Vidal Nuño came up big in long relief as O's win again

When left-hander Vidal Nuño came into the game in the fourth inning last night, he needed to get out of a big jam started by Ubaldo Jiménez.

The Tampa Bay Rays had scored twice to take a 3-1 lead, the bases were loaded and the top of the order was up. Nuño would face Corey Dickerson, a lefty hitter and then another lefty batter in Kevin Kiermaier.

While left-handed batters are hitting .353 against him this year at 6-for-17, this time they went 0-for-2. He got Dickerson looking at a 91 mph fastball and Kiermaier looking at a 90 mph fastball. It was clutch pitching.

Nuño pitched out of some trouble in the fifth and sixth innings during 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball of 45 pitches. He kept the deficit at 3-1 and allowed the Orioles to rally for a 6-3 win.

As a long reliever, he is never sure when or how long he will pitch and always has to be a ready. But he said it's not a difficult role to prepare for.

"It's not hard. I've been doing it for a couple of years now," Nuño said. "So it's just the mental part is being ready every day and having my body ready every day. When the phone rings and it's for me, I've got to do my job. And that is what I've been doing."

The Orioles bullpen has allowed just one run over the last six games and 17 2/3 innings with four walks and 15 strikeouts. The club's bullpen ERA of 2.82 for the season ranks fifth in the American League.

"It's been amazing," Nuño said about being part of a strong bullpen. "The big thing is throwing strikes. When they get to two strikes, they expand. That is very key to being successful. Expanding the strike zone when it comes down to clutch situations."

Center fielder Adam Jones had a strong night for the Orioles, going 3-for-3, and he now has 1,501 career hits. The latest was a two-run homer in the seventh that broke a 3-3 tie. Much earlier, his night began with a hustle double in the last of the first. His liner to left center looked like a single, but he pushed it and slid into second with a two-base hit.

"It's a guy, (left fielder Shane) Peterson. I don't know him. We're going to test him," Jones said. "That's how the game works. New guys, you've got to give them the benefit of the doubt. You've got to go out there and test them and try them, so I got out of the box good, and just tried them."

Jones reached base four times against Tampa Bay starter Chris Archer, one of his teammates on the World Baseball Classic championship squad. He began the night just 4-for-32 in his career against Archer, but came up that double in the first, walked in the third, singled off the right field wall in the fifth and added the tiebreaking homer two innings later.

For the season, Jones is batting .300/.372/.529. In nine home games, his average is .343/.410/.571. Over his past four games, he is 7-for-16. When batting with runners in scoring position this season, he is 4-for-7 (.571).

The Orioles offense came up with three homers last night as they scored six runs or more for just the fifth time. The Orioles have hit 21 homers the last 12 games.

The Orioles are 38-22 versus the Rays since 2014. They are 9-2 at Oriole Park against Tampa Bay since the start of 2016. The Rays are just 1-7 this year on the road and that is the worst road mark in the majors.

A win in either of the final two games of this series and the Orioles would be 6-0-1 in their first seven series.

Even when they fell behind early last night and their starting pitcher got just 10 outs, they won again. At 13-5, they lead the AL East by two games. They are 11-4 in division games and will play their next nine games within the AL East.