Can O's brush off tough loss today? (plus notes on Schoop, Alvarez and more)

That was one ugly last of the sixth inning last night for the Orioles. They made two errors and allowed five unearned runs in helping Boston to a 5-1 win.

Consider that the Orioles had allowed just one unearned run in 21 games in June before giving up five in one inning last night - ugly indeed. The Orioles allowed eight unearned runs in all of April and seven in all of May.

So last night's mess was an outlier - one they must move past quickly as they try to beat former Oriole prospect Eduardo Rodriguez to get this series. Rodriguez pitched six scoreless innings on three hits June 9 in Baltimore, but the Orioles did win that game, 1-0.

Today's game is important in that the Orioles have not lost a series since dropping three of four at Houston on June 1-4. Since then, they are 5-0-1 in six series. They have won three straight American League East series and need a win today to keep that streak going.

Is this a big game? It is just one of 162, but it would be nice to see the Orioles win it, forget last night's meltdown, beat their former farmhand and head home with some momentum. So far, they are 4-3 on the trip, which ends today.

Triple-A Norfolk notes: Cuban-born outfielder Dariel Alvarez had yet another multi-hit game for the Triple-A Norfolk Tides on Wednesday. Alvarez, ranked as the O's No. 5 prospect according to Baseball America, went 2-for-6 in the Tides' 12-inning win at Columbus.

This was the 13th multi-hit game in the last 16 games for Alvarez. In that stretch, he is batting .403 (29-for-72) with six doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs.

Alvarez is making a run at winning the league's Triple Crown in June (a very unofficial title), as he leads the International League in average (.388), ranks second in home runs (five) and is third in RBIs (18) this month through Tuesday's games.

Heading into Wednesday's game, Norfolk had played 72 games, marking the halfway point of the 144-game schedule. The Tides matched their best start after 72 games since becoming an Orioles affiliate in 2007 (40-32 in 2009). Norfolk has done so despite playing the fewest home games (31) of any IL team.

The Tides completed a three-game sweep yesterday, making four series sweeps on the year. At 41-32, Norfolk is a 1/2-game out of first place in its division, but leading the IL wild-card race.

The scoop on Schoop: Jonathan Schoop homered for his second straight game last night at Double-A Bowie as he closes in on a return to the Orioles. In his first three games with the Baysox, Schoop went 1-for-11. Over his last two games, he is 4-for-8 with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs.

Bowie won 9-2 over New Britain as the Baysox hit three two-run homers in the fifth inning. Schoop connected as did Trey Mancini and David Freitas.

In 18 games since his promotion to Bowie, Mancini is batting .369 with four homers, 14 RBIs and an OPS of 1.101. He is 10-for-22 his last six games.

Right-hander Parker Bridwell gave up two runs over seven innings to get the win for Bowie and is 3-4 with a 4.12 ERA. Ashur Tolliver pitched two scoreless to finish the game. The Baysox are 40-31 and two games out of first place.