Devil Rays take advantage of Baltimore's struggling bullpen

Devil Rays 15, Orioles 8

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Why, something like this hadn't happened at Camden Yards in ...

Six days.

Tampa Bay scored 11 eighth-inning runs during another horrible performance by Baltimore's bullpen, and the Orioles wasted six home runs Tuesday night in a 15-8 loss, their seventh straight.

The Devil Rays trailed 6-3 before sending 15 batters to the plate in the eighth. Nine got hits, three walked, and seven different players drove in runs -- including two apiece by Greg Norton, Carlos Pena, Dioner Navarro and Jonny Gomes.

It was another formidable outburst at the expense of the Orioles. For the Devil Rays, though, it was decidedly unique.

"That's the first time I've ever seen anything like it," said B.J. Upton, who had two hits in the inning. "We just wanted to put a couple of runs up. ... It just snowballed after that."

The damage came against relievers Jim Hoey (one out, five runs allowed), Brian Burres (no outs, three runs) and Chad Bradford (one out, three runs). Kurt Birkins got the final out.

Burres yielded eight runs Wednesday in Baltimore's 30-3 loss to Texas. The Orioles' bullpen surrendered 24 runs in that game and has yielded 46 runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings during the seven-game skid.

Baltimore has been outscored 85-28 during their losing streak. All the defeats have occurred since the Orioles announced manager Dave Trembley would return in 2008.

"It's not fun. It's embarrassing, it's tiring. It's not good," Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts said. "I've been through this too many times. It's not a lack of effort, it's not a lack of trying, it's not a lack of preparation. It's just not working out."

Miguel Tejada homered twice for Baltimore, which tied a club record for home runs in a home game. Nick Markakis, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez also connected.

"It's a nice accomplishment but it doesn't do much because you lost the game," Trembley said. "And it is not a whole lot of fun to lose like we did."

Hernandez's home run, which made it 6-3 in the seventh, snapped an 0-for-26 drought and was only his fourth hit in 51 at-bats.

Tejada and Millar homered successively in the bottom of the eighth, an inning that lasted 1 hour, 1 minute and 46 seconds.

"It was crazy out there. It's crazy when things happen like that," Pena said. "We were able to score all those runs in that inning, and they came right back at us. It turned into a slugfest at the end."

It was the second time this season Baltimore hit consecutive home runs; the first time came in the first inning, by Markakis and Tejada.

The eighth inning began with two hits and a walk loading the bases against Hoey (1-3). Navarro drew a walk to force in a run, and Norton followed with a two-run single. Carl Crawford followed a walk with an RBI single, Pena singled in two runs, B.J. Upton added an RBI single and Delmon Young singled before Brendan Harris hit into a force play, ending a run of nine straight Devil Rays reaching base.

"We've been on both sides of this event and it was nice to be able to do that," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.

Not long into the uprising, a familiar feeling rushed over Tejada.

"When that inning started, it just brought that memory back," the shortstop said. "I didn't really think about that game anymore, but when that inning started I said, 'Please God, don't start another one. We don't want to be in the same situation as what happened last time.'"

Much earlier, Pena hit his 31st home run.

Scott Dohmann (3-0) worked the seventh to help Tampa Bay end a nine-game losing streak at Camden Yards.

Three of Baltimore's home runs came off Devil Rays rookie Jason Hammel. He tied a career high by going six innings and avoided the loss when Tampa Bay rallied against Baltimore's struggling bullpen.

But the right-hander extended his run of starts without a win to 17, including eight this season. It's the longest streak to begin a career since Oakland's Mike Mohler went winless in all 20 of his career starts from 1993-97.

Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera allowed three runs and five hits in six innings. Bidding to improve his lifetime record against Tampa Bay to 7-0, Cabrera left with a 5-3 lead.

Game notes
Tampa Bay's 11 runs tied a team record for one inning, set on May 28, 2000, against Seattle. ... The Devil Rays improved to 3-10 vs. Baltimore this season.