Back-to-back homers power Rays past Orioles

Tampa Bay's Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes hit back-to-back homers, Taj Bradley fired six strong innings and the Rays split a two-game series with the Baltimore Orioles with a 7-2 win Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Arozarena produced a 3-for-3 day, doubled and notched two RBIs. He also walked to reach base in all four plate appearances. Jose Siri had two hits, walked, scored and drove in a run. Yandy Diaz had two hits with a run and RBI.

Facing Baltimore for the first time ever, Bradley (5-3) allowed only three hits over his 83-pitch outing in his 10th career start. He struck out eight without issuing a walk.

Snapping their season-long three-game losing skid, the Rays improved to 32-8 at home this season and 70-40 against the Orioles since 2017.

Baltimore's Ramon Urias and Gunnar Henderson homered and Ryan O'Hearn extended his hitting streak to nine games.

Starter Tyler Wells (6-3) yielded four runs -- two earned -- on four hits with six whiffs and three walks over five innings. He also committed two errors in Tampa Bay's four-run second.

Prone to the longball, Wells served up a 91-mph four-seam fastball on a 1-1 count that Arozarena belted an estimated 402 feet to left-center field, his team-leading 14th home run in the second inning.

Then Paredes hooked an 87-mph cutter around the foul pole in left field for his 13th shot -- the 18th homer surrendered by Wells in just over 82 innings pitched.

Wells' fielding failed him when he could not handle Manuel Margot's easy comebacker later in the frame. Three batters afterward, he fielded Siri's slow roller toward third and threw wildly to first on the hit, with Siri getting an RBI and another run crossing as the ball went down the right-field line.

Urias got one back for the visitors with a solo shot -- his third -- leading off the third, but Bradley responded with a pair of swinging strikeouts on curveballs.

The right-hander retired 10 straight Orioles from the third to the sixth innings before departing.

Wander Franco padded the lead with a sacrifice fly to center in the seventh. Arozarena later plated Diaz with a two-out single for a 6-1 lead before Diaz's RBI single in the eighth.

Henderson's 11th homer in the ninth rounded out the scoring as Baltimore lost for just the second time in five games against the Rays.