O's Hammel tops former team in opener

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price thought he pitched fine. Baltimore Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel was much less impressed with his effort.

Even so, Price, the defending American League Cy Young Award winner, got nothing to show for his effort, while Hammel notched an Opening Day win at Tropicana Field on Tuesday. The Orioles used a five-run seventh inning to upend the Rays, 7-4.

Hammel won for the first time in 32 appearances -- including 12 starts -- at Tropicana Field, where he played for the Rays from 2006-08. He allowed three runs on three hits in six innings.

"Overall, I was pretty bad today," Hammel said. "(The Rays) helped me out. (I was) just uncharacteristically wild with the fastball. ... They helped me out by taking early hacks and got me through some innings. Quite a few."

Chris Davis knocked in three runs for the Orioles, and Adam Jones and Matt Wieters drove in two runs apiece.

The decisive rally came against Rays reliever Jake McGee in the seventh. A missed location of an 0-2 pitch with two out was critical. Jones (3-for-5) ripped a two-out, two-run double to score Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis and give Baltimore a 4-3 lead. Davis followed an intentional walk to Wieters (2-for-3) with a towering three-run homer to right, pushing Baltimore's lead to 7-3.

McGee (0-1) was charged with all five runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning. Baltimore had taken the lead the inning before.

"It's real tough, especially a situation like that where we take the lead and get momentum ... and then when I know I have to make one pitch, I have to be not as anxious to get that pitch done," McGee said. "Even if I walk Adam Jones right there, we still have the lead by one."

Tampa Bay jumped in front 3-2 in the sixth off Hammel. With the Rays trailing 2-1, ninth-place hitter Kelly Johnson led off with a walk and scored from first on Desmond Jennings' double into the left field corner. Jennings moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Ben Zobrist sacrifice fly to center.

Price did not figure in the decision after allowing two runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked two while throwing 100 pitches.

"My stuff is good enough to beat a lot of teams in the middle of the plate. It's just execution," he said. "I'm fine with the way I threw it today."

Orioles reliever Darren O'Day allowed an unearned run in the eighth inning, and Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

"I think Hammel was pretty amped up today. I thought stuff-wise he was in pretty good shape," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Sometimes you want something to happen too much. It had nothing to do with playing for Tampa. He just wanted to be the guy to get us off to a good start."

The Orioles out-hit the Rays 13-6, but Baltimore stranded eight runners, which Showalter said was "a real tribute to Price. He kept his team in the game. He got big outs and double-plays balls that kept us from opening it up a little bit."

Wieters' two-run homer gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead in a first-inning rally that began with two outs and the bases empty. It was the first home run by a current Oriole against Price.

Jones started it against Price with a double before Wieters mashed an 0-and-1 changeup over the left field wall. Price labored through the early innings but escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third to keep the Rays close.

Zobrist cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth when he homered to right on a 3-and-2 pitch from Hammel.

Jennings and Zobrist each had two hits.

NOTES: All seven Orioles runs came with two outs. ... The five runs allowed tied McGee's worst outing for a month in his big-league career. Jones and Davis (double, homer, respectively against McGee) were a combined 0-for-8 against the left-hander previously. ... The Rays had no rookies on the Opening Day roster for the first time in club history. ... Third baseman Manny Machado became the fourth Oriole to start on Opening Day at age 20 or younger. Machado, 20, joins Brooks Robinson (1957, '58) Ron Hansen (1958), Boog Powell (1962) and Wally Bunker (1965). He went 1-for-4 with a walk.