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In 12th Inning, O's Are Overpowering

Gibbons Hits 2nd Homer, Mora Adds 1: Orioles 10, Devil Rays 6

Associated Press
Wednesday, September 1, 2004; Page D05

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 31 -- The Baltimore Orioles spoiled Aubrey Huff's big game for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Melvin Mora and Jay Gibbons homered in the 12th inning and the Orioles outlasted Huff and the Devil Rays, 10-6, Tuesday night.


Val Majewski spins away from Toby Hall to score in the 11th inning. The Orioles scored four in the 12th. Tampa Bay's Aubrey Huff homered twice. (Steve Nesius -- AP)

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"Any time you go extra innings, you feel like you just wasted innings away when you lose," Huff said.

Huff homered twice. He hit a tying home run with two outs in the ninth, then tied it again with an RBI single in the 11th.

"It seems like lately we've been playing just good enough to lose," Huff said. "We've been playing good baseball. We just get over the hump."

Huff and Jose Cruz Jr. homered with two outs in the ninth to tie last Sunday's game at Oakland. The Devil Rays then lost in the bottom of the ninth.

Mora hit his 23rd homer leading off the 12th against Lance Carter (3-3). After B.J. Surhoff had an RBI single, Gibbons hit a two-run homer to make it 10-6.

Gibbons also homered in the third, and he tied a career high with four hits.

"Everytime we come here, it's like this," Gibbons said. "If we're not up by 10 in the last inning, it's anybody game. It's a good battle and usually we come up on the short end here. Fortunately, we battled back to get that win."

The Orioles moved past the Devil Rays into third place in the AL East.

"Third is better than fourth," Orioles Manager Lee Mazzilli said. "Not as good as second."

Surhoff hit a go-ahead single in the 11th, giving Baltimore a 6-5 lead. Huff's single off Buddy Groom (4-1) evened it.

Jorge Julio gave up Huff's homer in the ninth. All three of Julio's blown saves in 22 chances this season have come against Tampa Bay.

"It was an accident today," Julio said. "It was only one pitch."


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