The Orioles sent several of their top young pitching prospects to the mound Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays and came away with a 4-3 victory at Charlotte Sports Park.

It wasn't the prettiest display of pitching prowess, but Jake Arrieta, Steve Johnson, Pedro Beato and Eddie Gamboa kept the Orioles in the game against a very representative Rays lineup in spite of some difficult innings.

Arrieta had a rocky first, giving up three hits, including a two-run homer by Evan Longoria, but settled down to prevent any further scoring through the fourth inning.

Johnson loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth but held the Rays to one run over his two innings of work.

Beato also pitched with several runners on base but threw two scoreless innings. Gamboa got the save with a scoreless - but eventful - ninth.

"I thought our pitchers today represented themselves very well," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.

"Great experience for them against a very good lineup, and I'm sure they'll use the experience today to their benefit."

The Orioles came from behind with three runs in the fifth, two of them on the third home run of the spring by utility infielder Robert Andino, who had found out earlier in the day that the club had traded for veteran middle infielder Julio Lugo.

Fellow infield reserve Ty Wigginton also had a solid day at the plate with an RBI single, a double and the tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the ninth.

On deck The Orioles play their penultimate spring training game of 2010 at 1:05 p.m. today in Tampa, Fla., against the American League East-rival New York Yankees. Alfredo Simon, who is expected to be in Triple-A Norfolk's rotation, gets the start against longtime Orioles nemesis Andy Pettitte. The game will be aired on ESPN.