Longoria's homers are not enough

At this early stage of the season, there might not be a big-league hitter feeling as good about his power stroke as Evan Longoria.

But even as he hit two more home runs Friday night to give him four in a three-game span and the major-league lead, Longoria didn't have anything else to celebrate. Losing will do that.

One bad inning by Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine effectively nullified the impact of Longoria's solo shot in the top of the first and his two-run blast in the eighth, allowing the Orioles to pull away and ultimately hang on for a 5-4 victory at Camden Yards. The Rays had entered the game with a 12-game winning streak against Baltimore, by far their longest against a single opponent.

Despite their late-inning efforts, though, it was difficult to argue the Rays deserved to win this one. There was more to the story, but the way the game unfolded for the starting pitchers put the Rays on bad footing almost from the beginning.

Nursing a one-run deficit with two outs and the bases empty in the fifth inning, Sonnanstine suddenly allowed four consecutive hits and a run-scoring wild pitch that put the Orioles ahead 5-1. He wasn't pleased with what he was throwing out there even before the meltdown - "I just didn't feel very sharp," he said - but that burst essentially put the Rays away.

"They got three runs way too fast, and that put us in a hole," Manager Joe Maddon said.

With ex-Devil Rays Mark Hendrickson and Danys Baez essentially shutting Tampa Bay's hitters down through the first seven innings, late homers by Longoria and Dioner Navarro served only to add a touch of drama that didn't seem destined to go the Rays' way.

There was the rare sight of Carl Crawford being thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple just before Longoria's first-inning homer. Not to mention the bizarre sequence in which Gabe Kapler was run down for the final out of the fourth after a Ben Zobrist infield single Kapler assumed had been a routine groundout.

"It just can't happen," a still-fuming Kapler said. "It's unacceptable."

And unfortunate for the Rays after a couple of solid all-around performances in Boston. Perhaps next time Longoria's work will be put to better use.