Rays Finish Off Sweep Of O's; Magic Number Is 2

Manager Joe Maddon has been a bit concerned about his team's energy level in the early innings of the three games the Rays have played at a mostly empty Camden Yards this week.

He probably won't have anything to worry about on that front in the series finale, as the Rays' latest late-inning miracle gave them their first-ever doubleheader sweep Tuesday night and positioned Tampa Bay for a shot at clinching the division title tonight.

A six-run eighth inning in the nightcap gave the Rays a 7-5 victory over the floundering Orioles, and paired with a 5-2 come-from-behind triumph in the opener reduced the Rays' magic number to two. A win tonight combined with a Red Sox loss to Cleveland would give the Rays the division crown they crave so badly.

"It's right there for the taking," said Evan Longoria, whose mammoth homer in the eighth inning of Game 2 propelled a rally few saw coming.

This one was outlandish even by the Rays' standards, as they trailed 5-2 with two outs and the bases empty when Longoria stepped to the plate. Ben Zobrist had tripled to open the frame and scored on a Willy Aybar groundout, but a subsequent Dan Johnson strikeout left the Rays without much momentum.

One swing from Longoria changed that in a hurry. He blasted the first pitch he saw - and the last delivered by surprisingly effective Orioles starter Alfredo Simon - an estimated 410 feet to left-center to make it 5-3.

"Crushed it," Longoria said. "That was about all I had."

And the reaction in the Rays' dugout raised the antennae of Orioles manager Dave Trembley.

"You could see when Longoria hit the home run, it kind of woke them up," he said.

Trembley had planned to go to right-hander Jim Miller out of the bullpen, but the pitcher felt something in his side as he completed his warm-ups, so the Orioles had to heat up veteran lefty Jamie Walker in a hurry. To say it didn't work out would be an understatement.

Pinch-hitter Rocco Baldelli greeted Walker with an infield single and Gabe Gross walked. The Rays' hottest bat, Jason Bartlett, then came on to pinch-hit and roped a single to left to slice the lead to one.

A wild pitch by Walker with pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro at the plate put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and the All-Star drove them home with a sharp single up the middle. That ended Walker's outing, and it didn't get any better for the Orioles faithful when B.J. Upton's double off reliever Kameron Mickolio made it 7-5.

"When we string hits together like that, we're a tough ballclub," said Upton.

Tough enough in that situation that the Orioles couldn't come close to mustering a response. After winning pitcher Jeff Niemann handed it off to J.P. Howell in the eighth, the Rays were home free. The lefty set down the final five Orioles batters for his third save of the season and the Rays had topped themselves again.

"You get to that point where you start believing in things," said Maddon. "You start believing in yourself, you start believing it's going to work out, and that's a tough feeling to arrive at and it takes a lot of work to get there."

The first game wasn't nearly as dramatic, as James Shields kept the Orioles under control most of the way while awaiting the offensive cavalry and was rewarded with a milestone victory.

The win was Shields' 14th of the season, tying Rolando Arrojo's club record that has endured since the franchise's inaugural season. That mark looked as if it might continue to stand alone this year after Andy Sonnanstine missed out on his six chances to tie it and Shields couldn't convert in his first crack at it last week, but it was finally equaled Tuesday.

"It means a lot," Shields said. "I've worked hard enough to where I think I'm going to be able to get to this point on a consistent basis."

Manager Joe Maddon lined Shields up to start the opening game of the doubleheader a couple of weeks ago, specifically because he hoped his workhorse would help the bullpen by going seven or eight strong innings.

Shields did his part, mostly cruising through seven innings and allowing the only two runs scored by the Orioles in the opener on one swing. That two-run homer by Lou Montanez in the second inning was enough to put Baltimore ahead 2-0, but it didn't hold up once the Rays' bats heated up later in the game.

The bottom of the batting order did most of the work, with all of the Rays' runs scored by the guys hitting in the sixth through ninth spots. No.8 and No.9 hitters Bartlett and Fernando Perez did much of the heavy lifting, combining to go 6-for-7 and reach base seven times in eight trips to the plate - with a sacrifice bunt by Perez the only exception.

Naturally, they had some help from the woeful Orioles. Starter Garrett Olson ushered home the Rays' first run with a wild pickoff throw that nestled behind the tarp down the right-field line. That scored Navarro from third and moved Bartlett up to second. He didn't stay there long, coming around to tie the game 2-2 on a double by Perez.

A Bartlett double the following inning brought home Navarro to give the Rays the lead for good, and they would tack on a run each in the seventh and eighth innings as more fans began to trickle into Camden Yards.

"The beginning of the game lacked a little bit of energy," Maddon said. "Makeup game, 5 o'clock [start], not many folks there - you've got to create your own juice at that point. But our guys stayed with it."

And they find themselves on the verge of an accomplishment no one could have predicted - something they would relish like nothing else they have experienced to this point.

"We've got a pretty tough division," said Upton. "If you can come out on top of this division, that's saying something."