Brandon Guyer and James Loney high-five teammates and coaches in the dugout after scoring on a single by J.P. Arencibia in the fifth inning. (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Brandon Guyer and James Loney high-five teammates and coaches in the dugout after scoring on a single by J.P. Arencibia in the fifth inning. (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

J.P. Arencibia homered and drove in six runs to back a dominant start by Drew Smyly, as the Tampa Bay Rays breezed past the free-falling Baltimore Orioles 11-2 Tuesday night. For the second straight game, the Rays knocked the Orioles’ starter out in the fifth inning, and Tampa Bay (66-66) was able to move back to .500 ahead of the series finale on Wednesday.

    In a word, starter Drew Smyly was fantastic in his fourth start since coming off the DL. The lefty lasted a season-best seven innings, and scattered just four hits and a walk while fanning 10. Smyly, who only got in trouble twice throughout his outing, threw 100 pitches (74 strikes) and retired his final ten hitters.

    In the second inning, Manny Machado hit a one-out blooped double to right, and moved to third on stolen base with Steve Pearce at the plate. Three pitches later, Pearce blooped a hit into shallow right-center. Although the ball hung up long enough for Logan Forsythe ― ranging into the outfield ― to reach and make an impressive over the shoulder catch. For whatever reason, Machado didn’t attempt to tag up and score even though Forsythe had his back to home plate.

    Adam Jones went down swinging to end the inning.

    Tampa Bay immediately answered with a four-run rally against RHP Chris Tillman in the top of the fourth. Forsythe doubled to left with one out, and Asdrubal Cabrera worked a walk. James Loney followed with an RBI single off the second base for the go-ahead lead. Brandon Guyer was next. The center fielder came up with an infield hit into the hole at short, loading the bases for Arencibia, who followed with a two-run single to left-center for a three-run advantage.

    The luck dragons must have been with Grady Sizemore, because he was able to beat out a double-play ball that scored Forsythe from third, capping the scoring at four. Daniel Nava grounded out to second to end the inning.

    In the bottom of the inning, Jonathan Schoop hit a double to center off Smyly. However, Caleb Joseph went down swinging on a dropped third strike to end the inning.

    Tampa Bay came back with a four-run fifth, consequently chasing Tillman from the game. John Jaso doubled to left with one out and Forsythe singled to center, putting runners at the corners. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a sacrifice-fly, scoring Jaso from third and breaking the game open for the Rays. Forsythe moved up to second on the throw home. Buck Showalter called for an intentional walk of James Loney before Steve Johnson took the mound in relief. Brandon Guyer, who also had himself a night, hammered an RBI double to left, bringing Arencibia to the plate. The veteran capped the scoring in the frame with a two RBI base hit to left.

    Forsythe left the game with left groin tightness in the middle of the inning. The injury is not considered serious, and because the Rays were up by eight at that point, manager Kevin Cash was afforded the opportunity to pull him precautionary. After the game, Cash said Forsythe is fine, and expects him to play Wednesday.

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    Smyly continued to pump strikes over his final two innings. If he didn’t force whiffs on fastballs at the top of the zone, then he put the Baltimore’s swing-happy batters down on glove side pitches, and nasty sliders that just weren’t fair. And when the Orioles were able to make contact, it was more often than not weak, resulting in a grounder to short and a couple of poppers to left and right (respectively). Smyly left the game prior to the eighth, but not before he put together a dominating start akin to his body of work in the second half of the 2014 season.

    In the top of the seventh, after Guyer hit a two-out single to left, Arencibia belted a two-run homer to center off LHP T.J. McFarland — extending the lead to 10.

    In the eighth, Cabrera added an RBI groundout with Evan Longoria on third for the final Rays run.

    Kirby Yates took the mound in the bottom of the inning and put down the side in order on a pair of strikeouts and a fly ball to right. But Chris Davis broke up the shutout in the ninth when he hit a two-run homer on the first pitch of his at-bat. Yates recovered to coax a popper to center and a swinging strikeout to put the Orioles out of their misery.

    When all is said and done, Arencibia collected three hits and six runs batted in — one shy of his career-high of seven (July 29, 2014 vs. Yankees, with Texas). It was also is the third time he drove in six runs or more in one game. Guyer quietly tied his career high with four hits. He is now a career .400 hitter (18-for-45) at Camden Yards.

    The New What Next

    The Rays will go for the sweep with Erasmo Ramirez (10-5, 3.68 ERA) on the mound. He’ll be opposed by hard throwing RHP Kevin Gausman (2-6, 4.39 ERA). Ramirez is 2-1 with a 3.34 ERA in five career appearances (four starts) against the Orioles. He has surrendered nine home runs in his last 11 starts after allowing just four in his first 17 outings (10 starts). However, the majority of those homers were solo shots. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

    Rays 9/2/15 Starting Lineup

    Sizemore LF
    Guyer RF
    Longoria 3B
    Jaso DH
    Forsythe 2B
    Cabrera SS
    Loney 1B
    Kiermaier CF
    Arencibia C
    Ramirez RHP

    Noteworthiness

    — More food for thought. Number nine hitter hitters with six RBI in a game this year:

    J.P. Arencibia (Tuesday night), and Jackie Bradley Jr. (7, 8/15).

    The last time it was done versus Baltimore: Ramon Vazquez (7, 8/22/07)

    — Luke Maile got a great souvenir of his first MLB game — lineup cards from home plate umpire Chris Guccione, with “congratulations” written on top.

    — How much have the Rays hugged the .500 mark? Per Todd Kalas, they were exactly .500 with 70 games to go, and exactly .500 with 60, 50, 40, and now 30 to go. After tonight, it’ll be 62 games this season they have either been at .500 or within a game of that mark. That’s 47% of the season.

    — Kevin Cash set the rotation for the Yankees series — Jake Odorizzi, Matt Moore, and Chris Archer. As of now, Nathan Karns is out. Whether that means Karns will fill a slot in the bullpen, or Moore will start on days when one of the other starters may need a breather is unknown. In any case, we should know know more soon, although Karns is being skipped at the least. The team still isn’t planning to go with a six-man rotation.

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