A rally falls short and some prospects talk

We've seen the script play out a few too many times in the 2017 season. O's fall behind by a lot of runs early. O's battle back. But the rally comes up short.

It did again last night when Tampa Bay scored five runs off left-hander Wade Miley in the second inning and got nothing after that. The Orioles rallied, and when Welington Castillo singled in two runs with two outs in the eighth they were down by just 5-4. But the Orioles left two runners on in the eighth and two on in the ninth, and that was frustrating. Yet again.

It seems hard to believe now, but there was a time earlier in the season when Miley was in the top 10 in ERA in the American League. But while he pitched five scoreless innings out of six last night, the five runs he allowed in the second inning were just enough to lose. He made too many hittable pitches in that inning, and the Rays did damage.

Over his first 11 starts to this season, Miley was 2-3 with a 2.82 ERA. Over his past 10 starts he is 2-6 with a 9.69 ERA and zero quality starts. Not good enough, as Buck Showalter says.

Today as the Orioles look to win this series, they sent right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez (4-6, 7.19 ERA) to the mound. He will have to reverse some of these numbers to win today. He has allowed 12 runs in 5 2/3 over two starts this year against Tampa Bay for a 19.06 ERA. He is 2-3 with a 6.67 ERA in five career starts at Tropicana Field.

Prospects chatter: Baseball America released its mid-year list of the 2017 Orioles top 10 prospects. They ranked them one through 10 this way: Chance Sisco, Austin Hays, DL Hall, Ryan Mountcastle, Tanner Scott, Hunter Harvey, Jomar Reyes, Cedric Mullins, Keegan Akin and Cody Sedlock.

Sisco remains number one, but Hays jumped up from No. 7 over the winter. Sedlock fell down from No. 2. Mountcastle actually fell one spot to allow for the insertion of Hall, the 2017 top pick. Mullins was No. 26 on the winter top 30. Scott moves up from No. 11.

Here is a link to the top 10 list from after last season.

On July 7, Baseball America released this list of the mid-year top 100 prospects. Sisco was at No. 29, the highest top 100 ranking I've seen for him yet. He was No. 52 on a list released in May by Baseball America and No. 57 over the winter. Outfielder Austin Hays entered the BA list for the first time at No. 99.

MLBPipeline.com released a new list of its top 100 prospects on Monday. Sisco was ranked No. 50. He was ranked No. 99 over the winter by the same outlet. He is the only Oriole ranked in their top 100. Click here to see MLBPipeline.com's newest ranking of the Orioles' top 30.