Beckham's return doesn't bring win to Orioles

The Orioles have surrendered any hope of structuring their preferred 25-man roster moving forward in the 2018 season. Can't be done after left-hander Richard Bleier underwent surgery to repair a Grade 3 tear in his latissimus dorsi muscle. And no one is certain whether Chris Tillman, signed for the back end of the rotation, will complete a successful rehab assignment and rejoin the club.

But manager Buck Showalter could sit in the dugout tonight, scan the field and find his projected starters at every position.

He could glance down his bench and find Mark Trumbo, who was supposed to get most of the at-bats at designated hitter before a quadriceps injury pushed him onto the disabled list to begin the season.

Trumbo is healthy and on a tear, with five home runs in his last seven games before tonight. Colby Rasmus started in right field following Thursday's return from a hip injury. Catcher Caleb Joseph set up behind the plate again after being recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Norfolk. Third baseman Tim Beckham was activated today and played for the first time since April 23, his recovery complete from core muscle surgery.

The band is back together. It just couldn't drown out a shaky moment from the bullpen or straightened out a plate umpire with balk intentions.

Miguel Castro allowed two runs in the seventh inning after entering a tie game and loading the bases with no outs and the Orioles lost to the Mariners 5-3 before an announced crowd of 21,202 at Christmas-themed Camden Yards.

Showalter and reliever Darren O'Day were ejected by plate umpire Stu Scheurwater in the ninth inning - the first for the reliever in 576 major league games - after a balk call that nullified an out on Nelson Cruz's popup. Showalter raced out of the dugout to separate O'Day from Scheurwater, who also called O'Day for a balk in an April 30, 2017 game at Yankee Stadium that led to another Showalter ejection.

Tonight marked the 32nd in his managerial career.

Zach Britton replaced O'Day and the Mariners loaded the bases with one out, but a 1-2-3 double play kept the margin at two runs.

A walk, single and walk filled the bases in the seventh and Castro's wild pitch, on a ball in the dirt that Joseph backhanded and accidentally kicked, broke a 3-3 tie. Another run scored on Mitch Haniger's sacrifice fly.

Starter Andrew Cashner produced the rotation's 36th quality start with three runs and four hits over six innings, but the Orioles are 31 games below .500 again at 23-54 and are 11-24 at home.

Cashner retired the first two batters in the second inning, but the next five reached and Dee Gordon's single to center field with the count full scored two runs. Cashner threw 30 pitches in the inning, watched Félix Hernández throw seven in the bottom half and was back on the mound.

Cashner walked three batters in the second inning and one in the third, but Gordon's hit was the last he surrendered until Denard Span's two-out solo home run in the sixth with the count full. Cashner retired 10 in a row and controlled his pitch count by throwing nine in the fourth and 10 in the fifth, but he was at 100 through the sixth and Castro replaced him

The Orioles tied the game against Hernandez in the bottom of the sixth after loading the bases with no outs on Manny Machado's second hit, Trumbo's walk and a breaking ball that struck Chris Davis on the foot. Shortstop Jean Segura made a diving stop of Trey Mancini's ground ball and got the force at second, and he retired Jonathan Schoop after a liner deflected off Hernández's glove - two runs scoring on productive outs.

Schoop's home run leading off the fifth reduced the Mariners' lead to 2-1.

Showalter claimed ignorance when told how tonight marked the first time that every projected starter appeared in the same lineup.

"Someone reminded me of it. I didn't at that point," he said. "Don't have Richard Bleier. Who else are we missing? Tillman somewhat. I didn't dwell on it too long."

Shameless plug alert: "Actually, Roch made me aware of it more than anything on the radio show. But it's something I would have eventually got."

Showalter hates to play the injury card and try to elicit sympathy along the way. Other teams lose key players and they manage to avoid a total collapse. There's a challenge around every corner. The Orioles were mugged.

"I'm a big believer that you seek your level and you are kind of what you are in your sport," Showalter said. "Even with injuries, everybody's got them. That's why I really don't harp about it. I don't want to talk about them. Everybody's got them.

"There will be a team that will win a world championship this year that probably will have somebody ... I look back at some of our lineups the other day in the playoffs. It was (Ryan) Flaherty at third. We had different people who were taking place ... Steve Pearce. That's part of it. Your what-ifs are very important. Your minor league system providing those what-ifs is very important."

The disabled list held the starting third baseman until earlier today. The final piece in the lineup puzzle.

"For me it's an exciting feeling," said Beckham, who twice grounded to shortstop, was robbed of a hit and tiebreaking RBI on Span's sliding catch in left field and struck out to end the game. "You know, our record doesn't look good right now, but we have a really good ballclub. We've got guys that can bang it around the park. For everyone to be healthy and in the lineup tonight, that's a good feeling.

"The team has been playing really well. The record might not show it, but from what I saw on TV watching the Atlanta series, everyone is starting have fun again and bring some good energy to the clubhouse."

Beckham provided another shot in the arm. Teammates hugged him, joked about his haircut, basked in a more normal clubhouse environment.

They aren't selling anyone on the prospect of a sudden playoff push. They just want the strength to push back harder against teams that shoved them into last place.

"It took a while, but we're excited to have them healthy," Machado said. "At the end of the day we want everybody to be healthy. Colby's back healthy. Came up first day and hit a home run off (Max) Scherzer. Now, Beckham's back. He's looking healthy, feeling good, so we've got the team back.

"Hopefully, we got on a nice little streak. You see what happened this weekend when we had everybody else healthy and back in the lineup. Having Beckham back in there is just going to make our lineup a lot stronger."

"It's been a long 77 games," said Davis, who struck out three times, "but I'm glad to see everybody back. I was really proud of the way we played in Atlanta. That's a really good and complete team that we played and I was happy we took the series from them. Obviously, we know how the season started and where we are as of now, but you can't hang your head. You have to keep battling and building some momentum, because that momentum may carry you over to the next year.

"You never know what can happen, so I'm glad we're at full strength."

The Orioles knew that they'd start the season without Britton, who underwent surgery in December to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. They weren't prepared for Trumbo to sustain the quad injury and incur a setback that eliminated him from consideration for opening day. For Rasmus to go 2-for-21 with 13 strikeouts before succumbing to pain in his hip. For Beckham to require surgery that included the repairing of tears on both sides of his groin.

No one can state with authority how the season would have played out with the club at full strength. Tonight's giveaway was a Showalter snow globe, not a crystal ball.

"You can't really go back in time and know if things are going to go way differently or if they're going to go a lot better," Machado said. "Who knows what would have happened? We could have been in the same situation. But just to know that we've got everybody back and healthy, we can just see what we can do moving forward."

The Orioles didn't get their second hit off Hernández until Trumbo singled with one out in the fourth to advance Machado, who drew a walk. Davis struck out for the second time, bringing a smattering of boos from a crowd that hadn't watched him at home since June 11, and Mancini struck out.

Tanner Scott struck out two batters on six pitches in the seventh to strand two after replacing Castro, but the Orioles were out of rallies. Not arguments, however.

Note: Tillman allowed two runs and four hits in the first inning tonight at Single-A Delmarva before again getting better results. He lasted 3 1/3 innings and didn't surrender another run or hit. Tillman walked one batter, struck out three and threw 62 pitches.