Trumbo on struggling offense, Miley on his outing

The Orioles were shut out tonight for the first time since Aug. 25, 2016 at Washington. Five pitchers combined on a two-hitter as Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 2-0.

It was the first time the O's were held to two hits since Sept. 12, 2016 at Boston. The Orioles have scored 21 runs over their past eight games. They've scored two runs or less five times in the last seven games.

I asked Mark Trumbo if he is concerned with the offense.

"It's not where we want it," he said. "It's not where I want and there are probably quite a few guys in here not pleased. But that's part of the game. Everyone in here has struggled. Everyone has done well. We've got a great team and this is just kind of a little funk and we'll move past it."

Trumbo is 0-for-15 over his past four games, while J.J. Hardy is 1-for-18 over five games and Chris Davis is 6-for-36 over his past 10 games. Manny Machado is batting .188 and Caleb Joseph is at .111. The Orioles went 2-for-29 tonight and 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

Tonight, the Orioles expected to face right-handed starter Erasmo Ramírez (2-0, 3.07 ERA), but he was scratched as Tampa Bay, with an iffy forecast, went with a bullpen game. Right-hander Austin Pruitt made his first career start. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said his team found out about the change of starting pitchers 20 minutes before gametime.

"We were ready. We were ready. It's not big a deal," Trumbo said as the Orioles fall to 13-6 on the season and to 7-3 at home.

Losing pitcher Wade Miley walked six batters, three in the top of the fourth, with two of them scoring in the Rays' two-run inning. But Miley was able to go seven innings giving up just four hits. He is now 1-1 with an ERA of 2.08 through four starts.

Trumbo said Miley's strong start to the season bodes well for the team.

"Yeah, for sure," he said. "Wade's a very, very quality pitcher and I knew once he got acclimated, he would return to form. He's throwing the ball great this year. Very aggressive and not a lot of good swings against him and that was another great outing tonight."

Miley has recorded three consecutive quality starts. He threw a season-high 116 pitches. This was the fifth time in his career - and second this season - that he has walked six or more.

"You know what? Gave us a chance," Miley said. "Their guys did a great job making pitches tonight. Overall, obviously, the walks hurt in that fourth inning. Just had some command issues. Have to nail that down. Put some work in, and kind of figure out what's going on with that and move forward. You just try to make pitches and I just wasn't able to at a big part of the game."

There were some close pitches that he didn't get a call on and others he could not quite locate exactly where he intended.

"Early in the count, like 1-2, I would (need to) make a pitch and it was frustrating," Miley said. "Maybe tried to do too much and it would be 3-2, and you have to make a pitch and I was missing. It was frustrating, but at the same time, I have to do a better job of taking a step back and executing a pitch earlier in the count.

"I let myself get a little upset with some calls. There were borderline pitches that could go either way. I guess you get in those situations, do a little too much. Overall, I was able to get through seven. Caleb called a good game. I just didn't execute as good as I would have liked to. Overall, not too bad."

But the Orioles have been getting solid starting pitching and they have nine quality starts in the last 12 games with a rotation ERA of 3.08.

"I think teams are built on pitching. If we go out there and do our jobs, our offense is pretty good. We're going to score runs," Miley said.

The Orioles and Rays play the third and deciding game of this series on Wednesday night with Dylan Bundy (3-1, 1.37 ERA) facing right-hander Alex Cobb (1-2, 4.88 ERA). The Orioles have not lost a series on the season, going 5-0-1, and will need a win in that game to keep that streak intact.