ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays are used to winning with limited offense, but comebacks haven't come often the way they did Friday night.

Tampa Bay came in 1-38 this season when trailing after seven innings, but the Rays, held to two hits until the eighth inning, rallied for three runs in the eighth, coming back to beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 to open a three-game series at Tropicana Field.

Rookie shortstop Tim Beckham, hitting .160 with runners in scoring position this season, came through with a two-run single with two outs in the eighth, getting rare runs past Orioles reliever Darren O'Day, who had a 1.02 ERA before the game-winning hit.

"I think it showed a lot about our team: down but never out," said Rays starter Chris Archer, who struck out nine batters in six innings of one-run ball. "That's kind of the story of the Tampa Bay Rays. Everybody believes, even if it's 1-0 and the other pitcher's out there doing his thing, if we keep it close, we're going to squeak a few."

The Rays (49-49) got back to .500 in their first home game since the All-Star break, while Baltimore (46-49) dropped its fourth straight, spoiling a strong start by Chris Tillman, who took a shutout into the eighth.

Rays reliever Jake McGee pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save of the season, extending personal scoreless streaks to 21 appearances and 20 1/3 innings.

Tillman held the Rays to two hits into the eighth inning, but left after walking center fielder Kevin Kiermaier to lead off the inning. Kiermaier stole second base -- his 11th steal of the season -- and scored the tying run with two outs on designated hitter John Jaso's RBI single off O'Day.

The Rays then got a bloop single from third baseman Evan Longoria and an intentional walk to first baseman James Loney to load the bases for Beckham, who delivered a two-out, two-strike, two-run single up the middle to give the Rays a 3-1 lead.

"He's so much better than tonight. He gets many mulligans with us," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of the All-Star side-arm reliever. "The story is we just haven't scored any runs. One run doesn't ... I'm not going to sit here and critique pitching tonight. Tilly was outstanding, but unfortunately their guy was too."

Beckham has stepped up after being recalled from Triple-A Durham while starter Asdrubal Cabrera is on the disabled list with a groin injury.

"I don't care who's on the mound. He's not going to beat me with his pitch. He's going to beat me with a pitch I can do something with," Beckham said. "Confidence-wise, I was there. I wanted to win the game."

Tillman had a second consecutive dominant outing. He gave up one hit in eight scoreless innings on Saturday in a 3-0 win against Detroit, and has allowed a total of five runs in his last five starts, though Friday marked his third no-decision in that stretch.

"We've got to give our pitchers some margin of error," Showalter said. "(Tillman) will go home upset because he walked the leadoff hitter, but you have someone like Darren, he's as good as anybody. The bottom line, we just have to score more runs."

Tillman kept the Rays in check for the first five innings, not allowing a hit until Longoria's double in the fourth inning. The Rays' only other hit through five innings was Kiermaier's bunt single in the fifth.

Archer did his best to keep the Rays in the game, striking out nine Orioles in the first five innings and only allowing a run in the fourth inning.

Third baseman Manny Machado singled and scored on right fielder Chris Davis' RBI double for Baltimore's only run.

The Orioles had runners at first and third with one out later in that inning, but Archer got out of the jam, fielding a ground ball by left fielder Travis Snider and turning quickly for an inning-ending double play.

NOTES: The Rays tried batting OF Steven Souza in the leadoff spot for the first time this year Friday. The lineup was stacked with right- and left-handed hitters alternating, in part to limit the Orioles' bullpen options based on matchups. DH John Jaso batted second, just the second time this season he's played and hasn't been leading off. ... Baltimore came in with just 39 errors, the lowest total in the majors, and the Orioles committed no errors Friday. No other American League team has fewer than 48 errors. ... Wednesday's loss at Philadelphia was the Rays' seventh walk-off loss -- only the Pittsburgh Pirates (8) have suffered more in that fashion. The Rays entered Friday's game 3-11 in games decided in the ninth inning or later and 2-7 in extra innings. ... Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher will throw out the first pitch Sunday as part of a "Chop at the Trop" promotion with FSU-themed Rays hats available with certain ticket purchases.