Blanked until the ninth, O's fall 5-1 to Indians (quotes added)

After giving up 16 runs over his previous three starts, it got better for Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman tonight. But the Orioles offense had no answers for Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who got a huge assist from former O's lefty Andrew Miller.

The Orioles fell 5-1 to the Indians at Oriole Park as the Birds lost for the 10th time in 14 games. The American League Central-leading Indians have won seven of its past eight games and leads this series two wins to one.

The Orioles were two outs away from being shut out for the second time in three games in this series and fifth time on the season. But Jonathan Schoop got them on the board with an RBI double in the ninth to score Trey Mancini, who had singled and had a 3-for-4 night to raise his average to .314.

While the Orioles scored 23 runs over consecutive games over the weekend against the Cardinals, they have also scored two runs or less in four of the last seven games.

Gausman kept Cleveland off the board over the first four innings on 68 pitches. He was at 45 through three with five strikeouts and then pitched out a first and second with no outs jam in the fourth.

Then the fifth inning started innocently enough when Gausman fanned Austin Jackson for his seventh strikeout. But Bradley Zimmer singled to center and scored when the No. 9 hitter, catcher Roberto Pérez, roped a double to left-center. It had an exit velocity of 113 mph and produced a 1-0 lead. Five pitches later the lead grew to 3-0 on Francisco Lindor's two-run homer to center. He hit No. 14 off a 2-2 pitch, which was a 96 mph fastball.

Gausman's final line showed that he went 5 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and three runs. He walked two and fanned a season-high nine, getting many on split-finger fastballs down in the zone. He threw 112 pitches and is now 3-7 with an ERA of 6.60.

This was actually the first time he allowed three runs or less since late May. His ERA was 9.19 in three June starts before this one. The O's staff now has just two quality starts over the past 16 games.

When Cleveland scored two runs in the ninth off Miguel Castro, they opened a 5-0 lead. That extended the Orioles' streak of allowing five runs or more to 18 straight games. That is two shy of the major league record set by the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies.

Carrasco gave up seven hits but no runs in six-plus innings, walking none and fanning 10. He is 8-3 with an ERA of 2.99. He has fanned 10 or more 11 times in his career.

The Orioles seventh started with three straight singles against Carrasco to load the bases and Miller came on. Joey Rickard pinch-hit for Hyun Soo Kim and bounced into a force out at home. Then Miller struck out Caleb Joseph and pinch-hitter Rubén Tejada. A chance to get back in the game went by the boards.

Once again, the Orioles go back under the .500 mark at 35-36. The Indians improved to 4-11 versus the Orioles since the start of 2015.

In the series finale on Thursday night, lefty Wade Miley (3-4, 4.29 ERA) faces Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger (2-3, 3.89 ERA).

Postgame quotes:

Gausman on his strong start to the game and then the three-run fifth: "I mean, kind of the way things have been going, really throughout the whole season so far for me. Pitching well and just one inning kind of gets away from me. I had a really good feel for my fastball and my fastball up and my split down.

"Those three hits that I gave up in a row were all fastballs where I was trying to go up. They were up, but they were not higher than high. Obviously, I'm upset about that. But more upset about walking the leadoff guy in the sixth inning. Caused me to not be able to go through six. Trying to get through six right there and give our bullpen a break."

Gausman on if tonight was some progress in a rough season: "Yeah, you take the positives and try to forget the negatives. One of the huge positives to take out of this is I'm throwing the ball really good right now. Just some things kind of went my way tonight. I felt like I was in a lot of 0-1, 0-2 counts. So it is one thing to get to those counts. Now I have to be a little bit better at throwing pitchers' pitches in those counts. Rather than pitches that are too good with two strikes."

Was this a night you had a good split?: "Yeah, lot of lefties in their lineup and knew it was going to be a big pitch for me. But I was really happy with it against right-handed hitters. I threw some really good ones to (Edwin) Encarnacion. That is a big pitch for me in this division with power right-handed hitters. That is one of the positives to take out of tonight."

Schoop on Carrasco: "He made his pitches and was really good tonight. He was on his game. He put pitches where he needed to. He can throw hard, but his slider today was really good. Like a fastball, short and quick and we couldn't make an adjustment off him."