Gausman on a pitch that got away, Mancini on a special homer

It was a pitch that didn't go exactly where O's right-hander Kevin Gausman intended. It was a pitch that David Ortiz hit for a huge three-run homer. His blast off Gausman in the seventh tonight turned a one-run lead into four and Boston beat the Orioles 5-2 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles fall to 82-69, falling five games out in the American League East with 11 to play.

"I was trying to go down and away," Gausman said of the Ortiz homer, his eighth this year against the Orioles. "He's a tough hitter. Was trying to switch things up and go down and away. Had been going at him with fastballs up and in and his second at-bat threw him a lot of splitters. I was trying to throw that pitch off the plate and hoping he would go after it. He's the hitter he is because he can do that with pitches like that."

Gausman was asked if he thought about trying to bury a splitter on that 1-2 count.

"You can always look back after the fact. But when you are in the heat of the moment," he said, not finishing that sentence.

"Just leaving a couple of pitches too good early on. Against a team like this, tough to repeat what I did in Boston. Tried to keep us in the game as much as I could. I felt great and I think having that extra day definitely helped, especially this time of year. Physically I feel great and mentally too. I felt good."

Gausman went 6 1/3 innings, allowing 10 hits and five runs on 101 pitches. He falls to 8-11 with an ERA of 3.57. He snapped his career-high streak of five straight quality starts.

Catcher Matt Wieters talked about the lack of offense by the Orioles as they've scored just eight runs in the last four games, scoring two each time out.

"We'll move on to tomorrow," he said. "Two runs is not quite enough to go up against that offense. We know we need to do better and score more runs. At the same time, they've had two starters that have thrown the ball well. Tomorrow, hopefully we can come out and get some runs early and get some momentum going.

"I know first and foremost we have to win and everything else will take care of itself. When it comes down to it, yeah it's nice when we get a win and some of the teams that we're chasing or are chasing us lose, or visa versa. But first and foremost we have to focus on winning, and the rest will take care of itself."

On the night of another loss to Boston the best moment of the game for the Orioles was easily Trey Mancini's first major league homer.

In his second at-bat, Mancini smoked one to left-center off Eduardo Rodriguez to make it a 2-1 game. He blasted a fastball 434 feet with an exit velocity of 111 mph according to Statcast.

Mancini became the third player in O's history to homer in his MLB debut, joining Larry Haney in 1966 and Jonathan Schoop in 2013. Before tonight, the last Oriole to homer for his first big league hit was Nick Markakis in 2006. Nine Orioles have now done that in team history.

Mancini's voice cracked with emotion when he mentioned the special family connection with his home run tonight.

"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 (Beth) was so pumped up out there, too."

After his homer, Mancini got a curtain call. His teammates let him know it was OK to take a bow there.

"I didn't really know the etiquette there," Mancini said. "A couple of them were kind of smiling that I was even asking (what to do). But I went up after that and did the curtain call."

Mancini was asked his thoughts rounding the bases.

"I don't really remember it to be honest," he said. "I was just kind of in disbelief. I ran the bases pretty hard there from what I was told. Yeah, it was a surreal moment for sure."