O's lose lead and game at Houston, fall five games under .500

The Orioles have reached a low point for their 2015 season. They have fallen five games under the .500 mark for the first time with tonight's 6-4 loss at Houston.

The Orioles fall to 23-28 and are 0-4 since a walk-off victory at home on Friday night.

There was much frustration with this one. They lost a 4-0 lead. They got just two runners on base after the second inning, and one was via a walk. They made another baserunning mistake when Travis Snider apparently lost track of the outs and was doubled off first base on a flyout in the fifth inning. Two leadoff walks in the eighth inning led to Houston's sixth run. But other than that ...

However, this game did get off to a promising start for the Orioles. After scoring two runs or less in three of their last four and 12 of the last 22 games, they came up with four runs on five hits in the second inning off Collin McHugh.

It started when Chris Davis drew a nine-pitch walk. After Jimmy Paredes singled with one out, a Steve Pearce single made it 1-0. Ryan Flaherty followed with a two-run triple to center for the 3-0 lead, scoring on Manny Machado's two-out single.

Flaherty had two triples in his first 732 career at-bats and now has had two in the last two days at Houston.

But Houston, who leads the majors in homers, hit back-to-back longballs to produce four quick runs in the last of the third. After Preston Tucker's RBI single took a bad hop past Pearce at second, Evan Gattis hit a three-run homer to tie it 4-4 and Luis Valbuena followed with a solo shot to give the Astros the lead. It was the 12th homer for both.

O's starter Mike Wright went five innings, allowing eight hits and five runs, throwing 87 pitches. After not allowing a run in 14 1/3 innings his first two starts, Wright has given up 14 hits and eight runs - including four homers - over 10 innings the past two starts.

Meanwhile McHugh went on to pitch seven innings to gain the win, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters he faced as Houston improved to 3-2 against the Orioles and to 33-20 on the year. The Astros are 28-2 when they score four or more.

The Orioles are 8-16 in road games, losing nine of their last 11 away from Camden Yards.

In the third game of this series on Wednesday night, Miguel Gonzalez (5-3, 3.48 ERA) faces right-hander Lance McCullers (1-0, 2.40 ERA).