BALTIMORE — Michael Wacha put the Rays in a hole from his first pitch, and it looked for a long while Sunday afternoon that they wouldn’t escape it.
But just wait. It’s what these Rays do.
And then usually end up celebrating afterwards.
A six-run eighth inning, capped by Brett Phillips’ tiebreaking grand slam, turned the game and the day around, as the Rays ended up with a 9-6 win, and a weekend sweep of the Orioles.
The win improved the Rays to 68-44, and ensured they will have at least a three-game lead in the American League East when they open a series with the second-place Red Sox on Tuesday in Boston.
Phillips, the Seminole native, had quite a day. With a solo home run in the seventh, he had his first multihomer game in the majors. He had a career-high five RBIs. And he had his second grand slam in 11 days, during which he played in eight games and started three.
The Rays were down 5-3 going into the eighth when they staged a rally, such as it was, against the beleaguered Baltimore bullpen.
A leadoff single by Brandon Lowe against lefty Paul Fry, then walks to pinch-hitter Jordan Luplow and DH Nelson Cruz loaded the bases. After Austin Meadows failed to move anyone with a popup to shortstop, rookie Wander Franco battled back from a 1-2 count to draw a seven-pitch walk to force in a run and make it 5-4.
The Rays pinch-hit Yandy Diaz for Joey Wendle. The O’s switched to right-hander Dillon Tate. The Rays prevailed as Diaz delivered the tying run with a sac fly.
Then Phillips delivered the big blow, with teammates jumping the dugout railing and onto the field.
Wacha gave up a leadoff homer to All-Star Cedric Mullins, then four more runs and nine other hits over a ragged five innings, his second straight rough outing.
Wacha had a run of five starts (around one relief outing) of solid work, going 1-0, 2.88 with 29 strikeouts over 25 innings.
But in his past two outings, against Seattle and Baltimore, the right-hander has allowed 11 runs and 18 hits over nine innings, striking out five.
Wacha allowed runs in each of his first four innings.
The Orioles took the 1-0 lead on Mullins’ homer, then expanded it to 3-0 in the second. Jorge Mateo was hit by a Wacha pitch, stole second and scored on former Bloomingdale High and Florida standout Richie Martin’s single. Singles by Austin Wynns and Austin Hays got Martin home.
The Rays, who knocked Lopez around in a June 12 start, got one run back in the third when catcher Francisco Mejia tripled on a drive to right with one out, and Brandon Lowe singled.
The Orioles countered, as Anthony Santander led off the third with a homer.
The Rays got another in their fourth when Meadows led off with a homer, his fifth in his past 11 games, and 21st overall, and pushing his team-leading RBI total to 77.
The Orioles added on again as Wynns doubled and Hays delivered a two-out single in the fourth to make it 5-2.
The Rays cut that to 5-3 in the seventh when Phillips homered, his seventh, off reliever Cole Sulser.
The Rays also lost reliever recently acquired reliever DJ Johnson, who left the game with right-shoulder discomfort after throwing his 11th pitch of the sixth inning.
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