Showalter speaks following 4-2 loss

The Orioles' modest two-game winning streak ended tonight due mostly to a strong outing by the opponent's starting pitcher and a nice escape act by its closer. However, there's usually a chance to dissect certain decisions on the basepaths and in the batter's box.

Let's do it.

Jimmy Paredes singled with two outs in the eighth inning to score Rey Navarro, but Nelson Cruz threw him out at second base after again letting the ball get past him. The Orioles challenged the call and lost after a lengthy review.

The Orioles added another run in the ninth before falling to the Mariners 4-2 before 21,710 at Camden Yards.

"It's a hindsight thing, obviously," Showalter said. "Doesn't mean anything is going to happen after that happened after it the next inning. They probably would have had a whole different pitcher. I don't look at what happened afterward. I think that's not fair.

"Jimmy lets it rip. There's a question whether he's out or safe. It's one of those ... We looked at three of them he was safe and one of them he was out, and that's enough for them I'm sure to not overturn what was called on the field. If they had called him safe, they probably wouldn't have overturned that, either. I know what the end game is. I get it. But Jimmy thought he could make it and it's still questionable whether he did or didn't. But I know what went up on the scoreboard.

"It's kind of who he is. He saw something and went for it and it didn't work out."

Adam Jones and Delmon Young opened the ninth with singles off Fernando Rodney. Chris Davis and Steve Pearce struck out looking, J.J. Hardy delivered an RBI single to center field and pinch-hitter Travis Snider grounded out.

Davis worked the count full and took a third strike on a pitch that ran across the plate and caught the inner half, according to umpire John Hirschbeck.

"You've got a guy who's kind of scattering it around a little bit," Showalter said. "He's trying to go away on that pitch. As a hitter, you get a feel for the catcher moving and where he's coming, and then throw it all the way across the plate. Someone said it may have nicked the corner of the plate. I know it's close.

"It's one of those 50-50 calls. That one went against Chris and it went against us at second base. If you knew they were going to call that pitch a strike, you'd have swung at it.

"It's hard when you're looking out over the plate, where he's been throwing it and supposed to throw it, and all of a sudden he crossfires a ball and then he gets rewarded for it. But that's the way it goes. You can see how he called it a strike, easily."

Tyler Wilson made his major league debut and got Robinson Cano to ground into a double play after surrendering two singles.

"Good to get Tyler out there. I'm sure he's flying," Showalter said.

"There are so few opportunities. I just don't want those guys to ... He and T.J. (McFarland) have both been sitting for a while because our pitchers have been pitching well and we haven't had a need for what they bring. Kind of like Zach (Britton), they usually pitch better after they get through one of those outings. Tommy (Hunter) had four days off. Need to get Zach in there tomorrow. Don't want him to sit more than three days."

The Orioles did little against Mariners starter Roenis Elias, who retired 10 in a row at one stretch. He was charged with one run in 7 2/3 innings.

"A lot of changeups," Showalter said. "If you look at his percentage. It happens a lot against us. His percentage of fastballs was a whole lot higher than what we figured he would throw tonight, and he threw a lot of changeups.

"There's no such thing as a hitter's count anymore in the big leagues. It's almost more of an offspeed count - 2-1, 1-0, 2-0, 3-2. And you go back through it, that's probably the key for him."

Wei-Yin Chen fell to 1-3 after allowing four runs in seven innings. He didn't walk a batter for the first time this season.

"He was good," Showalter said. "Left a couple breaking balls up that he paid for, but other than that he was crisp. Deep into the game and wasn't much margin for error for him the way their guy was pitching. I thought he pitched pretty well all things considered. Just a couple of mistakes he paid for. A breaking ball he left that he was trying to get it obviously in a different spot and left it over the plate.

"Wei-Yin gave us seven pretty solid innings and we'll take that. Felt like we would make a run at him at some point if we could stay in touch with him. We had some good opportunities, but obviously against a quality back of the game pitcher."

Chen has worked seven or more innings in three consecutive starts to match his career high set July 24-Aug. 4, 2013.

Orioles starters have gone at least seven innings in six consecutive games and seven of their last eight. During the six-game streak, the rotation is 3-3 with a 2.51 ERA in 43 innings.