Tillman with an early exit and Hardy with three errors as O's lose to Texas

It was a night where the Orioles fell behind by five runs after two innings but then caught up. They then fell behind again as Chris Tillman's early exit and J.J. Hardy's defense contributed to a loss. Strange night, indeed. Hardy's two errors in the bottom of the seventh - part of a career-worst, three-error night for the O's shortstop - opened the door for a three-run inning. Texas used that to break a 5-5 tie and beat the Orioles 8-6 at Globe Life Park. The Rangers avoided a three-game sweep and snapped a seven-game losing streak against Baltimore. Rougned Odor reached on an infield single to start that seventh frame and advanced to second on Hardy's throwing error. After a groundout advanced Odor to third, he scored on another Hardy error for a 6-5 edge and the Rangers then added two more runs to their lead. Earlier, Texas took a 5-0 lead as Tillman had yet another very short outing. For the second time in four starts, Tillman did not record an out in the second inning. The first three batters of the game reached against him and Mitch Moreland made it 2-0 with a two-run single. In the second, the first five batters reached before Tillman was lifted for Brad Brach. Michael Choice hit a two-run homer that inning. Tillman went one inning plus allowing six hits and five runs. He faced 11 batters and nine of them reached base. He threw 51 pitches and his ERA jumped from 4.63 to 5.20. Since he pitched a shutout May 16 at Kansas City, Tillman has made four starts. He has gone a total of 14 1/3 innings while giving up 23 hits and 20 runs. He gave up eight runs in an inning plus on May 21 at Pittsburgh. The Orioles scored two in the third and three in the fifth to tie the game 5-5. Nick Markakis hit a two-run homer in the third. Adam Jones came up with a clutch, two-out, two-run double in the fifth and scored on a Chris Davis single to tie the game. But the O's never could get the lead and eventually Texas did. When Jones homered to right in the eighth the O's pulled within two runs. In this series Jones went 8-for-14 with two homers and six RBIs. He's now batting .299. Brach pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings of long relief which gave the O's a great chance to come back. They did just that to tie it, but Texas took advantage of the seventh inning errors to pull out the win. Their four-game win streak over, the Orioles (30-28) concluded their long road trip going 5-5. They now head home for a 10-game homestand that begins Friday against first-place Oakland. Boston and Toronto will follow the A's into Camden Yards.