ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — In a batting order full of bashers, there might not be a hitter in the Orioles' lineup hotter right now than second baseman Jonathan Schoop.
And as the Orioles opened the second half, Schoop provided the late-inning heroics in their 4-3 win over the reeling Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, hitting the winning home run to break a tie at 3 with his 15th homer of the season.
Schoop's eighth-inning blast off Rays starter Chris Archer gave the Orioles (52-36) their fifth win in six games in front of an announced crowd of 17,676 at Tropicana Field.
"It's just fun to watch a young player [like him]," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Schoop. "You see the game's starting to slow down for him and he's letting the game come to him. He's always in fire mode. Jon, he enjoys contributing to a win and it's nothing individual. Jon's a good kid and he likes winning, he likes contributing."
Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo labored out of the gate, performing a high-wire act of which better teams would have taken better advantage.
The Orioles are opening the second half playing a Rays team that stumbled into the break having lost 22 of 25 games, but these are games an eventual division winner capitalizes on.
Schoop's homer came when he sent an 0-1 pitch from Archer — a 90-mph slider — on a towering ride into the left-field seats at an estimated 407 feet.
"I left a cookie out there," Archer said.
Schoop's homer was the Orioles' second of the night – Pedro Alvarez hit a solo blast in the third – and their major league leading 139th of the season.
Schoop has 10 winning RBIs this season, and since June 1, he is hitting .351 with 21 extra-base hits (14 doubles, seven homers) and 25 RBIs.
"I did not know that," Schoop said when told of his 10 winning RBIs. "Late at-bat maybe you focus a little bit. I've been trying to do it since the first at-bat, trying to focus more. Every win is a big win especially second half of the season."
Gallardo fell behind 3-1 after three innings – needing 77 pitches to get that far into the game – but the Rays (34-55) stranded seven base runners in those opening three frames.
"I think throwing close to 60 pitches through the first two innings is never good," Gallardo said. "But I think after those first couple innings, those last couple innings it was just more aggressive and pitching to contact instead of walking guys and trying to be too fine like I was doing in the first couple innings."
Perhaps the best example of how the Rays allowed Gallardo off the hook occurred in the first inning. Four batters into the game, Gallardo loaded the bases with one out after a single and two walks. Gallardo had already thrown 27 pitches in the inning, but the next two Tampa Bay hitters – Steven Souza, Jr. and Corey Dickerson – were each retired on one pitch, and the Rays managed just one run.
Gallardo lasted five innings, removed after a season-high 108 pitches and allowing 12 baserunners (eight hits and four walks). Despite struggling early, Gallardo retired seven of the last eight batters he faced.
The Orioles bullpen pitched four scoreless innings, capped by a scoreless ninth by closer Zach Britton, who is now 28-for-28 in save opportunities this season.
Britton stranded the tying run at third base, striking out Logan Morrison and Souza. After yielding a one-out double to Brad Miller, Britton intentionally walked Evan Longoria to bring up Morrison and Souza.
"I actually thought about doing it from the get-go," Showalter said of walking Longoria. "I wanted to see how his approach was first without getting too deep. It wasn't easy, but he's got some options and I thought it gave us the best chance to win the game."
Pedro with pop: Alvarez drove in two of the Orioles' three runs off Archer, including one on a solo homer in the third inning. He missed a second homer by inches in the fifth, settling for an RBI double when his ball hit off the railing atop the left-field fence.
Alvarez jumped in the first pitch he saw in his first at bat, sending a 95-mph fastball from Archer an estimated 439 feet into the left-field seats.
Over his past eight games, Alvarez – who missed the last three games before the break while on bereavement leave – is 10-for-29 with three doubles, three homers and nine RBIs, raising his season average from .228 to .254.
Givens earns win after becoming dad: Orioles right-hander Mychal Givens became a father on Thursday and he was able to be with his wife, Tiffani, for the birth of their first child – a baby girl named Makaylah Grace – in his hometown of Tampa.
Givens (7-1) earned the win on Friday after pitching a scoreless seventh inning in a tied ballgame.
"Considering he just had a baby and he hasn't had much sleep the last two or three days, I thought about not bringing him in there, but those guys need to pitch," Showalter said of Givens. "Some of them six, seven days off and it's always tough coming out of spring and it's always tough starting after the half. But Mike's been a contributor with very limited pitching experience since we got him last year and he's been a big part of it."
Despite issuing a leadoff walk to Morrison – a free pass that continued Givens' struggles against left-handed hitters – Givens escaped the inning quickly. Souza flied out to center field and Dickerson hit a line drive to first baseman Chris Davis, who stepped on first to double up Morrison.