Another slow night on offense, plus more O's notes and quotes

TORONTO - The Orioles offense has been so inconsistent this year that when they fail to score like last night, you figure to put more blame on their hitters than pass on credit to the opposing pitcher.

But last night tipping your hat to Toronto right-hander Marcus Stroman was probably just fine. He threw a strong game at the Orioles and had them pounding the ball into the Rogers Centre turf. They were held to five hits and struck out 12 times in the 4-0 loss. They have been shut out five times.

But as they continue to hover around the .500 mark for now, their offense has scored three runs or less in 15 of their last 25 games and 38 times for the year. They are 9-29 in those games. The Orioles have scored just three runs on 12 hits in the first two games of this series.

In going 7-2 against the Blue Jays before this series started, the Orioles hit 17 homers in those nine games. They have not homered the last two nights.

Trey Mancini continues to rake, though. He had two singles last night and is batting .412 (28-for-68) with 10 extra-base hits and 13 RBIs over his last 18 games. Mancini is batting .433 (13-for-30) during an eight-game hitting streak. His longest streak of the year is nine games.

Mancini is four plate appearances short of qualifying for the American League league leaders. If he did qualify, his .323 batting average would be fourth in the AL.

What will they get?: As the Orioles try to get a victory tonight to win the series at Rogers Centre, they send right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez (2-3, 7.26 ERA) to the mound for his 11th start.

Yes, Jiménez is like that box of chocolates and we never know what we are going to get. He re-entered the rotation on June 18 and gave up two runs over seven innings versus St. Louis. Then he got blasted for nine runs in 2 1/3 innings in Friday's 15-5 loss at Tampa Bay. He tied his career high for runs allowed, set Aug. 9, 2007 pitching for the Rockies against the Cubs.

Even his skipper doesn't know what to expect.

"It's just tough to know what you're going to ... he didn't carry much fastball last time out," manager Buck Showalter said. "And that was obvious early on. People say, 'Well if you see that in the first inning, why not just get him out of there?' Sometimes they find their step. If you get a guy out every time he has a bad inning, you're going to be making so many moves in your bullpen every day. But I can't really tell you exactly what to expect.

"Until these guys that have been struggling put together some consistency, it's hard to really know what you are going to get. But we've also got three or four pitchers having the best year of their careers right now. I had to remind Roger (McDowell, pitching coach) of that the other day."

Should be soon: I have been asked often if the Orioles are soon going to sign their first-round draft pick, Georgia high school lefty DL Hall. I think they are. I expect this to happen within days not weeks. As I reported previously, the Orioles made quick progress early on in negotiatons with Hall's representative, which is the Scott Boras corporation. They are going to get this done and sooner rather than later.

The Orioles have signed 14 of their first 16 selections from this draft and 29 overall. Barring a real surprise, they are going to go 16-for-16, although fourth-round pick high school right-hander Jack Conlon may take longer to sign than Hall.

Party time in Gainesville: When the University of Florida won the College World Series on Tuesday night, a proud Gator alum was rooting them on from another country.

Orioles reliever Darren O'Day played college ball at Florida and was the closer on a team that reached, but didn't win, the College World Series. This time the Gators got it done for their first CWS championship.

"I couldn't be happier about it," O'Day said. "In 2005, we went to Omaha and got to the championship series and got swept by Texas. But I enjoyed that just about as much as if we had won.

"I don't think I could have had a better college and college baseball experience anywhere. I really enjoyed my time there. I liked it so much I stayed for five years. I learned a lot."

On the farm last night: Triple-A Norfolk's David Washington homered in the Tides' loss to Louisville. He now has a career-high 16-game hitting streak. Washington's streak is the longest by a Tides player this year. He has hit .381 (24-for-63) with six home runs, six doubles and 13 RBIs over that span.

Frederick beat Wilmington 10-4 and left fielder Randolph Gassaway went 3-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBIs. Gassaway, who is batting .312, has reached base in nine straight plate appearances dating back to Tuesday's game. Shortstop Ryan Mountcastle went 2-for-5 and is batting .319.

Short-season Single-A Aberdeen beat Brooklyn 6-1, as Seamus Curran hit two homers. He is batting .375 in Aberdeen's first six games. Right-hander Brenan Hanifee, 19, gave up three hits and one run to win his second straight start. The Orioles' 2016 fourth-round pick, Hanifee is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.75 in those two games.