ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brandon Hyde was under fire for his pinch-hit decisions Tuesday.

He wasn’t Saturday, because his choice paid off when Ramón Urías blasted a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning — leading to the Orioles’ 7-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays rather than frustration regarding his decision-making.

On Tuesday, Hyde controversially subbed in Austin Slater and Coby Mayo — the former with a batting average below the Mendoza line, the latter a rookie still searching for his first career hit — for Jackson Holliday and Colton Cowser, two of the club’s hottest hitters, in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hyde’s reasoning was to get the platoon advantage, subbing in right-handed hitters to face a left-handed pitcher. Defending his decisions the next day, Hyde referenced that the Orioles’ batting average when pinch hitting was .375 entering the game — easily the best in MLB.

His hitters, of course, deserve the lion’s share of the credit for Baltimore being baseball’s best pinch-hitting team, and Hyde’s decisions haven’t always worked this year — with Tuesday a prime example. But the numbers also incontrovertibly show that Hyde has largely pushed the right buttons this season, and he did so again in Saturday’s eighth inning.

After Jackson Holliday drew a leadoff walk against left-hander Colin Poche, Hyde stuck with Urías, his No. 9 hitter, despite the third baseman’s struggles against lefties this season and the hot-hitting Eloy Jiménez, who was acquired to hit southpaws, and the right-handed Mayo sitting on his bench.

Urías then proved his skipper right — and made up for his own defensive miscue earlier in the game — by demolishing a center-cut 0-2 fastball over the left-center field wall. With a projected distance of 418 feet, it’s Urías’ farthest homer since September 2022.

The Orioles needed Urías’ big fly because of a merry-go-round fifth that included a string of hits against Corbin Burnes, the ace’s disinterest in holding runners and a fumble from Urías at third. Tampa Bay (58-58) scored three in the frame that wouldn’t have crossed the plate had Urías not bobbled a slow ground ball that was questionably ruled a hit.

Before that frame, Burnes was as stellar as he’s been all season, cruising into the fifth with a no-hit bid. Josh Lowe broke it up with a single that began the rally that included four Rays hits and two stolen bases off Burnes, who has allowed a whopping 33 stolen bases in 24 starts this season. Still, Burnes delivered his 19th quality start by allowing three runs in six frames.

Baltimore’s bats provided him cushion with an early 4-0 lead. The Orioles started hot with three runs in the first thanks to four opposite-field hits. Colton Cowser, who led off Friday’s win with a homer, kickstarted the rally with a single to left field. After Anthony Santander popped out, Gunnar Henderson back-sided a single to left field to break an 0-for-16 skid, and Adley Rutschman lined an RBI double to left-center field for his first of three hits — his first three-hit game since June 21. Ryan Mountcastle then flicked a two-run single to right field to put Baltimore up 3-0.

Holliday continued his tear in the second with his fifth homer in 10 games since being recalled from Triple-A on July 31, making the 20-year-old the only player in Orioles history to do so before turning 21 years old. Over that time, he’s been perhaps the Orioles’ best player and one of the best hitters in MLB. He is the youngest player with four homers in a six-game span since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the Blue Jays in 2019.

The second baseman clobbered a sinker from bulk reliever Tyler Alexander, who followed opener Drew Rasmussen, for a 408-foot bomb to right-center field. Four of Holliday’s five long balls have traveled farther than 400 feet.

The Rays tied the game in the seventh with José Caballero’s solo homer off Burch Smith. After the Orioles’ three-run eighth, Tampa Bay threatened again in the eighth against Yennier Cano and Cionel Pérez, who walked in one of Cano’s runners to cut the Orioles’ lead to 7-5. Seranthony Domínguez, pitching the ninth instead of Craig Kimbrel, slammed the door with a scoreless ninth. It’s Dominguez’s first save as an Oriole since they acquired him from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Austin Hays trade last month.

Baltimore is 70-48 and up one game atop the American League East on the New York Yankees, who split their doubleheader against the Texas Rangers on Saturday. With the Phillies (69-47) playing on the West Coast, the Orioles are the first team in MLB to reach 70 wins this season.