ST. PETERSBURG -- Whenever the Orioles have needed Albert Suárez to step up this year, the 34-year-old right-hander has delivered nearly every time. His successful return to the big leagues has been one of the top surprise stories of the season across baseball.

On Sunday afternoon, Su¨¢rez came through in his most impressive fashion yet. However, the game¡¯s end result was again not what Su¨¢rez¡¯s performance warranted.

Su¨¢rez blanked the Rays for a career-high 6 2/3 dominant innings, but Baltimore¡¯s bullpen couldn¡¯t keep Tampa Bay scoreless in a 2-1 loss at Tropicana Field. Curtis Mead had a go-ahead sac fly in the eighth off Craig Kimbrel, who allowed a run without yielding a hit.

The O¡¯s (70-49) are again tied with the Yankees (70-49) atop the American League East after dropping their final regular-season game at The Trop in 2024. However, the Orioles went 6-1 (.857) here this year for their best single-season winning percentage at the ballpark, which has hosted the Rays since 1998.

¡°I mean, that¡¯s the thing, we stay positive,¡± said Su¨¢rez, who has a 3.39 ERA in 24 games (16 starts). ¡°We won the series, so I think we¡¯re just going to get a rest for the off-day tomorrow, and then, come back next week and stay positive.¡±

For much of the day, Su¨¢rez was in control. He yielded only four hits and one walk while retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced, recording five strikeouts as well.

Su¨¢rez, who was out of MLB while pitching in Japan (2019-21) and Korea (2022-23), has bounced between Baltimore¡¯s rotation and bullpen in his first year back in the U.S. The Venezuela native returned to a starting role earlier this week, when he made an emergency start on Tuesday in Toronto as Grayson Rodriguez (right lat/teres strain) was scratched.

Across his past two outings, Su¨¢rez has tossed 11 2/3 scoreless innings. Before Sunday, his longest MLB start had been a 6 1/3-inning effort as a rookie for the Giants that occurred 2,987 days earlier on June 7, 2016, against the Red Sox.

¡°Just a great performance by him. He put up zeros,¡± manager Brandon Hyde said. ¡°He¡¯s just such a pro. With the ¡®pen kind of the way we were today and going that deep, he gave us a great chance.¡±

Although the Orioles¡¯ bullpen was shorthanded due to heavy usage over the past week-plus, Hyde didn¡¯t want to push Su¨¢rez further. After throwing 73 pitches in his previous start, Su¨¢rez got up to 94, exiting with two outs in the seventh to a standing ovation from the large contingent of O¡¯s fans behind the third-base dugout.

Su¨¢rez -- who took a no-decision for the second straight start -- felt he could have pitched deeper, but he also understood the situation.

¡°I don¡¯t control that. I only control what I can do on the mound. For me, just do what is the best to help the team,¡± Su¨¢rez said. ¡°Every time I¡¯m out there, I feel like I can keep going.¡±

At that point, the game turned in Tampa Bay¡¯s favor. Left-hander Cionel P¨¦rez immediately gave up a pinch-hit double to right-handed-hitting Jos¨¦ Caballero, then a game-tying pinch-hit RBI single to right-handed-hitting Dylan Carlson.

In a tie game in the eighth, the Orioles inserted Kimbrel, who hasn¡¯t been serving in the closer¡¯s role for much of the second half amid some struggles. The 36-year-old veteran hasn¡¯t recorded a save since July 7 and hasn¡¯t pitched in a save situation since July 25.

Kimbrel issued three walks (one intentional) and allowed four stolen bases in the inning, as the Rays used small-ball maneuvers to manufacture the winning run.

¡°The challenge has been pretty apparent: throwing the ball over the plate when needed to,¡± said Kimbrel, who has an 8.31 ERA in 8 2/3 innings over his past nine outings. ¡°I would say, overall, there¡¯s times my stuff has played and gotten me through some things. But all in all, my consistency has just been really terrible. And when you¡¯re inconsistent, you put guys on base and things happen. That¡¯s what happened today.¡±

The bullpen wasn¡¯t the only group that couldn¡¯t support Su¨¢rez¡¯s gem. The offense was shut down for much of the day, with Anthony Santander¡¯s leadoff homer in the fourth -- his career-high 35th home run of the season -- producing Baltimore¡¯s lone run.

The Orioles¡¯ season-long 10-game road trip had ups and downs, as they finished 5-5 on the swing. They split a four-game series in Cleveland, lost two of three in Toronto and then rebounded to take two of three from Tampa Bay.

After Monday¡¯s off-day, the O¡¯s will play 10 of their next 13 games at Camden Yards, beginning with a six-game homestand vs. the Nationals and the Red Sox that starts Tuesday.

¡°Today, we scored one run. We had our opportunities to score more,¡± Hyde said. ¡°Make it really tough on ourselves to try to win a 1-0 game there, with a few of our guys not available out of the ¡®pen today. But we gave ourselves a shot. The games we won, we played really well, and the games we lost, we could have done a lot of better things.¡±