A few notes and stats as O's West Coast road trip nears its end

For some Orioles fans, it was a night without much sleep and without a win. Not a good combination.

The Orioles missed a chance to move to within 3 1/2 games of first place and to within one game of the second American League wild card. For the second time in three games, the Orioles suffered a very tough extra-inning loss, falling 6-5 in 10 innings at Seattle on Tuesday night.

When Adam Jones and Chris Davis hit back-to-back homers in the top of the eighth, the O's rallied from down 5-2 to tie it at 5-5. An impressive comeback win appeared in reach. But the Orioles could not get it. Had they done so, they would now be 2-46 when trailing after seven innings instead of 1-47.

Chris Tillman's short-outing - he went just 2 1/3 innings and gave up five runs - didn't do much to help what has been a very inconsistent rotation recently.

In the last turn through the starting five we've seen Kevin Gausman, Miguel Gonzalez and Tillman combine to allow 24 hits and 15 runs in 12 2/3 innings. In the other two games, Wei-Yin Chen and Ubaldo Jimenez have allowed one run over 15 1/3 innings. So yeah, pretty inconsistent.

Over the past 12 games, Orioles starting pitchers have an ERA of 6.02 and have pitched fewer than six innings eight times. They have just four quality starts in that stretch.

Just when it looked like the Orioles would score three or fewer runs for the 20th time in the past 34 games, they got the late homers and scored five runs. But it didn't end up in a win.

Since Aug. 1 the Orioles have won, lost, won, lost, won, lost, won, lost and won and lost. My kingdom for a two-game winning streak.

Davis had another strong game. His solo homer in the eighth, his 31st, tied it 5-5. He has homered three straight days and has six in his last nine games. Over his past 20 games, Davis is batting .329 (24-for-73) with 12 homers and 30 RBIs.

The loss Tuesday was the Orioles' fifth walk-off loss of the year and second in three days. The bullpen has been taxed by a couple of short starts recently, and Zach Britton just threw 36 pitches on Monday night.

The good news is the Orioles get to come home after this afternoon's game. And a win today will give them a winning road trip at 5-4.

But two very tough losses in three days have been taxing and frustrating - for the team and its fanbase.

For those who enjoy information on the O's minor leagues, tune into "O's Xtra" pregame today at 3 p.m. on MASN as I'll join Jim Hunter for a segment on the O's minors.