next year if he were unable to pass a physical on April 1, 2017

BALTIMORE -- The Tampa Bay Rays dont seem to mind being behind late in the game. In fact, theyre becoming quite adept at staging stirring rallies. Matt Joyce hit a go-ahead two-run double in a six-run ninth inning that lifted the Rays to a 10-6 victory over the Orioles on Saturday, ending Baltimores franchise-record streak of 109 straight wins when leading after seven innings. "Thats kind of been our identity from the beginning of the year," Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "Weve really done a good job throughout the game of continuing to tack on runs, and even when weve been down early in games, finding a way to put together good at-bats and score runs." Joyce also homered and finished 3 for 5 with five RBIs for the Rays, who posted a season-best third straight road victory, all of them come-from-behind wins. "We believe in each other, and then youre able to do those things," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "If you stop believing, if you dont think it cant happen, then it never will. If you think it can happen, then it shall. And thats pretty much what this groups been about." But this one came against a closer that had been virtually unbeatable until this week and a team thats been hard to overcome when taking a lead to the eighth. "Their track record after seven innings has spoken for itself," Longoria said. "Theyve been really good late in the game. And Jim Johnson has been as good as they come. To be able to get to him and then tack a couple more on and be able to win a game like that, especially here in this hostile environment, is really big." Trailing 6-4, Kelly Johnson hit a one-out homer off the Orioles Jim Johnson (1-4), whose club-record streak of 35 straight saves ended Tuesday. Johnson then loaded the bases on two walks and a hit before Joyce hit a two-run double to the right-centre gap for a 7-6 lead. Ben Zobrist followed with a two-run double off Darren ODay, who later issued a bases-loaded walk to Luke Scott. After two straight blown saves, Johnson wasnt questioning himself or talking about a slump. In fact, he knew exactly what went wrong and vowed to fix it. "Not getting strike one is a good place to start," Johnson said. "Pitching behind, just not throwing quality pitches. It kind of snowballed back and didnt obviously make the pitch I needed to. Its just one of those days where it just didnt work." Adam Jones and Chris Davis homered for the Orioles, who have lost a season-high four straight. "Were not clicking great right now, but unfortunately you go through little spells in a season like we play," Baltimore left fielder Nate McLouth said. "Like I said, theres no sense of sitting here and beating yourselves up about it. Wipe it clean and try to get it done tomorrow." Alex Torres (1-0) worked four hitless innings for the victory. The Orioles sent 10 men to the plate in the first inning and took a 4-0 lead against Roberto Hernandez. McLouth led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored when Nick Markakis doubled over the head of Joyce. Jones then ripped a line drive homer to left off an 0-2 pitch and Davis followed with a shot to left-centre. Jair Jurrjens, whose contract was purchased before the game from Triple-A Norfolk, retired the first seven hitters he faced before allowing successive doubles to Jose Molina and Yunel Escobar. Molinas ball bounced off the top of the wall in centre, prompting Maddon to seek a video review, which upheld the original call. Later in the third, Joyce hit a two-run homer onto the flag court in right field, his seventh of the season, cutting the deficit to 4-3. Hernandez departed after hitting Davis with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the third. The right-hander allowed five runs and eight hits in two-plus innings, with nine of the 14 batters he faced reaching base. Reliever Cesar Ramos struck out Matt Wieters swinging, but gave up a run-scoring double to J.J. Hardy for a 5-3 Orioles lead. In the fourth, McLouth led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on Markakis single to centre and scored on Jones broken-bat fielders choice grounder. The Rays got within 6-4 in the fifth, but lost Molina in the process. Molina pulled up with a tight left hamstring after a leadoff double and was replaced by Jose Lobaton, who scored on Joyces two-out double. Jurrjens gave up four runs and six hits -- all for extra bases -- over five innings. NOTES: After the game, the Orioles optioned 2B Ryan Flaherty to Norfolk. A corresponding move will be announced Sunday. ... Hardy has hit in 13 straight games. ... Longoria doubled in the ninth, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, matching his career high. ... When Jurrjens made his major league debut on Aug. 15, 2007, at Cleveland, he was opposed by Hernandez, then known as Fausto Carmona. ... Hernandez failed to go 5 1-3 innings for the first time in eight 2013 starts. He walked none and struck out one. ... The Orioles also recalled RHP Jake Arrieta from Norfolk, optioned RHP Alex Burnett to Triple-A, placed OF Nolan Reimould (right hamstring strain) on the 15-day DL and moved 2B Brian Roberts to the 60-day DL. ... Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson turned 76 on Saturday. ... Maddon said RHP Jake Odorizzi will start Monday, taking the turn of injured LHP David Price. The Rays will make a roster move to add Odorizzi to the 25-man roster Sunday. Nasir Adderley Chargers Jersey . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Easton Stick Youth Jersey . 