Sonnanstine shines, leading Rays over Orioles 8-1

Tampa Bay Rays' Andy Sonnanstine pitches to the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 30, 2008, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

BALTIMORE—Andy Sonnanstine allowed one run in eight innings, Erik Hinske homered and the Tampa Bay Rays completed the first winning April in franchise history by beating the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 Wednesday night.

Sonnanstine (4-1) gave up six hits, walked two and had a season-high five strikeouts in winning his third straight start. He became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to win four games in April and tied the team record for wins in any month.

The right-hander surrendered a third-inning RBI single to Brian Roberts, then retired 12 straight batters before Aubrey Huff singled with one out in the seventh.

The victory was the seventh in eight games for the Rays, who went 14-12 in April (after going 1-0 in March). Now in its 11th year of existence, Tampa Bay has never been three games over .500 this late in the season.

Hinske homered in the fourth inning after an infield hit by Evan Longoria to put the Rays up 3-1. He has six home runs, tied for Carlos Pena for the team lead.

Tampa Bay pulled away with a five-run seventh. After B.J. Upton chased Bob McCrory with an RBI single, Pena and Dioner Navarro hit two-run singles off Dennis Sarfate. Pena had gone 14 games without an RBI since April 12.

Baltimore starter Matt Albers (2-1) allowed three runs and four hits in six innings.

The Rays got a second-inning run on a sacrifice fly by Gabe Gross. After Roberts' RBI single in the third, Sonnanstine avoided further damage by striking out Melvin Mora and Luke Scott with runners on the corners.

Notes:@ Tampa Bay finished April with a 3.74 ERA, the best month in franchise history. ... Roberts went 2-for-3 with a walk in extending his hitting streak to 10 games. He's 13-for-37 (.351) in that span. ... Tampa Bay's previous best April was 12-12 in 1999. ... McCrory allowed four runs, two hits and two walks in his major league debut. His ERA is 108.00. ... Baltimore dipped to 10-5 at home.