Zach Eflin silences former team as Orioles top Rays

Zach Eflin scattered four hits over seven shutout innings, and Colton Cowser and Cedric Mullins each homered to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Eflin (8-7), who was traded by Tampa Bay to Baltimore on July 26, walked one and struck out seven while improving to 3-0 in three starts with the Orioles. Baltimore, which improved to 25-12 against teams in the American League East, moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East.

Eflin, who went 21-15 with a 3.72 ERA in 50 starts with the Rays during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, threw 94 pitches, 61 for strikes.

Eloy Jimenez had three hits, Ryan O'Hearn went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk, and James McCann also had two hits and a run scored for Baltimore, which improved to 7-1 against Tampa Bay this season.

Dylan Carlson homered and Jose Caballero had a double for Tampa Bay. Zack Littell (5-8) had a two-start winning streak snapped after allowing three runs on eight hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Cowser led off with his 18th home run of the season on the fourth pitch of the game.

The Orioles increased their lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning. Ramon Urias led off with a single, advanced to second on an infield single by McCann and went to third on a long flyout to center by Anthony Santander. Gunnar Henderson followed with a walk to load the bases and O'Hearn hit a bloop single to center to drive in Urias and McCann.

Mullins made it 4-0 in the sixth when he hit his 12th home run, a towering 426-foot drive to center off reliever Richard Lovelady.

Carlson cut it to 4-1 when he led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run off Yannier Cano that went just inside the right field foul pole.

--Field Level Media