BALTIMORE -- J.J. Hardy enjoyed a memorable afternoon during an otherwise dreary season, hitting a crowd-pleasing home run and scoring twice to help the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 on Sunday.
Rookie Chance Sisco also homered for the Orioles, who earned a split of the four-game series to finish their home schedule with a 46-35 record.
On Saturday night, however, Baltimore was mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt and assured its first losing season since 2011.
In this one, most of the 23,424 fans rose to their feet and cheered when Hardy came to the plate in the first inning.