Markakis, Guthrie, Orioles top Rays
BALTIMORE - Nick Markakis homered and scored twice to back an effective pitching performance by Jeremy Guthrie, and the Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-4, last night to provide manager Buck Showalter with his 900th career win.
Matt Wieters and Felix Pie each had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, who broke a three-game skid.
Showalter became the 64th manager in big-league history to win 900 games and improved to 18-13 with Baltimore since his debut Aug. 3.
Guthrie (9-13) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out seven. Since the All-Star break, he's 6-3 with a 2.51 ERA in 10 starts.
John Jaso, Matt Joyce and Matt Hawpe hit solo homers for Tampa Bay, which dropped 21/2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.
James Shields (13-12) gave up six runs and eight hits in 41/3 innings. The righthander was 4-0 in eight career starts at Camden Yards.
Jaso put the Rays in front with his second career leadoff homer, a drive that traveled an estimated 436 feet into the centerfield seats. In the bottom half of the first, Brian Roberts hit a leadoff single and Markakis followed with his ninth homer.
Baltimore went up 5-1 in the third. After Shields walked Luke Scott with the bases loaded, Wieters hit a two-out, two-run double.
Carl Crawford doubled and scored on a double by Joyce in the Tampa Bay fourth. Guthrie then walked Hawpe before striking out B.J. Upton.
A one-out double by Luke Scott in the fifth chased Shields, and Pie greeted Jeremy Hellickson with an RBI double. After a single by Wieters, Julio Lugo hit a run-scoring grounder for a 7-2 lead.
The Orioles used three straight two-out singles to add a run in the sixth. The last one, by Pie, scored Ty Wigginton on a very close play at the plate that brought Rays manager Joe Maddon out to dispute the call.