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BALTIMORE -- A poor start by Yovani Gallardo and an abundance of missed scoring opportunities cost the Baltimore Orioles a chance to enhance their position in the playoff picture.Evan Longoria homered and drove in five runs, and the last-place Tampa Bay Rays again played the spoilers role in a 7-6 victory over the Orioles on Thursday night.Baltimore dropped two games behind AL East-leading Boston and dripped into a tie with Toronto for the two AL wild cards after the Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels later Thursday.Gallardo (5-8) gave up six runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.When Orioles manager Buck Showalter emerged from the dugout to pull Gallardo in the fourth, many of the hometown fans cheered. They subsequently booed the right-hander as he walked toward the dugout.In spite of this, Baltimore had runners on the corners with one out in the ninth inning before Alex Colome struck out major league home run leader Mark Trumbo and slugger Chris Davis to earn his 33rd save.Its a tough loss because we fought back and had a chance there at the end, catcher Matt Wieters said.Baltimore went 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position.Tampa Bay has won three straight, including the last two of a three-game series in Toronto. The Rays also defeated the wild-card contending Yankees on Sunday.Its fun that we are playing competitive baseball, Longoria said. Its one thing to go out in a great environment against a team that is a playoff contender, but to be in the game and winning games is the best thing about it.Longoria hit his career high-tying 33rd homer with two on in the first inning and added a two-run single in the fourth to increase his team-high RBI total to 91.Coming off a 6-3 road trip culminated with two successive wins in Boston, the Orioles fell flat against a team they dominated for much of the season. Baltimore is now 11-5 against Tampa Bay, 6-1 at home.First game back home, you obviously want to get home and start off on a good note, Gallardo said. Ive been feeling good my past few starts, and I was just a little off.Although the temperature was a comfortable 72 degrees and the Orioles are in the midst of a playoff push, the game attracted an announced crowd of only 19,233.Longoria put the Rays up 3-0 before Gallardo got an out. In 21 starts this season, hes surrendered 21 earned runs in the first inning.Baltimore answered in the bottom half with a two-run single by Wieters and a two-run double by J.J. Hardy.Tampa Bay pulled even in the second, went ahead in the third and used Longorias two-run single to make it 7-4 in the fourth.Baltimores Nolan Reimold hit into a double play with runners on the corners in the fourth. The Rays worked out of an even bigger jam in the fifth, retiring Manny Machado, Trumbo and Davis with runners at second and third.Brad Boxberger (4-1) got the last two outs in the fifth.Run-scoring groundouts by Hardy and Michael Bourn made it 7-6 in the eighth.Tampa Bay was eliminated from playoff contention when Toronto beat the Angels.TRAINERS ROOMRays: 1B Nick Franklin left in the fifth inning with a left hamstring strain. Hes day to day, manager Kevin Cash said. ... 1B Logan Morrison will get a second opinion on whether surgery is required for his season-ending left wrist injury. Morrison was injured while taking a swing Sunday and received an MRI this week.Orioles: OF Steve Pearce will be sidelined until the final week of the season, maybe longer, after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his throwing arm Wednesday. ... RHP Darren ODay (rotator cuff strain) will throw a simulated game Friday.UP NEXTRays: Chris Archer (8-18, 4.05 ERA) starts Friday night, seeking to pad his AL-leading strikeout total of 217. He also hopes to avoid setting the franchise record for losses in a season. The right-hander is currently tied with Tanyon Sturtze, who lost 18 in 2002.Orioles: RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (7-11, 5.98) strives to win his fourth straight start. Hes got a 2.83 ERA in his last four outings. Cheap Nike Air Force 1 . -- Arizona knocked off some quality opponents, rolled over a few overmatched ones and grinded out victories even when things didnt go so well. 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LAS VEGAS -- Standing 5 feet 9 and weighing 165 pounds, Donnel Pumphrey was considered too small to play running back by many schools coming out of Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas.Rivals.com rated Pumphrey the fourth-best prospect in the state of Nevada. Scout.com gave him a two-star ranking. San Diego State had to beat out schools such as Oregon State, Duke and lukewarm interest from hometown UNLV to garner his services.But the spotlight will be a big one shinning on Pumphrey in the 25th annual Las Vegas Bowl when Mountain West champion San Diego State (10-3) plays Houston (9-3) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) at Sam Boyd Stadium, only an 18-mile drive from Pumphreys old high school.Pumphrey (6,290 yards) needs 108 yards to surpass Wisconsins Ron Dayne (6,397) as the all-time leading career rusher in FBS history.Dayne, speaking on the Wisconsin State Journals The Red Zone podcast last month, said he believes hes getting shortchanged however.Hes gonna have (an asterisk) by his name if he breaks the record anyway, said Dayne, who starred at Wisconsin from 1996-1999. They didnt use none of my bowl games.Valid point. The NCAA began counting bowl games toward regular season and career statistical totals in 2002, but it did not go back and add bowl totals for players who played before 2002. If it had, Daynes total, counting bowl games, would be 7,125, including 200 yards in the 2000 Rose Bowl.Records are made to be broken, Dayne said. Good luck to him, and I wish him the best.Pumphrey, a first team All-American by Walter Camp and Sports Illustrated, ranks second in the country in rushing yards (2,018), rushing yards per game (155.2) and all-purpose yards (2,229) despite not playing in the fourth quarter in four of the past seven games. He is the only player in NCAA history with at least 5,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards.Despite all those glossy numbers, he wasnt one of five players invited to New York for the recent Heisman Trophy ceremony, another reason for him to play with a chip on his shoulder.Im very disappointed. I think he deserves to be there, San Diego State coach Rocky Long said last week. I knew all along that it was a long shot because of a lot of things, us being a non-Power 55 program and being on the West Coast.dddddddddddd Those are two big deterrents for him being invited, but its very disappointing. But hes the Heisman winner in our minds and heart.Houston promoted offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to become coach after Tom Herman departed to become Texas coach. Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, who had been serving as the interim coach since Herman accepted the Texas job Nov. 26, assumes his usual duties as defensive coordinator and then is expected to join Herman at Texas.The Cougars, who opened the season with a 33-23 upset of eventual Big 12 champion Oklahoma and also stunned then-No. 5-ranked Louisville and Heisman winner Lamar Jackson 36-10, saw their bid for a second straight New Years Six bowl berth go by the wayside when they lost to Navy 46-40 midway through the season.Houston also lost to SMU and Memphis and finished fourth (5-3) in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference.Cougars quarterback Greg Ward Jr. is playing the final game of his spectacular career and ranks fifth in school history in passing touchdowns (52) and passing yardage (8,476). Ward accounted for 31 touchdowns (22 passing, nine rushing) this season while throwing for 3,328 yards and rushing for 518 despite battling a shoulder injury.Houstons rushing defense, led by freshman nose tackle Ed Oliver (19.5 tackles for loss, five sacks) and senior outside linebacker Steven Taylor (72 tackles, 8.5 sacks), ranks third in the nation at 97.9 yards per game which makes Pumphreys quest to break Daynes rushing mark even more interesting. The Cougars limited opponents to 22.6 points per game.Senior cornerback Damontae Kazee (seven interceptions this season, school-record 17 in his career) and senior outside linebacker Calvin Munson (team-best 108 tackles) lead San Diego States defense. Kazee is the first cornerback in Mountain West history to win the defensive player-of-the-year award twice and the fifth player overall, joining Tank Carder (2010-11 at TCU), Jerry Hughes (2008-09 at TCU), Eric Weddle (2005-06 at Utah) and Kirk Morrison (2003-04 at San Diego State). ' ' '