Orioles held to one run for second straight night in loss to Angels

The Orioles came into this game with a record of 5-8 in May and were scoring just 3.1 runs per game this month.

They couldn't even hit that total tonight. Angels right-hander Matt Shoemaker, whose ERA was 6.61 at gametime, shut down the Orioles and Mike Trout homered as Los Angeles beat the O's 6-1 at Camden Yards.

In falling to 15-19, the Orioles are four games under the .500 mark for the first time this season. They have lost the first two games of this series, scoring two runs on eight hits and have lost eight of 11 overall.

O's starter Ubaldo Jimenez sailed through the first four innings, throwing 37 of his 45 pitches for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 11 of the first 14 batters he faced.

He stranded two runners in the fifth, pitching around a single and Manny Machado's ninth error. In the sixth, Mike Trout singled with one out but was thrown out on a pitchout by Caleb Joseph, just the second time in nine steal attempts Trout has been caught.

But after the promising start, the Angels used some soft hits to get the lead 2-1 in the top of the seventh. Erick Aybar and Johnny Giavotella led off with infield singles. With two outs, No. 8 hitter Chris Iannetta singled on a high chopper off Machado's glove at third for a 1-1 tie. No. 9 hitter Marc Krauss followed with a single to left for the 2-1 lead.

Jimenez went seven innings, allowing seven hits and two runs to fall to 3-3 with an ERA of 2.43. He has an ERA of 1.29 in four home starts.

Los Angeles saw its lead grow to 3-1 when Mike Trout homered to right off Darren O'Day in the eighth. It was his 10th homer of the year and 10th in 29 career games versus the O's. It went to 4-1 when David Freese homered to right off Zach Britton in the ninth. The Angels added two more in the ninth to complete the scoring, including an RBI single by Trout that went under Machado's glove as he charged a roller.

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead on one swing in the last of the fourth. Steve Pearce, batting just .130 (3-for-23) in May, hit a solo homer to left off Shoemaker. Pearce hit a 3-2 pitch for his third homer of the year, but first since the second game of the year on April 7. He had no RBIs his previous six games, but gave the O's the lead in the fourth.

But Shoemaker went seven innings, allowing just three hits and one run with no walks and seven strikeouts. He had given up at least three runs in all six of his starts coming into tonight.

So after dropping two games to start this series, the Orioles need a win Sunday at 1:35 p.m. to avoid a three-game home sweep by the Angels.