Miguel Gonzalez and Jonathan Schoop comment after O's loss to Detroit

Twice in the series with Atlanta the Orioles scored just two runs and won. Tonight they scored eight and they lost.

Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez put his team in a hole tonight, allowing 10 hits and five runs over 3 1/3 innings as Detroit held off an O's rally for the 9-8 win.

The first time through the order tonight, Detroit went 7-for-9 at bat and the Tigers went 10-for-17 against Gonzalez on the night.

"They definitely came out and swung the bats pretty good," Gonzalez said. "They were aggressive from the first inning. Things didn't go our way. They found some holes."

What was missing for him tonight?

"My offspeed," Gonzalez said. "Slider was a little flat today. I would really take back just one pitch. The slider to Rajai Davis (hit for a two-run triple in the fourth). It was in a good spot but it was just flat. That's really it. I made some good pitches, throwing in to guys to keep them honest. But things just didn't work out.

"We definitely take a lot of positives though. We hit really good. Good defense. Bullpen kept us there. It wasn't what we wanted but it's part of baseball. Just have to move on and work for the next one."

Gonzalez gave up two runs in five innings in a win at Detroit in the third game out of the All-Star break. But tonight he had his shortest start of the year and the 10 hits he allowed tied his season and career highs.

Gonzalez is now 1-3 with an ERA of 8.17 against Detroit in six games, making five starts. Any reason why he often struggles against that team?

"No, I think every time you go out you try to do your best. It's a good team, good ballclub there. They have one of the best offenses," he said.

The Orioles tried to rally from seven runs down tonight but came up short to fall to 51-50.

"That (the rally) says a lot about our team, about our offense. They are never going to give up. Doesn't matter whether the score is 20-0 or 1-0. We are all going to be grinding it out every time out there," Gonzalez said.

Second baseman Jonathan Schoop hopes the comeback gives his team some momentum for the rest of this series.

"Yeah. Every time you step on the field, you can be 10 runs down," Schoop said. "But you try to chip away, try to win. We did it today but it didn't come across. We showed today we can score. We can be down big and we can come back. We got into their bullpen. It was a tough loss today, but tomorrow we're going to get them."

Former Oriole right-hander Alfredo Simon got the win tonight with the unsual line of allowing just two hits (both homers) and four runs over 5 2/3 innings. O's batters went just 2-for-19 against Simon.

"He was throwing a lot of split-fingers and changeups and changing speeds a lot," Schoop said. "Even with his fastball, he'd throw one 80, then one 89. One time it was 66 to (Caleb) Joseph. He changed up a lot."

Chris Davis hit his 25th homer tonight and now has four straight seasons of 25 or more homers. He is the seventh Oriole to have at least four 25-homer seasons. Davis has six homers and 14 RBIs over his last nine games.

The Orioles lost again in the first game of a series. They are 1-4 in such games in the second half and have lost seven of their last nine series openers. Tonight's result snapped their win streak at five games, one shy of tying their season high.