The Baltimore Orioles refuse to go away quietly.
The team pulled into another tie for first place in the American League East division with a 9-2 win on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Shortstop J.J. Hardy had two home runs and drove in five runs to lead the Orioles, who are now tied for the division lead with the New York Yankees. The Yankees fell to Boston 4-3 on Tuesday.
Baltimore starting pitcher Jason Hammel was forced to leave the game in the fourth inning after an injury to his right knee. Hammel had arthroscopic surgery on that knee in mid-July and was making only his second start since returning from injury.
"It's a very sharp pain in the knee in the same spot," Hammel told the Associated Press. "I'm hoping it is just scar tissue. I've been told scar tissue can react like that."
Baltimore has played well despite a rash of injuries, including to Nick Markakis, who is lost for the regular season after breaking his thumb, and now with Hammel. Both players have spent time on the disabled list this year.
"We've been down this road many times this year with a lot of different challenges," manager Buck Showalter said. "We've operated a good portion of this season without Ham and without Nicky, so we're kind of experienced at it anyway. It's not the kind of experience you want to have."
Before leaving the game Hammel had retired all but two batters he faced and only gave up one hit. Reliever Steve Johnson ended up with the win after pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up no hits.
Hardy powered the Orioles on Tuesday, hitting a three-run home run in the third inning and later a double in the fifth. In the sixth inning he hit an RBI single and added his second home run in the eighth. He also scored three runs on the day.
"I got a couple pitches to hit and didn't miss them," Hardy said.
Chris Davis also homered for the Orioles, while catcher Matt Wieters went 3-for-3 with two RBI's.
Rays pitcher Matt Moore allowed three runs and only lasted four innings before being taken out. Tampa Bay only scored two runs, each coming off solo home runs from Elliot Johnson and Ryan Roberts.
"Anybody can get beat by a lot of runs any night," Roberts said. "It didn't go our way tonight, and that's how it happens sometime in baseball."
Baltimore improved to 33-24 against the AL East and is looking to make its first playoff appearance since 1997.
The team continues to defy logic, considering they are 17 games above .500 even though they have been outscored by 22 runs on the season. Usually run differential is a good measure of how good a team is, and the Orioles have been outscored 639 to 617 on the year.
On Wednesday night the Rays will throw Alex Cobb, while the Orioles will counter with Miguel Gonzalez.
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