Chris Tillman allows seven runs as Detroit wins (quotes added)

As right-hander Chris Tillman struggled badly again tonight and the Orioles trailed 7-0 in the third inning, two questions came to mind: Would this outing knock Tillman from the rotation, and could the team come back from so far down?

The first answer will have to wait and the second is no, not tonight. Not quite. Detroit held off the Orioles 7-5 to snap the club's five-game win streak. It was the opener of a four-game series.

Tillman's miserable season continued, as he allowed six hits and seven runs (five earned) in two innings plus five batters. Detroit went 6-for-11 against him and he has given up 15 hits and 15 runs (13 earned) over 6 1/3 innings over his past two starts.

After a 43-minute rain delay at the start of the game, the Tigers' Ian Kinsler led off with a homer. It was his 45th career leadoff homer and he passed Brady Anderson for sixth on the all-time list. Two batters later, Justin Upton blasted a 452-foot home run to center for a 2-0 lead. An out later, there was another rain delay, this time for 59 minutes. Tillman would return to the mound to get the last out of the top of the first after the delay. Tillman has allowed 19 runs over the opening 15 innings of his 2017 starts, including seven home runs.

But he was knocked from the game during Detroit's five-run third inning where the Tigers opened a 7-0 lead. With the bases loaded and no outs, shortstop Tim Beckham had a sure double play grounder go through his legs as two runs scored. The next batter was Miguel Cabrera and he doubled home two runs.

Before tonight, Orioles starters had pitched to an ERA of 0.76 over the last five games and 2.79 in the last nine.

Amid Tillman's struggles, the Orioles turned their second triple play of the year. With two on and none out in the second, catcher James McCann hit a hard grounder to Manny Machado at third. He started an around-the-horn triple play. The Orioles had also turned a triple play on May 7 versus Boston.

This is just the second time in team history that they have recorded more than one triple play in a season. In 1973, they turned triple plays on July 7 versus Oakland and Sept. 20 at Detroit.

Five teams have turned more than one in a year since 1996: the 2016 White Sox had three, and the 2006 White Sox, 2007 Phillies, 2016 Brewers and 2017 Orioles had two each.

Put in that 7-0 hole, the Orioles scored two in the third on a Machado sac fly and Jonathan Schoop's double. It was Schoop's 79th RBI of the year and he has 25 RBIs in his last 17 games. An inning later, Welington Castillo plated a run with a sac fly for a 7-3 game. In the seventh, Machado's grounder plated the O's fourth run.

When Beckham homered to right in the eighth, the O's had pulled within 7-5. He hit the 2,500th home run for the Orioles in Camden Yards history. This is the 25th anniversary season of the park, which opened in 1992. Beckham is 7-for-12 his first three Orioles games.

The Orioles had a chance to come back tonight because right-hander Miguel Castro had an outstanding long relief outing. Over six innings, he gave up one hit and no runs with one walk and two strikeouts on 69 pitches.

But the Orioles lose it to fall to 53-55. They missed a chance to get to the .500 mark for the first time since June 29. Tomorrow night, right-hander Kevin Gausman (8-7, 5.37 ERA) pitches against right-hander Justin Verlander (6-7, 4.29 ERA).

Postgame quotes from the clubhouse:

Tillman on his season-long struggles: "It's killing me right now, it really is. But you can't dwell on that. You've got to take the positives and run with them. I saw a lot tonight. I know the scoreboard won't show it and most people won't see it. But there were a lot of good things that happened. To take something good away from this, I feel like that was a pretty horrible start and we almost came back and won that game. Miggy (Castro) threw the heck out of the ball after me. It goes to show what this team is capable of. Throw up some zeros in a row and you know it's a fun team to watch."

Tillman on what went wrong tonight: "Little bit of everything. Execution, command. And you know going back and watching it with some guys, I think that game comes down to the two walks there, the back-to-back walks. You get those outs, get a groundball double play and it's a different story. But those back-to-back walks killed me. Some below-average pitches here and there."

Castro on his solid long relief outing: "Thank God for the opportunity. Commanding the ball, putting the ball low in the zone."

Was Castro surprised to go six innings?: "Yes, what I wanted to do was (do) the best of my ability to do a great job. I was very surprised."

Castro on having a strong season: "Yes, it's something very exciting. It's something I'm very happy about, so I decided to come early and put (in) as much work as I can."