Rays win, send Orioles to wild card game

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Evan Longoria hit three home runs as the Tampa Bay Rays beat Baltimore 4-1 Wednesday night, ending the Orioles' bid to force a one-game tiebreaker with the Yankees for the AL East title.

The loss on the final day of the regular season left the Orioles as a wild-card team. They'll play tomorrow at Texas. with the winner advancing to the division series.

Baltimore began the day one game behind the Yankees in the division. The Orioles needed a win, plus a loss by the Yankees, to pull even.

Longoria finished the season with a bang for the second straight year, hitting solo shots off Chris Tillman in the first and fourth innings and adding another solo shot off Jake Arrieta in the sixth. With a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Longoria grounded out in the eighth.

Longoria's second career three-homer game came a year after the three-time All-Star hit two of them of the final night of last season, including a 12th-inning game-ending shot that clinched a postseason berth.

Ryan Roberts also homered for the Rays in the fourth against Tillman (9-3).

Jeremy Hellickson (10-11) allowed one hit -- Adam Jones' fourth-inning single -- in 51/3 innings. Jake McGee, Wade Davis, Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney teamed to hold the Orioles to two hits -- J.J. Hardy's double and Matt Wieters' single, both in the ninth inning -- the rest of the way.

Adam Jones ended Tampa Bay's shot at a 16th shutout with a sacrifice fly off Peralta.