The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were hitting starting pitcher Steve Trachsel hard Thursday afternoon at Camden Yards. Fortunately for the Orioles, their offense showed up locked and loaded and secured a 10-7 win.

Brian Roberts’ three-run blast into the right field porch in the bottom of the eighth provided an exclamation point on the Orioles’ fourth straight victory and ninth in 13 games to open the second half of the season and improve to 47-53.

“Roberts is good. He hits the ball out of the ballpark,” said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. “I really felt we had a chance to come back before that.”

Maddon’s feelings were accurate because in the ninth the Devil Rays added two runs before falling short, allowing Rob Bell (3-1) to pick up the win in relief of starter Steve Trachsel.

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Tampa Bay’s Edwin Jackson (2-10) took the loss, giving up seven hits and six runs in seven innings.

Bell came in after Trachsel had nearly squandered a 6-2 lead entering the fourth inning. But Tampa Bay rallied and pulled to within 6-5 before Bell came in with two outs in the fifth and induced Ty Wigginton to ground into a fielder’s choice with runners on first and second to end the inning.

“I was not making good pitches,” Trachsel said. “The thing that is so frustrating is that I feel great.”

Trachsel gave up five runs on seven hits, including two solo home runs, in 4 2/3 innings before being relieved by Bell, who pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Bell, along with relievers Jamie Walker and Paul Shuey, held Tampa Bay scoreless until its final at-bat, when Cory Doyne allowed two runs before getting Carlos Pena to fly out to left to end the game. Tampa Bay fell to 38-63.

“The guys did what they had to do to win the game,” said Baltimore interim manager David Trembley of his bullpen.

The Orioles took control of the game in the third inning, when Kevin Millar’s two-run ground-rule double highlighted a five-run inning that gave Baltimore a 6-2 lead.

“We are finally getting some consistency,” Millar said. “We are doing a good job of finding a way to win.”

Millar went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, with Roberts driving in three and Chris Gomez and Nick Markakis each driving in two.

“We are playing good baseball,” Roberts said. “If you play good baseball as a team it is never going to be one person.”