Can O's salvage this road trip or will it get worse?

LOS ANGELES - New city, same recent result for the Orioles. The flight south from Seattle to Los Angeles did not lead to a win to snap a losing streak. It just led to more frustration.

Now they have lost five in a row, the latest defeat a 7-5 loss Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Their starting pitcher seems to get knocked out of the game early every night and their division lead is down to just two games.

Is the season starting to unravel 3,000 miles from home or are the Orioles just slumping at the moment?

Catcher Matt Wieters tried to present the voice of reason in the clubhouse last night.

"We're still not at the All-Star break yet, so we have a lot of baseball to play," he said. "The big thing is trying to fix what's going wrong and just working and moving forward. We know that the answer is going to come in here in this clubhouse and it's just a matter of getting there."

A seven-game win streak preceded this losing stretch. During that run, the O's outscored their opponents 61-29. Now, with five consecutive losses, they have been outscored 38-20. Their pitching staff has allowed 28 runs over the last three games and 62 over the last nine.

Right-hander Yovani Gallardo was the latest to come up short on providing a solid start to stop the losing and rest the tired bullpen. But he couldn't do it, allowing four runs over four innings on 95 pitches.

"I had to battle from the first hitter on," Gallardo said. "Command wasn't there like it was the last game. I was falling behind guys and it's hard. It's hard to pitch at this level having to do that. Just wasn't consistent. It just can't happen, especially when guys put runs on the board early in the game. You've got to put up zeros."

But twice early in last night's game, the Oriole took and lost three-run leads. They led 3-0 in the second and 5-2 in the fourth.

"It's frustrating," Gallardo said. "I gave up those two solo home runs. I think the one to (Yasmani) Grandal was just a mistake. I tried to throw it up and in, a mistake. That can't happen. The one to (Yasiel) Puig, I wasn't aggressive behind it. I kind of threw it in there for a strike. I was ahead, and (it wasn't) a putaway pitch."

Orioles pitchers are making all kinds of mistakes these days. They include the inability to stop the other team from scoring with a shutdown inning when their offense gets them runs. Plus they are giving up way too many hits and some big hits when they are ahead in counts.

The O's rotation:
* has allowed 18 runs in 11 1/3 innings over the last three games.
* has allowed 25 runs in 22 innings during the losing streak.
* has pitched to an ERA of 7.91 on this road trip.

The Orioles are 2-5 on this trip and it could turn into a 2-7 disaster against a Dodgers team playing strong baseball right now. The Dodgers have won five in a row, seven of eight and 15 of 20. Los Angeles has won 10 in a row at home and is 17-3 in its last 20 games at Dodger Stadium.

Those are daunting numbers for the Orioles to overcome here the next two days. Will it get worse before it gets better for the reeling Orioles?