BALTIMORE — Cedric Mullins hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning, and the Baltimore Orioles edged the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Sunday after both teams clinched spots in the postseason.
The winner of this game would have wrapped up a playoff spot regardless, but when Texas lost 9-2 to Cleveland, both the Rays and Orioles were in. Moments later, Adam Frazier doubled home the tying run in the bottom of the ninth off Pete Fairbanks to send the game to extra innings.
DL Hall (2-0) threw a scoreless 11th, retiring the Rays on a popup and two grounders.
Mullins flyball to center off Jake Diekman (0-2) was easily deep enough to end it, touching off an on-field celebration in which the players wore orange shirts saying “TAKE OCTOBER” on them.
The Orioles salvaged a split in this key four-game series at Camden Yards and took a two-game lead over Tampa Bay atop the AL East. Baltimore also holds the tiebreaker over the Rays.
