wednesday. … Cash said RHP Chris Mazza (shoulder inflammation) will pitch or throw a simulated game with Triple-A Durham this week. … LHP Cody Reed left with an undisclosed injury after walking consecutive hitters in the eighth.</p>
<p>MOVES</p>
<p>Tampa Bay acquired RHP Sean Poppen from Pittsburgh for cash considerations and assigned him to Durham. … Baltimore selected the contract of INF/OF Stevie Wilkerson from Triple-A Norfolk and designated INF Rio Ruiz for assignment. Ruiz hit .167 with three homers and six RBIs while splitting time between time between second and third base.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Rays: Tampa Bay will use an opener or give LHP Ryan Yarbrough (2-3, 4.20 ERA) the start on Wednesday as the series continues. Yarbrough is 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA in eight career appearances against Baltimore.</p>
<p>Orioles: LHP John Means (4-0, 1.21) has pitched 15 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts and no walks over his last two starts.</p>
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