ST. PETERSBURG -- Brett Phillips marched through the Rays’ dugout at Tropicana Field in the sixth inning Monday, celebrating with teammates at every step, until he finally reached the end of the line. He found the television camera pointed in his direction, raised his hand and declared, as he often does, “Baseball is fun, baby. Let’s go!”

When the ebullient outfielder sat down for a postgame interview, the words on his hat reflected the way Tampa Bay felt at the end of the night: “Baseball is fun.”

The Rays' pitching was lights-out and their lineup lit up the scoreboard in a 9-2 win over the Orioles in the series opener, a victory highlighted by Brandon Lowe’s two home runs and Phillips’ first career inside-the-park homer in the sixth inning. It was the kind of moment -- and the kind of game -- that Tampa Bay needed coming off consecutive losses in Minnesota.

With the win, the Rays (72-47) increased their lead over the Red Sox (69-51) in the American League East to 3 1/2 games and ensured that they would maintain sole possession of the AL’s best record for an 11th straight day.

“This is something a playoff team needs to do,” Phillips said. “This is the momentum we need as we approach the end of the year, and I think with the guys in this clubhouse, it’s looking very good. We’ve just got to continue to do what we’re doing.”

And while Phillips was responsible for the night’s most memorable play, the Rays’ 12th win in 13 games against the Orioles this year was the kind of team effort they take the most pride in. Right-hander Collin McHugh’s extraordinary season continued with two perfect innings as Tampa Bay's opener. Left-hander Josh Fleming bounced back from an ugly start in Boston with a solid 5 2/3-inning outing.

Austin Meadows hit a two-run triple in the fourth inning to get the lineup going after three quiet innings against Orioles starter Matt Harvey. Kevin Kiermaier and Mike Brosseau each went deep once. And Lowe launched his 27th and 28th home runs of the season, giving the Rays five homers on the night, which ties a season high for the club.

“[Lowe is] a special hitter, and he stayed at it through tough stretches,” manager Kevin Cash said. “But I think we were all very confident -- I know he was -- that he was going to find a way to get out of it.”

After giving up a run in the third inning, the Rays regained momentum on Meadows’ two-run triple in the fourth, and a three-run fifth featuring homers by Kiermaier and Lowe plus an RBI double by Joey Wendle. But it was Phillips’ inside-the-park homer -- the 19th in franchise history -- that energized the crowd of 5,460.

Tampa Bay has scored at least eight runs eight times in its last 10 games, and its lineup is averaging a Major League-best 6.5 runs per game since July 23.

“It's always fun to put up a lot of runs. Everybody gets some hits, and everybody can kind of be a part of it,” said Lowe, who’s hitting .284 with a 1.036 OPS in 53 games since June 11, after his fifth career multihomer game. “And obviously watching Philly [Phillips] run the bases, being just the energy-bringer of the whole team -- he comes in with the energy after he sprints around the bases, you can't do anything but match it. So the whole dugout gets excited for him.”

Phillips led off the sixth against left-hander Paul Fry, who had not given up a home run of any kind since Sept. 9, 2020, by launching a low 1-0 slider to left-center. The ball hit off the outfield wall and ricocheted past Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins to left fielder DJ Stewart. When Phillips rounded second base, it was already clear that third-base coach Rodney Linares was sending the speedy outfielder home. Phillips said that after hearing the crowd come to life, he probably would’ve kept running even if Linares had put up a stop sign.

Stewart got the ball to second baseman Jorge Mateo, but his relay throw to the plate was too late to catch Phillips, who slid home with both arms outstretched and safely evaded catcher Austin Wynns' tag to put the Rays up by five. Before he even stood up, Phillips was shouting in celebration and his teammates were responding in kind.

“When a play like that happens, guys feed off that,” Fleming said. “And we were able to continue that train rolling and keep hitting more.”

It was the Rays’ second inside-the-park homer in four days, as Kiermaier rounded the bases in a hurry in the sixth inning of Tampa Bay’s 10-4 win in Minnesota on Friday. Before that, the club hadn’t hit an inside-the-park homer since Avisail Garcia on May 28, 2019.

And it continued Phillips’ recent hot streak, one that had been fueled mostly by grand slams -- on home runs that actually cleared the outfield fences, of course. In fact, he’s hit six homers in his last 15 games after going deep just once in his previous 35 games. Phillips hit three grand slams, a single-season club record, from July 29 through Wednesday. How do you follow that up? With your first career inside-the-park home run, apparently.

Baseball is fun, right?

“I’m experiencing a lot of fun things this year, and that was definitely one of them,” Phillips said. “The most exhausting fun thing I’ve done this year, by far, but definitely fun.”