Michael Perez stroked a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning, and the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 on Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

With the game tied 3-3, Perez went after a 93.8 mph 2-0 fastball on the outside part of the plate from Mychal Givens (0-1), Baltimore's sixth pitcher, and lined a low drive that cleared the wall in center.

Making just his 19th career appearance and first since 2018, Ryan Sherriff (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the Rays. Diego Castillo notched his first save by striking out two in a perfect ninth.

Rays starter Trevor Richards yielded a pair of unearned runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings over 86 pitches. Brandon Lowe clubbed a long homer, and Austin Meadows doubled, walked twice and scored.

Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier left the game during a fifth-inning at-bat due to back spasms.

The Rays moved to 21-11 and increased their division lead to 2 1/2 games over the second-place New York Yankees. They have 15 wins in their past 18 games.

Asher Wojciechowski started for Baltimore and worked four-plus innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Leadoff hitter Cedric Mullins went 2-for-4 with a run, a walk and a stolen base, and rookie Ryan Mountcastle tallied two hits.

Mullins led off the game with his major-league-leading sixth bunt single, then scored when Hanser Alberto's single went under right fielder Hunter Renfroe's glove for a two-base error. Alberto scored on a fielder's choice by Renato Nunez as the visitors grabbed a 2-0 lead on the unearned runs.

Lowe tied it in the third with a mammoth two-run shot to right that landed on the walkway behind the grandstand seats. The homer was his club-leading 10th and third against Baltimore this year.

After the Rays filled the bases with no outs in the fifth, pinch hitter Yandy Diaz made it 3-2 on a fielder's choice that scored Manuel Margot. After a flyout and a walk, reliever Miguel Castro's 99 mph fastball struck out pinch hitter Willy Adames, who replaced the injured Kiermaier, to keep the deficit manageable.

Baltimore's Anthony Santander looped a two-out RBI single to left to tie it 3-3 in the seventh.

--Field Level Media