Rays  2    Orioles  4

Tampa Bay Rays (73-72) at Baltimore Orioles (59-85), 7:05 p.m.

Sports Network | September 16, 2009

(Sports Network) - It's been a forgettable month of September for the Tampa Bay Rays, who will try to bounce back from Tuesday's discouraging loss to the Baltimore Orioles when the two American League East inhabitants continue a four-game series tonight at Camden Yards.

The fading Rays couldn't hold on to an early five-run lead in last night's bout between these clubs and wound up on the wrong end of a 10-5 decision. The loss was the 12th in 13 games for the defending AL champions, who are now just one game over .500 (73-72) on the season.

"It's absolutely no fun," said Rays manager Joe Maddon after the game. "Everybody's going to look at our record now and think it's been an abysmal season, but it's not. We've had a bad couple of weeks right now."

Matt Wieters gave the Orioles a 6-5 edge with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning and later put the finishing touches on the win with a three-run homer in the eighth. The rookie catcher ended the night 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Brian Roberts and Cesar Izturis each went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Baltimore, which pounded out 16 hits as a team to avenge an 8-4 defeat to the Rays in Monday's opener.

Orioles starter Jason Berken allowed five runs over the first three frames, but settled down to hold Tampa Bay scoreless during the remainder of his 6 1/3-inning stint. The rookie hurler gave up seven hits and walked just one to post his third straight winning decision.

Jeff Niemann lasted only 4 1/3 innings for the Rays and was rocked for six runs and 11 hits to receive the loss.

Pat Burrell blasted a three-run homer and finished with four RBI for Tampa Bay. Ben Zobrist collected three hits, including an RBI double, in a losing cause.

Andy Sonnanstine gets the call for the Rays this evening and will be seeking a big improvement over his most recent start, when the right-hander was torched for eight runs in only 2 2/3 innings in a September 7 road loss to the New York Yankees. He hasn't won in the major leagues since besting Philadelphia on June 25, having been demoted to the minors immediately following that outing before being brought back up when rosters expanded this month.

A 13-game winner during the Rays' surprising march to the AL pennant a year ago, Sonnanstine has amassed a disappointing 6-9 record with a 7.15 earned run average in 18 games (17 starts) with Tampa Bay this season. Opposing hitters are batting .313 against him in 2009.

The 26-year-old will be facing a Baltimore squad he hasn't garnered much success against in the past. Sonnanstine is 2-4 with an ugly 8.55 ERA in seven career starts against the Orioles and was battered for 12 runs and 17 hits over 6 2/3 innings in a pair of setbacks at Camden Yards earlier this season.

Chris Tillman draws the assignment for Baltimore tonight and hopes to build off a winning performance in New York this past Friday. The highly-regarded rookie did surrender four runs in five innings to the heavy-hitting Yankees, but racked up a career-best eight strikeouts and got plenty of offensive support in his club's 10-4 triumph.

Tillman is 2-3 with a 4.91 ERA in nine starts since being promoted to the big leagues in late July. One of those losses came to the Rays in St. Petersburg, where the 21-year-old served up three solo homers in six innings back on August 19.

Burrell, Zobrist and outfielder B.J. Upton all went deep off Tillman in that above-mentioned contest.

These two divisional foes have split 12 overall meetings this season, but the Rays are 13-6 in their last 19 visits to Camden Yards.