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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- After five weeks of watching quarterback Blaine Gabbert struggle, San Francisco 49ers coach Chip Kelly is making a change.Kelly on Tuesday named Colin Kaepernick his starting quarterback for Sundays game against Buffalo, a decision that comes following weeks of speculation.?Just to announce, were going to make a move at quarterback and were going to start Colin this week and give him an opportunity to run with the ones, Kelly said. I believe youve got to do it at the beginning of the week just because of how reps are distributed.I think Ive always been confident, Kaepernick said. Its something that Im ready to step on that field, Im ready to play. Its been about a year since live game action. So, Im itching to get out there.After meeting with the coaching staff and discussing possible solutions for the Niners 31st-ranked offense (in yards per game), Kelly said the group came to the conclusion that one of the only moves it could make to potentially jump-start the offense was to make a change at quarterback.We were very analytical and sat down as a staff and watched the tape, went over everything, Kelly said. We had a couple days to kind of digest where we are and I think offensively we need to be better and we just need to make a move. And its really not, its not Blaines fault. I think its just as a group offensively we need to be better in a lot of ways so were going to see what we can do and make a move here. Its really one of the only maneuvers we can make based on our depth.According to Kelly, because Kaepernick and Gabbert have similar traits, the offense wont need to change much other than the way the reps are split in practice. Previously, it had been Gabbert taking about 75 percent of the work with the first team while Kaepernick handled the other 25 percent. Now, those roles will be reversed.Kelly informed Kaepernick and Gabbert of the decision and said both were professional in handling the news. According to Kelly, Kaepernick offered a simple two-word response of Lets go upon being told of the decision.Sundays game will mark Kaepernicks first start since Nov. 1 of last year, a 27-6 loss to the Rams. Kaepernick played briefly the following week before shutting it down for the season because of a shoulder injury.That shoulder injury turned into a harbinger of things to come as Kaepernick underwent a series of surgeries to his thumb and knee in addition to the shoulder. The recovery from those ailments left Kaepernick unable to lift weights and, combined with his decision to become vegan, Kaepernick lost considerable weight, though he declined to say exactly how much.When Kaepernick returned to the fold in the preseason, he made it through the first couple of weeks of training camp before right-shoulder fatigue forced him to miss the first three preseason games. He played in the final preseason contest against San Diego and handed the ball off three times in the Niners season-opening win against the Rams.Throughout the preseason and the early part of this season, Kelly often deflected questions about changing quarterbacks, citing Kaepernicks physical condition as preventing him from playing his best football.At his peak in 2012 and 2013, Kaepernick weighed about 225 pounds, the type of condition Kelly says allowed him to play well. Last week, Kelly said he wasnt sure of Kaepernicks exact weight now but said hes hovering around 215 pounds.We hhave gone over this ad nauseam, Kelly said.dddddddddddd. Hes not the same guy he was in 2013, just look at him physically. Thats the point I tried to make when people brought that up. Hes worked extremely hard on his rehab. We were talking about a guy that missed the offseason because of the injuries and thats the only point I ever tried to make about it.Kelly made it clear he wasnt so much putting a weight requirement on Kaepernick -- who remained the backup to Gabbert the first five weeks -- as he was hoping to see Kaepernick get back to the peak physical condition that allowed for so much success earlier in his career.Kelly said Tuesday that Kaepernick has gotten stronger since he initially picked Gabbert as the starter in August.When I made the decision on our starting quarterback it was over five weeks ago, were talking six weeks of rehab, Kelly said. He also missed two weeks of preseason camp, so based upon the time that we had him in preseason camp, he wasnt ready from a physical or mental standpoint in terms of where we were to start the season and thats when we made the decision. Were in Week 6 now of the National Football League. We were talking about that decision after the San Diego Charger game so that was over six weeks ago.Gabbert started each of the first five games, and after a solid outing against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1, struggled to produce. In four consecutive 49ers losses, Gabbert has struggled mightily.For the season, Gabbert ranks 30th in the NFL in passer rating (69.6) among qualified players, is tied for fifth most in interceptions (six), 26th in completion percentage (58 percent) and 31st in yards per attempt (5.93).Its a tough deal, but a change is made like that, its what the coaches felt best for this team, Gabbert said. It sucks. I dont like it. I dont like not playing. Ill be very forward about that. But, at the same time Im still going to come in to work the same way Ive always come in to work the three years that Ive been here.While the Niners pondered the change, some wondered if Kaepernicks contract was preventing Kelly from making the change. Under his current deal, Kaepernick would be guaranteed his $14.5 million base salary next year if he were unable to pass a physical on April 1, 2017.Although there have been reports of Kaepernick potentially agreeing to an adjusted contract to clear the way for him to start, Kelly said his decision had nothing to do with that.I dont deal with contracts, Kelly said. Its got nothing to do with his contract. Its a football decision. I dont even know where his contract status is. Thats a good question for him but Ive never discussed his contract nor will I discuss his contract.Kelly also brushed aside any concern that Kaepernicks protest of racial oppression and inequality in the United States by kneeling during the national anthem will become more of a distraction now that hes starting.No and I think weve answered that question ad nauseam as much as the weight question that weve answered is that it has not been an issue and I think because of how Colin has handled it, Kelly said. He handled it very straightforward with our players when it first came about way back when in August, and it hasnt been an issue since then, so I dont see it changing from that standpoint. ' ' '