O's can't hold early lead and lose to Tampa Bay

One night after the stirring ending to beat Tampa Bay at Camden Yards, the Orioles could not hold an early 2-0 lead and lost to the Rays to fall three games off the American League East pace.

It was a damaging loss as Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 5-2 in front of 27,823 at Camden Yards. The O's fall to 1-2 on this homestand and to 81-67 for the year, as they failed to score after the second inning. They are three games back of division-leading Boston with 14 games to play.

Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman took a one-hitter to the top of the sixth, but allowed two runs and was knocked out as Tampa Bay scored twice in the inning to take a 3-2 lead.

Evan Longoria led off the inning with his third homer in three games. A 416-foot shot to left-center was No. 35 and tied the game 2-2. That made Longoria 7-for-12 with three homers and eight RBIs in the series. Brad Miller followed the homer with an infield single and reached second a wild pitch. He scored on Richie Shaffer's two-out RBI double to center. That ended Tillman's night and Tampa Bay led 3-2.

Tillman went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs with one walk and six strikeouts on 112 pitches. He falls to 16-6 with an ERA of 3.72.

Tampa Bay got two big insurance runs in the eighth for a 5-2 lead on Mikie Mahtook's soft liner to right for two runs. The Rays had loaded the bases on a Chris Davis error, a bunt hit and a walk. Both runs in the inning were unearned.

The Orioles went ahead 1-0 in the first inning. Adam Jones led off with a double off Matt Andriese, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Manny Machado's sac fly.

Hyun Soo Kim's sac fly in the third scored J.J. Hardy, who led off with a single, for a 2-0 lead. The Orioles have had two sac flies in a game three times this season. Earlier, they did that on June 1 and June 9.

Longoria tripled and scored to make to 2-1 O's in the fourth. Miller hit a grounder to first. Davis threw home, but it was too late to get Longoria.

Andriese went 5 1/3 innings to get the win, allowing six hits and two runs on 68 pitches. He is now 8-7 with an ERA of 4.41. He began this game with a career mark of 0-3 and a 9.24 ERA in five games against Baltimore. After taking the early lead, the O's had just four singles from the fourth inning on.

Now the Orioles need to win Sunday to split this four-game series. Left-hander Wade Miley (8-13, 5.80 ERA) pitches against right-hander Jake Odorizzi (9-6, 3.81 ERA).