Straily, Phillips struggle again as O's lose series opener

The recent uptick the Orioles have seen in their pitching didn't hold tonight. Two struggling pitchers continued to struggle as the Los Angeles Angels took the opener of a three-game series 8-3 at Oriole Park.

The game was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 49 minutes before the start of the seventh inning. It ended just after midnight.

The Orioles fall to 13-25 overall, 2-4 on this homestand and 5-14 at home for the year. Los Angeles is 18-20 and has won nine of 13 after going 1-9 over a 10-game stretch.

Orioles right-hander Dan Straily, who began the game with an overall ERA of 7.43 and 11.57 in four home games, got through the first in fine fashion. He fanned Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in an 11-pitch inning.

But it went downhill from there.

Straily allowed five hits and six runs over 4 1/3 innings as the Angels scored once in the second, twice in the third and five times in the fifth to open an 8-2 lead. The fifth was particularly damaging, as the Orioles had moved within 3-2 in the last of the fourth.

Kole Calhoun's RBI triple tied the game 1-1 in the second and followed a solo homer in the first by Trey Mancini, who was not robbed this time. Mike Trout's two-run homer to center in the third made it a 3-1 Angels lead. Trout hit No. 8 on a 3-2 fastball from Straily.

Trout's RBI double in the fifth ended Straily's night and made it 4-2. Right-hander Evan Phillips inherited two runners and they both scored on Andrelton Simmons' two-run single to right. He let in two of Straily's runs and then gave up two of his own as Los Angeles blew the game open.

The Orioles had taken the lead on Mancini's seventh homer with one out in the home first. He hit a 1-0 sinker from right-hander Trevor Cahill 438 feet to center field where no one could catch it. Mancini had gone 22 games without a home run since April 10. Down 3-1 in the fourth, a two-out double from Stevie Wilkerson and an RBI single by Chris Davis pulled the Orioles within a run.

Davis hit his fourth homer after the lengthy delay. The solo shot in the seventh pulled the Orioles within 8-3.

But the game got away from Straily and the Orioles in the top of the fifth when the Angels batted around. Straily has a home game ERA of 11.78. Over 18 1/3 innings at Camden Yards, he has given up 24 runs and 33 hits, including nine home runs. Opponents are hitting .388 against him in this park.

Winning pitcher Trevor Cahill gave up four hits and two runs over six innings to go to 2-3 with an ERA of 6.35. Cahill was 0-2 with an ERA of 10.91 over his previous four starts.

So the Orioles lose the series opener and will host the Angels on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. The starters will be right-hander Dylan Bundy (1-4, 5.30 ERA) for Baltimore and Matt Harvey (1-3, 6.94 ERA) for Los Angeles.