St. Petersburg, Fla. ? A week without a home run raised questions Sammy Sosa knew he eventually would answer with his bat.

The seven-time All-Star homered for the first time with his new team Tuesday night, hitting the 575th of his career in the Baltimore Orioles’ 7-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“It’s only seven games into the season. A lot of people have been asking so many questions,” Sosa said.

“You have to remember, not every time I go up I’m going to hit a home run. My game plan is to go up there and do the best that I can. I know myself. I’m going to do that. Right now, we’re playing good baseball. I’m more happy that we won than (with) the home run I hit.”

Sosa’s solo shot off Scott Kazmir in the third inning was greeted by polite applause from a small crowd of 10,563, which included hundreds who arrived early to watch the former Chicago Cubs slugger take batting practice for the first time at Tropicana Field.

After narrowly missing down the right field line in his first at-bat, Sosa delivered his first American League homer since Sept. 8, 1991, on a 2-2 pitch from Kazmir, the 347th pitcher to surrender a home run to the 36-year-old slugger.

“I got ahead of him with a couple of fastballs, and then I tried to get the slider in the dirt. It didn’t quite get there,” Kazmir said. “It stayed kind of knee high, inside corner. It’s a good spot for most righties. He didn’t miss it.”

Sosa, who has homered in 41 different major-league parks, had last connected in the AL off Kevin Brown, while playing for the Chicago White Sox at Texas. It was the 29th of his career, and the last he hit before moving to the Cubs in 1992.

The one-time NL MVP entered the game hitting just .200 (5-for-25) in six games. In addition to his 406-foot homer to left field, Sosa tripled and scored a run in the fifth before finishing 2-for-4.

“It kind of gets the monkey off your back,” Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said. “You knew it was going to happen. Just a matter of when.”

Brian Roberts also homered. The two-run shot off Kazmir put Baltimore ahead 4-3 in the fourth inning and gave the Orioles’ leadoff man four in his first 28 at-bats. He had four in 641 at-bats all of last year.

Larry Bigbie’s eighth-inning RBI single off Casey Fossum (0-1) broke a 5-all tie. The Orioles added another run, making it 7-5, when Roberts grounded into a force play.

B.J. Ryan recorded four outs for Baltimore, earning his first save after giving up a triple and walk to begin the ninth. The left-hander struck out Travis Lee and Jorge Cantu before retiring pinch-hitter Eduardo Perez on a routine fly to left to end the game.

Blue Jays 5, Athletics 2

Oakland, Calif. — Eric Hinske hit a three-run homer to extend his early season tear, and Gregg Zaun added a solo shot in Toronto’s fourth straight victory. Josh Towers (1-0) shut down the A’s again with 62/3 efficient innings, improving to 5-1 lifetime in the Coliseum and 5-2 in eight career appearances against Oakland. He beat the A’s twice last year.

The right-hander, who won a career-best nine games in 2004 but lost five straight decisions in his last six starts, retired 14 of his final 16 batters after a walk to Charles Thomas in the third. Towers allowed two earned runs on six hits, struck out six and walked one.

Angels 13, Rangers 8

Arlington, Texas — Vladimir Guerrero had two singles and scored three times before leaving because of a bruised right knee, and Los Angeles defeated Texas. Guerrero was hurt on a double steal in the third inning, when he slid into third base and then scampered home after a wild throw by catcher Rod Barajas for a 4-1 lead. He stayed in another inning, and got another at-bat, before leaving the game.

Anaheim has won four of five against the Rangers this season. The game Tuesday, a week after they played a season opener, was the first not decided by just one run.

Twins 5, Tigers 4

Minneapolis — Shannon Stewart hit an RBI ground-rule double off Troy Percival with one out in the ninth inning, giving Minnesota a victory over Detroit.

It was the first earned run Percival (0-1) allowed in 401/3 career innings against the Twins. Before Stewart’s big hit, Percival was the only active major leaguer with at least 40 innings logged against one opponent with an earned-run average of zero.

Juan Rincon (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the victory.