Orioles can't complete sweep of Jays (with quotes)

Left-hander Wade Miley will never know what might have transpired today if he retired the side in order in the first inning. If there weren't a two-out error, a soft single and some hard luck.

Miley shut out the Blue Jays over the next six innings, didn't give up an earned run all day and couldn't prevent the Orioles from losing to the Blue Jays 3-1 before an announced crowd of 36,632 at Camden Yards.

Three unearned runs in the first inning were the difference, along with the Orioles' inability to mount much of a threat against Jays right-hander Marco Estrada, who struck out 12 batters in 7 2/3 innings to tie his career high.

The Orioles failed to complete the sweep and fell to 25-17. Their last 12 games have been decided by two runs or fewer.

Adam Jones led off the fourth inning with his seventh home run of the season to reduce the lead to 3-1. He's now tied with Rafael Palmeiro for the most home runs at Camden Yards with 124.

Here's a partial list of the leaders:

Adam Jones: 124
Rafael Palmeiro: 124
Chris Davis: 114
Brady Anderson: 96
Melvin Mora: 89
Cal Ripken Jr.: 85
Nick Markakis: 82
Miguel Tejada: 73
Chris Hoiles: 71
Jay Gibbons: 64
Manny Machado: 64

Miley began the game by retiring Kevin Pillar on a pop up and Jose Bautista on a bouncer to the mound. Kendrys Morales grounded to Jonathan Schoop, who was shifted to the left side and failed to backhand the ball for an error.

Two-out walks are killers. Same goes for errors.

Justin Smoak looped a single into right field and Devon Travis belted a three-run homer to left for a 3-0 lead.

Miley hadn't gone more than five innings in his last four starts, including the May 5 game when the White Sox twice hit him with line drives. He allowed six hits over seven innings today, with one walk and three strikeouts. He was replaced by Alec Asher after 107 pitches, 61 for strikes.

Asher started a nifty 1-6-3 double play and logged two scoreless innings.

Miley's ERA is down to 2.59 in 48 2/3 innings. It's clichéd to say he deserved better today, but no earned runs in seven innings usually gets you a win or a no-decision.

The Orioles committed three errors in the first five innings. Miley had an errant pickoff throw and Machado misplayed a ground ball.

Estrada was superb, retiring the first six batters before Trey Mancini's leadoff double in the third inning and eight in a row before Jones singled with two outs in the eighth. Joe Smith entered the game and promptly drilled Machado on the left hand, bringing head athletic trainer Richie Bancells onto the field. Machado stayed in the game and Davis struck out looking again to end the rally.

Davis struck out nine times in the three-game series.

The Orioles wasted Mark Trumbo's two-out single in the fourth, Mancini's leadoff walk in the fifth, Jones' leadoff single in the sixth and Trumbo's leadoff single in the ninth. Mancini reached on an infield hit with two outs after a double play, but pinch-hitter Seth Smith popped up.

Roberto Osuna picked up the save and the Orioles fell to 3-4 on Sundays, 0-1 with Ryan Flaherty on the disabled list. Today marked only their fourth home loss of the season, and their first since April 25 versus the Rays.

The homestand continues with the Twins coming to town for three games.

Here's a sampling from manager Buck Showalter:

On Miley: "Seven shutout innings, really. He was really good. The way they've been in the past, they're so right-handed that in the past they've seen so much right-handed pitching that I noticed later in the year ... I think he had good outing against them. But that was solid. He gave us a great chance to win today. We just couldn't do anything against Estrada."

On Miley as hard-luck loser: "Today, yeah, but you get matched up against that guy, he's been solid against us. I think it's 22 or 23 of his first 45 pitches were changeups and it's not like nobody looks for it or sits on it. But he's got such good command of the fastball. Probably threw four or five curveballs. About six cutter/sliders. And he's got great command. He has great presentation on the changeup. You talk to hitters and they're thinking about it, they're sitting on it. You've got to box one out because you can't hit both of them."

On trusting Schoop defensively with the shifts: "Jon is as good as it gets and he does things that a lot of second basemen can't do. He came back and made a couple plays later on. He's solid. Tough play. You know what happens sometimes? When guys are in shifts, it's why you have to practice it a lot, especially in spring training, with different angles, different hops, different sight lines. It's just a different look for guys and you've got to practice it, which he does. That's why he's good at it."

On Miley's control: "It's a fine line, like the borderline pitches were strikes today. If you have a situation where the umpire is hunting strikes instead of hunting balls, sometimes that can change the ... We knew coming in today that (Ron) Kulpa is a strike hunter, which fit well for him. A lot of those balls that were a tick down or a tick up, he got the benefit of a 50-50 call. He's not going to give in. He was good."

On Machado's hand: "We're going to take a precautionary X-ray, but it seems to be OK. It's always scary for any player. There's no fake drama after that like you get sometimes and some places. It was what it was. You're not trying to hit him."

On Jones with 124 home runs at Camden Yards: "It's impressive. Think about all the people who have played here in the last 26 years. He's going to be hard to catch. He's such a post-up guy. He comes in here and very quietly has three hits. He had jammed the ankle the other night on the bag and it bit him before his last single up the middle. But he's got really great recuperative power and he loves to play.

"He knows how much we depend on him. He doesn't shirk that responsibility. I don't think it surprises anybody, but it's a reminder of how good he's been for a long period of time here."