ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 31 (UPI) -- Chris Richard homered in his first at bat of the season and drove in three runs Wednesday night as the Baltimore Orioles cruised to a 12-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The outfielder-first baseman was placed on the disabled list on March 30 following offseason shoulder surgery. He was activated prior to Wednesday night's game and led off the top of the second inning with a home run, then added a two-run double in a six-run seventh.
Marty Cordova and Jerry Hairston also had solo shots for Baltimore, which dropped the first two games of the four-game set.
That was more than enough for Rodrigo Lopez (12-3), who yielded one run and six hits over six innings with two walks and four strikeouts. It was his sixth straight win.
Tampa Bay's Luis de los Santos (0-3) surrendered four runs and seven hits over four innings in his third major league start.
The Orioles staked Lopez to a 2-0 lead before he took the mound as Tony Batista delivered a two-run single in the top of the first. Richard's homer made it 3-0 in the second.
The Devil Rays got on the board in the third on Chris Gomez's RBI single, but the Orioles got back the run on Cordova's leadoff homer in the fourth.
Victor Zambrano replaced de los Santos in the fifth and gave up a double to Chris Singleton and an RBI single to Jay Gibbons. Hairston made it 6-1 with a two-out homer in the sixth.
Cordova's RBI single padded Baltimore's lead in the seventh and the Orioles broke it open on a two-run double by Richard, a two-run single by Melvin Mora and Singleton's RBI base hit.
