Orioles match best start in team history with 5-3 win over Rays

Third baseman Manny Machado homered in his third straight game and also had a double and two singles to lead the Orioles to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays before 23,101 at Camden Yards.

The victory was the Orioles' fifth straight to open the season, equaling their best start in club history. The only other time the O's started 5-0 was in 1970, the season they won their second world championship.

"It's the start of the season and we've started off with a great homestand,'' Machado said. "We've started the year off pretty well. Let's keep the ball rolling."

Machado’s two-run blast in the second inning capped a four-run Orioles rally against Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi after Jonathan Schoop drove in the first run with a double to right field and rookie Joey Rickard put the O’s up by two with a sacrifice fly.

"We're playing as a team, getting to know each other, doing the little things,'' Machado said. "We haven't driven the ball out of the ballpark like we're supposed to, but moving guys over, doing the little things, baserunning, playing good defense. Our pitching staff is keeping us in games and we're getting ahead. Any time you do the little things early on, it'll take you a long way."

Machado also scored an important insurance run in the eighth inning when he got a great break on a wild pitch by Rays reliever Erasmo Ramirez. He has hit safely in all five games this season and the four-hit performance raised his average from .294 to .429.

Orioles starting pitcher Vance Worley worked 4 2/3 innings in his Orioles debut, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out five. He allowed two of those runs in the fifth before reliever Brad Brach came on to get the final out.

Worley appeared to be in position to get out of the fifth inning with a 4-2 lead and a chance to get the decision, but a catcher's interference call on Matt Wieters extended the inning long enough for the Rays to score a third run off him and force the O's into the bullpen before he qualified.

"It is what it is,'' Worley said. "There are going to be games where I'm going to be getting hit hard and they're making plays behind me and there's days like that. We won. That's all that matters."

Brach, Mychal Givens, Darren O’Day and Zach Britton combined to pitch 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, dropping the bullpen’s combined ERA for the opening week to 1.29.

Kim’s multi-hit debut: Hyun Soo Kim finally got into the starting lineup on Sunday and delivered an infield hit in his first at-bat. It wasn’t a ringing single, but a hit is a hit and it played a big role in the Orioles’ four-run second inning. Kim had a number of similar soft hits during spring training and added another infield single in the seventh.

Trumbo’s beat goes on: Mark Trumbo hasn’t hit a home run yet, but nobody is complaining. He continues to spray base hits all over the place, singling to right in the third inning and leading off the sixth with a sharp line drive to left. The second hit was his ninth single in 18 at-bats. He bounced out in his final plate appearance and is batting .474.

And Joey, of course: Rickard celebrated Kid’s Opening Day with a single in his first at-bat of the game and drove in a run in the Orioles’s four-run second inning with a sacrifice fly. He’s batting .444.