ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- After rallying from a six-run deficit, being down a run in the 10th inning did not faze the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Travis Lee had four hits, including a game-winning infield single off Buddy Groom with one out in the 10th inning to lift the Devil Rays to a 7-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Tampa Bay erased an early 6-0 deficit, but Baltimore took a 7-6 lead on Geronimo Gil's solo homer off Lance Carter (2-0) with one out in the 10th.
The Devil Rays, who stranded two runners in the bottom of the ninth, loaded the bases against Orioles reliever Jorge Julio (0-1) with one out in the bottom half.
Pinch hitter Ben Grieve opened the inning with a double and stayed at second base when Carl Crawford followed with an infield hit. Rookie Rocco Baldelli advanced the runners with a sacrifice and Julio intentionally walked Aubrey Huff to load the bases.
Grieve scored the tying run when Marlon Anderson's grounded to second baseman Jerry Hairston, who made a wild throw to second.
With the bases loaded, Groom entered to face the lefthanded Lee, who hit a hard grounder back toward the mound. Groom stuck his glove out but could not glove the ball as the speedy Carl Crawford scored from third with the winning run.
"It happened so fast, it was a blur," Lee said. "I'm just glad it's over and we got a victory."
"The kids show a lot of spunk," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said. "There is no quit in them. It was fun to watch them play. It's nice for the manager and coaching staff to see them play this hard through the first eight games of the season."
Groom's quick reflexes may have prevented a game-ending double play that could have extended the game for the Orioles.
"If Buddy hadn't knocked the ball down with his glove, one of our middle guys would've caught it, but that's the way it goes," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said.
"It just hit right off the tip of my glove," Groom said. "It was just a reaction play. I think I may have closed it a little too quickly and it hit the side of my glove."
It was the second blown save in as many appearances for Julio, who has not converted an opportunity since August 15.
Jeff Conine had three hits and Deivi Cruz drove in three runs for the Orioles, who have lost five of their first seven games.
"We had opportunities," Groom said. "They outplayed us and came back. They didn't quit and they didn't give up and that was the difference."
Baltimore jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by Cruz's bases-loaded double off Tampa Bay starter Jim Parque. David Segui added an RBI single in the second inning to give the Orioles a 6-0 cushion.
"It didn't look good after two innings, but we battled back," Piniella said.
Tampa Bay rallied against Baltimore's Omar Daal in the fourth inning. Damian Rolls had a two-run double and Baldelli and Huff added run-scoring infield singles to bring the Devil Rays within 6-4.
Rick Bauer started the sixth inning for Baltimore and issued a leadoff walk to Toby Hall, who scored on Rey Ordonez's double. Ordonez went to third on Crawford's flyout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Baldelli to forge a 6-6 tie.
