It took 10 innings for the Orioles to claim sole possession of first place in the AL East, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 at Tropicana Field on Thursday night.
Baltimore had their veteran leader Kyle Gibson on the mound in what was arguably the single most important game of the season to this point. He did his job, the bullpen (largely) backed him up, and the offense squeaked out just enough against some fine opposition.
It was Tampa that opened the scoring in the second inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Francisco Mejía singled into center field to drive in Josh Lowe and put the hosts up 1-0.