In their 41 victories this season, the Rays have maneuvered their way into the win column in various ways. Some wins have happened in landslides, while others have been narrowly drawn up. Saturday’s matchup against the Orioles looked like another one that Tampa Bay would easily put away.

But the Rays suddenly found themselves in a close game in their 5-4 win at Tropicana Field. Starter Rich Hill quietly put the Orioles away with five strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings before a grand slam off the lefty made it interesting.

• Box score

The Rays sent eight hitters to the plate in a three-run first inning that set the tone. Brandon Lowe picked up where he left off from Friday's two-hit game with a leadoff single against Jorge López. Yandy Díaz worked a walk after Lowe, then Tampa Bay recorded two outs before stringing together three straight RBI hits.

“We have a lot of different ways to score runs with our speed and athleticism to keep innings going,” Rays star outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. “And the top of the order did a good job of getting on.” 

Entering Saturday’s game, the Rays were hitting .230 in two-out situations, identical to their overall team batting average. Tampa Bay went against the stats in the first. Joey Wendle continued his season-long success against the Orioles with a double -- his fifth extra-base hit against Baltimore -- to left field to plate Lowe. Then Manuel Margot and Kiermaier recorded RBI singles to give the Rays a 3-0 lead.

“Doesn't matter -- one through nine, for the most part, we have a lot of speed and athleticism to create havoc out there,” Kiermaier said. “And the first inning was a big difference in the game today to get us that early lead.”

The Rays have been one of the best teams in baseball this season despite having one of the lowest team batting averages in the Majors. Their pitching and timely hits are large contributors to their success.

Some of those hits don’t necessarily need to come off the bat, however, as Brett Phillips can attest after he was hit by a pitch rather comically in the fourth. Phillips scored what turned out to be the winning run on Lowe’s two-run double.

“Sometimes you need those timely hits and to find holes, and we did to add three right out of the gate,” manager Kevin Cash said. “And then Brandon comes up again, another big day for him to knock in two more.”

At 41, Hill has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the Majors. In his previous seven starts, the southpaw had allowed three runs in 39 2/3 innings, and he was coming off a scoreless five-inning, 59-pitch outing a week earlier.

The Orioles worked Hill for 70 pitches as he allowed three walks and four hits, the most costly Austin Wynns’ grand slam in the fifth that cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-4.

“I thought he threw the ball really well, too, and then it happened, it happened fast,” Cash said. “The three walks, I know Rich would like to have back. But he competes so well, and Wynns, give him credit -- he got a pitch, looked like he was ready for it and knocked it out of the ballpark, and put us in a little bit of a bind.”

The Rays remained in a bind for the rest of the game, but the bullpen tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings as Tampa Bay became the first 41-win club in baseball.