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More Late Heroics, Courtesy Of Baldelli

The Associated Press

Baltimore Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez tags out Tampa Bay Rays' Dioner Navarro on a throw by center fielder Jay Payton.

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By TONY FABRIZIO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 31, 2008

Updated: 08/31/2008 12:22 am

ST. PETERSBURG - The never-say-die attitude that has won Joe Maddon's ballclub so many close games this year helped the Rays pull out another one Saturday.

Rocco Baldelli's double in the bottom of ninth drove in the winning run as the Rays, down by four runs early, rallied to beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-9 and improve to 20-7 in August, matching a club record for most wins in a month.

"We just kept coming," said Carlos Pena, who scored the winning run from first after walking. "We were having good at-bats, one after another in the lineup, and when you do that something good is bound to happen."

The first game in the current homestand to draw a sizeable crowd - the 34,085 in attendance also were treated to a postgame concert - was a pitching-deficient contest in which Andy Sonnanstine, the Rays' leader in wins, didn't make it to the fifth inning and the teams combined to use 10 pitchers.

The seventh of eight lead changes or ties came in the top of the ninth when Nick Markakis ripped a two-out, 431-foot home run off Dan Wheeler to tie the game at 9. Wheeler (3-5) blew a save opportunity but wound up with the win.

In familiar fashion, the Rays pulled it out in the bottom of the frame.

"When you've done it several times like we have, and it gets late, we know that we can," Maddon said. "With that you don't have any kind of a letdown or guys not believing, or, 'We'll just chalk this one up and come back tomorrow.'"

There was plenty of offense from both sides. Akinori Iwamura, who has hit safely in eight consecutive games, tied a season high with three hits, including two doubles, and scored three runs. B.J. Upton had a pair of doubles and RBIs and scored a run. Pena had a double and two RBIs and scored three runs.

For Baltimore, former Ray Aubrey Huff - booed with every plate appearance - hit his 30th home run, a three-run shot, and had a double. Markakis went 4-for-5 with a double and his game-tying homer.

Sonnanstine was going for his 14th victory that would have tied Rolando Arrojo's club record for most wins in a season set in 1998. He was fortunate to avoid his seventh loss after giving up six runs (five earned) in 31/3 innings, his first outing of less than four innings since April 14.

The damage included a two-run homer by Jay Payton in the game's second at-bat and Huff's three-run blast in the third, which put the Orioles up 5-3.

"Andy struggled, obviously," Maddon said. "Just too many breaking balls up in the zone. His velocity was good, according to the gun, but his location wasn't. He made some bad pitches that they hit."

Sonnanstine said he felt fine physically but he wasn't sharp. The pitch to Huff was a "backdoor slider," he said. "With a little bit of a tight zone today, I couldn't afford to put it right on the black, and it leaked a little bit."

Baltimore scored single runs in the fourth on a Brian Roberts sacrifice fly and the fifth on a Ramon Hernandez single to take a 7-3 lead before the Rays rallied.

The Rays had scored one in the first when Orioles starter Chris Waters walked Ben Zobrist with the bases loaded and two in the second on a two-run double by Upton.

Their rally began with two runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Dioner Navarro, who returned after missing three games with sore hamstrings, and an RBI by Gabe Gross.

There were three more runs in the sixth, the big hit a two-run double from Pena, who has 28 RBIs in August, and the Rays led 8-7.

After Baltimore tied the game at 8 in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Hernandez, the Rays again took the lead in the bottom of the inning when Alberto Castillo hit Baldelli with the bases loaded.

Baldelli, who didn't make his major-league season debut until this month because of a mitochondrial disorder, finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs.

He was mugged by his teammates after his game-winning double.

"It was fun to be on the bottom," Baldelli said. "I got hammered pretty good. But I enjoyed every second of it."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994 or afabrizio@tampatrib.com.

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