ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Adam Jones knew the home runs would come and they did as the Baltimore Orioles kept up their strong start against Tampa Bay. Jones hit a pair of first-pitch solo homers and Jonathan Schoop launched a tiebreaking, two-run shot that sent the Orioles over the Rays 4-3 on Wednesday night. "Felt good to get the ball out of the infield," said Jones, who entered with just one homer this season. "Youve got to keep swinging, got to stay after it." Schoops drive in the seventh inning off Brandon Gomes (2-2) put the Orioles ahead 4-2. "Its really nice, especially to come through there and to get a W," Schoop said. Jones hit leadoff homers in both the second and fourth off Cesar Ramos. It was his fourth multihomer game. "I just put some good swings on some pitches that I should have driven and I drove them," Jones said. "Thats the rule of thumb. If its right down the middle you might as well hit it." Jones didnt get the chance to face Ramos a third time when Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon brought in Gomes, who got a fly from the Orioles slugger with two outs in the sixth. "You didnt want to keep pressing your luck right there," Maddon said. "Jones had some good at-bats. I loved Gomes on that part of the batting order." David DeJesus homered for the Rays, who have dropped the first two games of a three-game series and are 0-4 overall against the Orioles this season. Ryan Webb (1-0) went 1 1-3 scoreless innings for the win. Tommy Hunter struggled for the second straight game, pitching the ninth for his 10th save. One day after working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in a 5-3 win, Hunter again ran into trouble in the ninth. Wil Myers led off with a double, moved up on Yunel Escobars one-out single and scored on a single by Ryan Hanigan. Ben Zobrist then had a soft lineout and Desmond Jennings lined back to Hunter. "Were winning ballgames and thats the bottom line," Hunter said. "You would like it to go a little smoother. Id liked to have a clean frame, make it nice and easy for everybody, but thats not the way its going right now." DeJesus cut the Rays deficit to 2-1 on a solo homer off Bud Norris in the fifth. DeJesus has three homers in 15 at-bats against the Orioles right-hander. Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters was out of the starting lineup after making a trip earlier in the day to Pensacola to have his sore right elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews. While it was determined that Wieters would avoid the disabled list, he will likely be limited to designated hitter duty for a period of time. Tampa Bay tied it at 2 on a pinch-hit RBI single by Sean Rodriguez during the sixth. Both Norris and Ramos gave up two runs and three hits in 5 2-3 innings. NOTES: Baltimore purchased the contract from Triple-A Norfolk of catcher Caleb Joseph, who went 0 for 3 in his major league debut. ... Baltimore RF Nick Markakis extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a first-inning single. ... Orioles 1B Chris Davis (strained left oblique) ran sprints, threw and hit in an indoor cage. ... Baltimore OF Francisco Pequero (right wrist) is set to start a minor league rehab assignment Friday with Norfolk. ... Orioles RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (1-4) and Rays LHP David Price (3-2) are the scheduled starters for the series finale Thursday night. ... Price has 55 strikeouts and five walks in 48 2-3 innings this season. ... The Rays are 6-1 in one-run games. Muggsy Bogues Jersey . With their coach gone, they finally played offence the way he would have wanted. Amare Stoudemire made all seven shots in the first half, Anthony passed and shot well, and the Knicks shook off the surprising departure of their coach to rout the Portland Trail Blazers 121-79 on Wednesday night, snapping a six-game losing streak. Dell Curry Jersey . The Force had two men, including former Wallabies No. 8 Ben McCalman, in the sin-bin in the dying minutes of the match, but were able to resist a late Highlanders surge to post a four-try, bonus point win. https://www.hornetslockerroom.com/Cody-M...Edition-Jersey/. Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble. Lyon, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar will also be in Fridays draw in Nyon, Switzerland, where the team to avoid will be Juventus -- even though the Italian champions made heavy work of their all-Italian last-16 match against Fiorentina. Marvin Williams Jersey . Browns owner Jimmy Haslam announced the move with Young on Monday during a speech at a Pro Football Hall of Fame luncheon. Jalen McDaniels Jersey .Just like old times.Only this time, just one got to enjoy a victory.James return to Miami as an opponent was a success — for the Heat, that is. Wade scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half, Luol Deng had 25 points and dogged James defensively all night, and the Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-91 in a hyped Christmas matchup Thursday.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had enough responsibility trying to contain James Harden at the defensive end.That made the Detroit guards offensive contribution that much more impressive.Caldwell-Pope scored a season-high 28 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, and the Pistons held off Harden and the Houston Rockets 114-101 on Saturday night. D.J. Augustin added 28 points and 12 assists for Detroit.I felt good, Caldwell-Pope said. I got myself going with my energy on the defensive end, ran the floor to get easy baskets and that opened up my outside shooting.Harden scored 21 of his 26 points in the second half, returning from a bruised left knee to help the Rockets nearly rally from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit.Houstons Josh Smith was booed throughout his return to the Palace, just more than a month after the Pistons waived the high-priced forward. He had seven points and seven rebounds, shooting only 3 of 11 from the field. Detroit snapped a four-game skid and ended Houstons four-game winning streak.We didnt defend the 3-point line and we didnt defend the paint. They just played a lot harder than we did, and we just let them kick our tails, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. We couldnt stop Augustin in any part of the floor. I tried a couple different lineups because I just wanted someone to get in front of him for a couple possessions.The Pistons played well initially after cutting Smith, winning seven straight, and fans gave him an unfriendly welcome in his return, booing him when he went to the scorers table to check in for the first time and also when he touched the ball.Detroit led 59-46 at halftime and 86-69 at the start of the fourth quarter.Harden led a 19-6 run to start the fourth, but Caldwell-Pope made enough big shots down the stretch to help the Pistoons hold on.dddddddddddd The second-year guard capped the victory with a shot from well behind the 3-point line with 3.1 seconds remaining and the shot clock expiring.___BOUNCING BACKThe Pistons were coming off an embarrassing 20-point loss at Philadelphia, and they were sharp throughout against Houstons normally tough defence. Greg Monroe had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Andre Drummond had 11 and 16. Detroit won for the first time since losing point guard Brandon Jennings last weekend to a ruptured Achilles tendon.Augustin, the starting point guard with Jennings out, had one of his best games of the season.Yeah, I thought he was decent, coach Stan Van Gundy joked. No, he was tremendous. He really was. He was on the attack, right from the start of the game on, and thats big for us.DEFENSIVE PROBLEMSHouston was without star centre Dwight Howard, who has been sidelined because of swelling in his right knee. Harden left toward the end of the second quarter with his knee injury but came back and played almost the entire second half.No matter who was in, the Rockets couldnt slow down the Pistons.Terrible defence. They had 69 points in their last game against Philly and we let them have 60 at halftime, Harden said. Thats terrible. We didnt play at all until the fourth quarter, and that was too late.The Rockets lead the NBA in 3-pointers, but Detroit held its own from beyond the arc, going 10 of 25. Houston shot 11 of 32 on 3s.TIP-INSRockets: Donatas Motiejunas scored 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting. ... Harden had nine assists and seven rebounds.Pistons: Augustins 12 assists were his season high. ... Caldwell-Pope fell two points short of his career high in scoring. He made six 3-pointers.UP NEXTThe Rockets host Chicago on Wednesday night.The Pistons host Miami on Tuesday night. ' ' '