Wrapping up the Orioles' 10-6 loss at Houston

HOUSTON - The Orioles scored as many runs tonight as they had in the previous four games. And right-hander Mike Wright Jr. allowed one fewer run than Justin Verlander. But in the end, the Orioles could not stop the defending World Series champions from doing what they do best - piling up runs.

Rule 5 pitchers Pedro Araujo and Nestor Cortes Jr. were put in a very tough spot tonight: facing Houston late in the contest with the game tied. They began the night with a combined three major league appearances.

But Araujo hit the first batter he faced in a 5-5 game in the seventh and allowed George Springer's tiebreaking double. Araujo later walked two and left Cortes a bases-loaded situation with two outs against Josh Reddick.

Reddick would then put the biggest swing of the night together. He hit an 89 mph, 3-2 fastball out for his sixth career grand slam and a 10-5 lead. It led to a 10-6 win over the Orioles in front of 37,106 at Minute Maid Park.

The Orioles have lost four in a row since their opening day win and have lost eight straight in this ballpark. They are 1-11 here since 2015.

"I came in and was in a situation left on left, I have to get that guy out," Cortes said. "Missed my spots in the beginning and fell behind (3-0). Got him a pitch to hit and he hit it out. Got to do a better job of executing pitches and getting ahead."

The Orioles led 4-3 heading to the Houston sixth. Buck Showalter's plan at that point was for Mychal Givens to pitch two innings and then get one each from Darren O'Day and Brad Brach to come away with a win. But the plan changed after Givens allowed a two-run homer to Reddick in the inning before the slam that made it 5-4 Astros. Reddick drove in six runs over two innings and earlier in the game robbed Trey Mancini of a three-run home run.

When the game was tied up by the Orioles in seventh on Adam Jones' RBI single, the skipper went to the Rule 5 pitchers to try and hold the tie.

"(Miguel) Castro pitched two innings, almost 35-40 pitches (Monday). Wasn't going to use him. (Richard) Bleier's pitched two days in a row. Castro's two out of three," Showalter said.. "It's the fifth game of the season. They've got to pitch. We still like them. It's just a tough situation for them. If we've got that sixth inning pitched, we have a little different setup that we could have taken a shot with."

The Orioles got the lead twice tonight. but could not hold it either time. Jonathan Schoop's first homer was 417-foot blast off a Verlander fastball in the first. But in the bottom half of the inning, a Carlos Correa two-run, inside-the-park homer made it 2-1. Mancini ran toward the wall in left-center, but never quite got there and threw himself under the bus for not making what would have been a great catch.

"He hit it pretty well in the gap," Mancini said. "I was out early, trying to get the lay of the land out there. I thought I was between the Waste Management (sign) and the white sign there. I thought I had about four more feet and I reached up, kind of jumped up, and my arm hit the wall. That's my fault. I have to make that play. That changes the whole complexion of the game. That's totally on me right there."

On a night where the Orioles suffered a brutal loss, Showalter could point to a few positives. Like the offense breaking out and Wright pitching a solid game.

He allowed four hits and three runs over five innings, throwing 82 pitches and featuring a cutter/slider 29 times.

"Obviously, facing tough competition with the pitcher against him and that team, I was proud of Mike," Showalter said. "He gave us a good chance. We needed him. It's kind of where it's been, five innings has been a good start for us. We were going to take him to 80-90 pitches."

The Orioles hit two homers and their 12 hits matched the total of their previous three games. Jones and Schoop had three hits each. Jones hit his 250th Orioles homer and drove in three runs. Manny Machado and Tim Beckham had two hits each.

Perhaps it is something to build on when the Orioles try to avoid getting swept here on Wednesday afternoon.

"We had some really good at-bats off a really good pitcher," Showalter said. "Mike pitched well. It was good to see. Our guys kept battling back. When we took that lead, if we got that shutdown inning, ... Mike (Givens) would have had to pitch two innings with where we were with the bullpen. We thought we had a shot there with Darren and Brad behind him where they could have pitched tonight if we could have held that lead there."