The Tampa Bay Rays have climbed back to the top of the AL East, putting themselves in a virtual tie with the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays were a game behind the Orioles for first place Friday before beating Baltimore 7-1. Tampa Bay is only percentage points behind Baltimore after Zach Eflin's sterling effort.

With first place on the line, Zach Eflin had his best start with the Rays. The right-hander threw seven innings of one-hit ball. Heston Kjerstad hit a solo home run off Eflin in the sixth inning when Tampa Bay already had a 7-0 lead. Eflin struck out eight Orioles in the victory.

Following the Rays-Orioles game, Eflin was fired up to have contributed to such an important win.

“It’s nice to come into a division leader and take the first two and tie it up and see what happens in the next couple of games and the rest of the season,” Eflin said, via The Tampa Bay Times.. “This is what you play for. This is so much fun to go out there and have a packed stadium and to be able to get a W in the win column. So we just had a lot of fun (Friday).”

The Rays have taken the first two games from the Orioles in their four-game series. Baltimore will send Grayson Rodriguez to the mound Saturday night against Tyler Glasnow. It's the final series between the two teams, and it very well might determine the AL East champion.

There's more than just the AL East title on the line. The Ray and Orioles are both 8.5 games ahead of the Houston Astros for the best record in the AL. The AL East champion will almost certainly earn home-field advantage until the 2023 World Series.