After falling back in division race, O's need to hold wild card now

The Orioles' hopes to win a second American League East title in three seasons have pretty much gone south in less than a week. When they beat Boston 1-0 last Wednesday at Fenway Park, the Orioles came home one game out of first place.

Who knew after completing a 6-3 road trip, with impressive series wins at Detroit and Boston, that the Orioles would unravel on their own turf? But they've gone 2-4 on this homestand and now are five games out in the division. This is not at all what they had in mind for an 11-game homestand.

Big chance missed. So far, at least.

Right now, if the Orioles look in their rear-view mirror, teams are gaining on them. In two days, they have fallen from the first to the second AL wild card spot. They now lead that by just 1 1/2 games over Detroit, two games over Houston, three over Seattle and 3 1/2 over New York. Maybe the division has slipped away, but now the Orioles need to make sure a wild card spot does not.

Many fans last night were second-guessing manager Buck Showalter's decision to stay with Kevin Gausman to pitch to David Ortiz in the seventh inning and not go to lefty Donnie Hart. Ortiz would hit a three-run homer to turn a one-run lead into a four-run edge. It was the key swing in the game.

But Gausman had allowed just two runs and was at 98 pitches when Ortiz came up. He's been the team's best starter in the second half and had thrown four scoreless starts his last five games. He wasn't pitching nearly as well as last week at Fenway Park, but he wasn't get hit all over the park, either. But we know what happened and Showalter left himself open to second-guessing by not going to the lefty.

After the game, catcher Matt Wieters seemed to second-guess himself, not on the pitch call of a fastball, but his suggested location of down and away.

"I still can't figure out how (Ortiz) can swing so hard on balls up and in and then cover a pitch down and away, but that's why he's the hitter he is," Wieters said.

Gausman missed his spot there and the pitch found the middle of the plate. A reporter wondered if Wieters thought about trying to bury a splitter there with a 1-2 count on Ortiz.

"We threw quite a few splits before, and he kept laying off them and kept laying off them," Wieters said. "When the guy's seeing the ball like that, you've got to figure he's reading it. That's why down and away came into my mind as a pitch that we might be able to freeze him up on, but it didn't work out like that."

So some fans were frustrated by their manager's inability to go to the bullpen. Wieters was frustrated by the inability to get a key pitch exactly where the Orioles needed it.

Meanwhile, Mookie Betts went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, and Ortiz homered and drove in three. The Orioles just can't get that duo out in 2016. They have combined to go 7-for-15 in this series with three homers and seven RBIs. They've done most of the damage, as Boston has scored 10 runs in two games.

The Orioles are simply not playing well enough right now at this critical point of the year. They've scored eight runs in the last four games on just 25 hits and have gone 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. In going 31-33 since the All-Star Game, the Orioles have scored three or fewer runs 34 times in the second half.

Their starting rotation has gone six games without a quality start, pitching to an ERA of 6.61. In this series, Dylan Bundy and Gausman have allowed 10 runs and four homers over 11 1/3 innings.

On a more positive note, Orioles fans certainly seemed excited about Trey Mancini's major league debut last night. Then when he homered in his second at-bat, he got a curtain call and Camden Yards was buzzing.

After the game, Mancini explained that not only was he excited to hit his first major league homer, but the timing of it has special significance for his family.

"It was a really special moment," Mancini said. "Something I've definitely been waiting for my whole life. It was especially cool for my family. I didn't say this before the game, but my grandfather was a 20-year season ticket holder here for the Orioles. Today would have been his 79th birthday. He passed away four years ago. I just found out recently that today would have been his birthday. So that is a big reason why this is special and part of the reason my mom was so pumped up out there, too."

Well, how awesome that Mancini could homer on his grandfather's birthday. Mancini's teammates from the last few seasons in the O's minors have been flooding social media with well wishes. It is pretty clear he's made an impact on the O's farm, both on and off the field.

As for tonight's game at Camden Yards, the Orioles need a win and soon. As they have gone backwards in the AL East, some teams are bearing down on them in the wild card race. The pressure to win is on big time with 11 games remaining.