Hearing from Showalter, Jones and Tillman after O's loss in Toronto

TORONTO - For the Orioles, it was a missed chance to win a series against the American League East leaders after a blowout win on Friday. They scored too few runs Saturday and gave up too many today in a 10-4 loss.

They've lost 14 of 17 to fall to 65-71 and certainly the players see what everyone else does. The window is almost closed on the Orioles' 2015 playoff chances.

"It's not about what we see. It's about the reality," outfielder Adam Jones said. "You look at the standings and you see where you're at and you're like, all right, you have to play this type of ball in order to extend your season. When we lose, we have to win three more. And when you're in September ... we need to win. We need to reel off a winning streak. We had a small, little two-game winning streak and we obviously would have liked to extend that. We ran into some good pitching, some good offense and, you know, tip your cap."

The Orioles missed some chances early against Jays starter Marco Estrada, who walked two in the first and third but escaped with zeros each time.

"I had a good opportunity - first and second and grounded into a double play," Jones said. "He was getting behind some guys, getting back into some hitter's counts and getting out of them. Double plays help any cause. Double plays are inning killers. Flash (Ryan Flaherty) was able to get a home run off him and make his pitch count go up. We worked him, but we weren't able to muster any runs."

Chris Tillman is 0-4 with an ERA of 15.50 this season against Toronto after giving up six runs in today's loss.

"Chris, we've seen what a quality pitcher he's been for us," manager Buck Showalter said. "It's not something they're doing as much as where Chris is getting the ball. I think there were six pitches he's trying to go down and away and the ball leaks middle in. You're going to pay that price every time. He wasn't the only guy. We didn't pitch well out of the 'pen with some people. With very few exceptions, we didn't make many good pitches."

Is it strange that Tillman has struggled so much against this one team and pitched decently against most others?

"No, not at all. It happens every year," Showalter said. "That's why we kind of moved things around. You've got a track record, but things change. Some things on paper don't always work out that way. It's very physical in that he can't get the ball where he wants to get it. When he does, he gets them out."

Showalter said catcher Matt Wieters was not available again today due to his left wrist injury. The Orioles hope he'll be back for Monday's game at New York.

Tillman said it was not a matter of Toronto batters getting in his head with all their success against him this year.

"No. I know if I go out there and make the pitch I need to make, then most of the time I'll be successful," Tillman said. "It's just you get deep in a count and you need to make a pitch and you don't. They're good at putting really good swings on pitches you're not making.

"It's a tough lineup. It's a lineup where you have to execute consistently. You know, I make two or three good pitches in a row and I make a mistake and they make me pay. I was spotty (with command). Some pitches were good, then I'd make a mistake and they made me pay."

Tillman had two strikes on each of three batters that homered off him today. Jose Bautista hit a two-run shot in the first on a 3-2 count.

"Yeah, I missed (location). I was trying to do one thing and I didn't," Tillman said. "He's done that his whole career off me. Anytime I make a mistake, he puts a good swing on it. He's going to make me make my pitch. One of them, I executed the pitch I wanted, but other than that I missed. This team is good at putting quality swings on mistakes. Some other teams aren't capable of that, but these guys are."

So the Orioles clearly know their dire position right now. But they also know all they can do is try to win the next game that is in front of them.

"Exactly, there's no quit. Until the time you're mathematically eliminated, til that day, you've got something to fight for," Jones said.