BALTIMORE (Interstat) — Dylan Beavers led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run, capping a late rally that gave the Baltimore Orioles a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in their home finale Thursday evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Orioles, who would have been assured of a last-place finish in the AL East with a loss, stormed back from a three-run deficit in the eighth inning. The win guaranteed the Rays consecutive losing seasons for the first time since a four-year stretch from 2014-17.

Beavers connected on the first pitch from reliever Kevin Kelly (2-5), sending it over the right-field wall to set off a celebration among the announced crowd of 16,777. It was the second first-pitch homer Kelly allowed, after Coby Mayo tied the game with a two-run shot in the eighth.

Keegan Akin (5-4) worked a perfect top of the ninth to earn the win.

The game was a back-and-forth affair after a slow start. Tampa Bay broke through in the third inning, scoring three runs. Bob Seymour and Yandy Díaz singled, and Junior Caminero loaded the bases with another single. Christopher Morel then cleared the bases with a two-run double, and Richie Palacios brought in a third run with a sacrifice fly.

Baltimore got one run back in the bottom of the frame on a solo home run by Ryan Mountcastle.

The Rays extended their lead to 5-2 in the sixth inning. Palacios singled, advanced on a walk, and scored on a double by Tristan Gray. Seymour followed with an RBI single to plate Gray.

Tampa Bay starter Jesse Scholtens was effective for much of the game, striking out nine over 5 1/3 innings, but he ran into trouble in the eighth. After a walk and a single, a wild pitch allowed one run to score, cutting the lead to 5-3. Mayo then delivered his game-tying, two-run homer.

The Rays outhit the Orioles 15-9 but stranded 10 baserunners, including leaving the bases loaded in the eighth inning without scoring.

With the win, Baltimore improved to 75-84, while Tampa Bay fell to 77-82. The Orioles head to New York for a season-ending series against the Yankees, while the Rays travel to Toronto to face the Blue Jays. The game time was 2 hours, 54 minutes.