BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The Baltimore Orioles took advantage of Victor Zambrano's wildness to put together their first three-game winning streak of the season.
The Orioles erupted for eight runs in the bottom of the second inning and held on for a 9-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The Devil Rays made it interesting in the ninth following Toby Hall's three-run homer off Rick Bauer, but Jorge Julio needed just 11 pitches to get the final three outs and record his fourth save.
"We hit the ball better against Boston," Orioles right fielder Jay Gibbons said. "We placed the ball where we wanted to tonight."
Baltimore had five hits in the second inning, but Zambrano (0-2) also walked four in a 54-pitch frame. Two of the walks came with the bases loaded.
"I was way too quick with my pitches in the second inning," Zambrano said. "That was the difference. I did slow down after that. Slowing everything down in the only way I can get comfortable."
The Orioles also got an RBI double from Gary Matthews Jr., a run-scoring single from Gibbons and two-run single from Tony Batista in the inning.
It was the biggest inning for Baltimore since it scored a team-record 12 runs in the sixth inning against the Devil Rays on April 11, 2002.
Batista added a solo homer in the seventh for the Orioles, who have won three in a row for the first time since a four-game run from August 20-23.
"We'll take it," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said of the modest winning streak. "We'll see if we can make it four tomorrow."
Zambrano settled down and got through six innings. He was perfect in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings before giving up one hit in the sixth. At one point, Zambrano retired 12 straight batters.
"It was great to score a bunch of runs in an inning," Gibbons added. "It was strange not to get hits for four of them, but we did what we had to do."
Jason Johnson (2-0) recorded the win, allowing four runs - three earned - and eight hits in six innings with a walk and four strikeouts.
Johnson gave up a two-run home run in the third inning to light-hitting Rey Ordonez, who already has tied a career high with three homers this season and leads the Devil Rays with 14 RBI.
The Devil Rays closed to 8-4 on RBI singles by Damian Easley in the fourth and Marlon Anderson in the sixth. Anderson's hit came after catcher Geronimo Gil dropped a foul pop-up, extending Anderson's at-bat.
"I was terrible after the second," Johnson said. "I never got my focus back. It was a long inning for us, scoring those runs. It was great to get the run support, but I just lost it out there."
The Devil Rays have gone 16 games without getting a win from a starting pitcher, the longest streak to start a season since the Kansas City Royals went 18 in 1992.
"I'm going to play Columbo for you guys (the media)," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said when asked to explain the starters' struggles. "I don't understand it. We make a mistake and it explodes into a big inning.
"I am going to buy the first starting pitcher who gets a win for us a steak dinner, a nice big steak dinner," Piniella added.
One day after having a 13-game hitting streak stopped, Devil Rays rookie Rocco Baldelli went 2-for-4.
