Wrapping up a 6-2 loss

Pushing his start through the sixth inning was the one positive that Kevin Gausman could take away from tonight's game.

One positive that couldn't stop the Orioles from suffering their seventh loss in the last nine games.

The Orioles fell to the Red Sox again, losing 6-2 before an announced crowd of 17,664 at Camden Yards. They trail Boston by three games in the American League East, with Mike Wright and Ubaldo Jimenez scheduled to start the last two games of the series.

Gausman surrendered three home runs in the first two innings, with Mookie Betts twice taking him deep before giving Dylan Bundy the same treatment in the seventh. Dustin Pedroia followed Betts' home run in the first with one of his own.

"His command," said manager Buck Showalter. "Found his step. I'm impressed that he came out and gave us six there. Trying to stay away from a lot of guys. You'd like to. That was the good part.

"The first couple innings he had trouble finding his way. They hit the mistakes he made, obviously. But it's good to see him come back and compete and get through those six innings."

Showalter is fond of pointing out how teams never are as good or bad as they look. They're in the midst of a troubling stretch that's lowered their record to 28-22.

"I'm sure it is statistically," he said. "Wins and losses, that's the only thing we're looking at. You go through periods where kind of everything falls your way, then you go through periods where they jump up and catch balls."

For example, Chris Young's grab in front of the Orioles bullpen to rob Manny Machado in the third.

"A squared-up ball to the one place in the park that it stays in," Showalter said.

Chris Davis appeared to hit a home run onto Eutaw Street in the ninth, a ball that flirted with the warehouse, but first base umpire Doug Eddings ruled it foul. The call was upheld after an umpires' review.

"Chris hits a home run and we can't get a camera angle that will show it. We finally got one that showed it was fair," Showalter said. "I think everybody knew it was probably fair, but if they had called it fair, they wouldn't have overturned it. So those are some of those things that you present for yourself that matter a lot when you get into some deficits early.

"You've got to stay away from that kind of, I don't want to say that 'here we go again' mentality, but certainly that something where you follow a pattern for a few games early in the game and it challenges you."

Former Orioles minor leaguer Eduardo Rodriguez got the win in his 2016 debut after allowing two runs and six hits in six innings. He didn't walk a batter.

"Their pitcher's good," Showalter said. "He's thrown over 100 pitches twice in the minor leagues. We knew he was going to be raring to go his first start up here. You can see why we liked him so much and they did and why you can bring back people you bring back for him."

Betts' sensational night included a diving catch in right field to rob Paul Janish.

"I'm thinking to myself, 'Mookie is having a pretty good night. I can do without him adding to it with that catch,'" Janish said. "At this juncture in time, I could use the hit. I'll give him a hard time in BP tomorrow."

"You've got some things that just aren't falling for us," Showalter said. "The right fielder had as good as game on the defensive side as he did on the other side. Seems like he can play any depth he wants. When I saw him in the fall league I called a friend of mine with the Red Sox and said, 'You've got a pretty special looking kid down here in Betts.' I'm sorry I was right once this year. He had a big game out there.

"They hit balls that nicked the foul pole. We can do that, too. We had some of those things go our way early, too. They're producing their breaks."

The Red Sox were all over Gausman early.

"Getting behind guys, not throwing quality pitches early in the game," Gausman said. "Kind of seemed like the third inning, kind of found it, and by then it was too late. But getting in hitters counts and not throwing quality pitches.

"It's frustrating definitely. You just try to take it pitch by pitch after that. The biggest thing is just trying to stay in there as long as you can and give your team a chance to win. Just take it pitch by pitch, try to get ground balls and quick outs."

Too many long fly balls for Gausman, who's allowed six home runs in his last two starts.

"It only stems from my mechanics," he said. "I think I was kind of leaking a little bit early and leaving some balls that were running back over the plate. Like I said, you get in so many 2-0, 2-1 hitters counts and try to throw a strike right there, and obviously Betts is a very good player. Their whole lineup's hot right now.

"Like I said, I kind of figured it out later in the game, but I was just happy that the bullpen didn't have to wear it today as much.

"It's pretty obvious that we're struggling right now, but hopefully we can turn around and even this series up. They're the best team in baseball right now, so you have to be on your game. If you're not, it's tough against this team, against this lineup, against their bullpen. Their starters are pitching well, too, right now, so it kind of seems like everything's clicking for them right now."

The same can't be said of the Orioles.

"Trying to figure out a reason or find a reason for stuff like this is tough to do," Janish said. "It's kind of like when things are going good, it's the snowball effect. To a certain extent, that's kind of what we have going right now. It's either you can't get the big hit or like tonight, we fell behind early and Gausman did a great job getting through six innings and helped us out there.

"It's one of those where I don't think there's anything in particular to pinpoint. As quickly as the game goes the other way, it can go our way, too, and that's we're waiting for, and we look forward to that happening sooner or later."

Notes: Adam Jones passed Melvin Mora for sole possession of 11th place on the Orioles' all-time hits list with 1,323. Al Bumbry is 10th with 1,403.

Machado is batting .367/.500/.633 (11-for-30) with five doubles, a home run, three RBIs and five runs scored in his last eight games.