Home woes continue for O's in 7-0 loss (updated)

As if the Orioles needed any more reminders tonight that the baseball gods don't usually treat rebuilding teams with a gentle touch, a check-swing roller in the first inning reached the grass in shallow right field and put them behind only two batters into the game.

A soft hit, but another hard lesson.

Tommy Pham stood on second base with arms spread and a huge smile on his face, as if feeling a little guilty but also amused by his good fortune.

The three-run homer from Mike Zunino in the fourth was legit, a lead extended like Pham's arms, and the Orioles were stymied again by Tyler Glasnow while losing the series opener to the Rays 7-0 before an announced crowd of 10,034 at Camden Yards.

Glasnow retired the first 11 batters with five strikeouts and the Orioles fell to 11-22 overall and 3-11 at home. They were shut out for the second time this season.

Dwight Smith Jr. reached on an infield hit with two outs in the fourth inning. Rio Ruiz looped a single into left field leading off the fifth before a force out and double play. Jonathan Villar lined a two-out single to center field in the sixth.

They were the only baserunners against Glasnow in seven innings. The American League's Pitcher of the Month for April allowed three hits, walked none, struck out eight and lowered his ERA to 1.47. He threw 92 pitches, 62 for strikes.

The Orioles finished with five hits, including two from Smith. Trey Mancini struck out four times.

Meanwhile, Dan Straily allowed five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings to raise his ERA to 7.43. He's surrendered 18 runs and 28 hits in 14 innings at home and one earned run (two total) and five hits in nine innings on the road. All eight of the home runs have come at Camden Yards.

As a team, the Orioles have been outhomered 75-35 this season.

Glasnow retired the last 10 Orioles he faced in an April start at Tropicana Field and he began tonight's game by striking out the side - all of them looking. Twenty-one in a row were turned away until Smith beat out a bouncer up the middle.

The Rays have outscored opponents 30-10 in the first inning and they took a quick lead with back-to-back doubles by Brandon Lowe and Pham. The latter was a grounder inside the bag as Pham tried to get his bat out of the way.

Pham also had an RBI double off Yefry Ramirez in the sixth after back-to-back walks, and Nate Lowe's sacrifice fly - his first major league RBI - gave Tampa Bay a 7-0 lead. Those were the only runs permitted by Ramirez in 4 2/2 innings.

Kevin Kiermaier led off the second with a triple, but Straily induced two foul pop ups and struck out Willy Adames.

Straily retired the side in order in the third inning, with Stevie Wilkerson making a leaping catch at the track in his first professional start in center field and only his second appearance. But Zunino followed singles by Lowe and Avisaíl García with a 422-foot shot to left-center for his first career home run in Baltimore.

The Rays loaded the bases with one out and Ji-Man Choi's sacrifice fly gave Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead, with Straily throwing 30 pitches in the inning. Straily was done after a single and walk with one out in the fifth, his pitch count at 85.

The Orioles took two of three from the White Sox at Camden Yards before their latest trip, but otherwise have been easier marks at home than on the road. What gives?

"I wouldn't put anything into it except we ran into a Minnesota team that we've had a really hard time with, New York swung the bat great, Oakland's a good club," manager Brandon Hyde said before tonight's game.

"We just haven't played our best baseball at home."

Hyde on Straily: "He just kind of left that slider for Zunino that he'd love to have back. Trying to get a groundball double play and left the slider in the middle of the plate. But battled for four. But Yefry picked us up big time. Yefry giving us length, didn't have to use any of the other bullpen guys. So that was huge."

Hyde on waiting for relief outing like that: "Yefry's built up because he was a starter in Triple-A. He did a really nice job for us. Yefry's got a good changeup. Kept guys off balance, gave us innings that we needed so we didn't have to use the other guys."

Hyde on Glasnow: "Maybe in a while. That's electric stuff. That's really, really good. It's upper-90s to 100 mph fastball with a great hook and a changeup that's at 92-94 that acts like a two-seam fastball. Tonight he had all three going, he was throwing all three in any count he wanted. A night like that you just have to tip your hat to a really, really good pitcher that had his stuff. I like his presence. I think he attacks guys, the whole package is really impressive. Yeah, I haven't seen many like that in a long time."

Hyde on whether he can believe Glasnow was 4-16 before this season: "I saw him in Pittsburgh and saw the stuff. His command is really improved. Tonight he had everything going and when you have that kind of stuff and you have your command - he threw the ball great against us in Tampa, also - you're going to have a night like that. That's a tip your hat type of night."

Hyde on Straily's late start to season: "I think he's in a good routine right now. I just think it wasn't his night tonight. I think he's built up, I think he's in a good routine. He hung a slider in the middle to Zunino and he wasn't as sharp as he would like. The leadoff hitter, tried to backdoor a slider to Lowe, left it in the middle, then he got a check-swing double down the right field line. It wasn't working out for him, but I think he's got a good routine and I think he's built up to pitch every five days."

Straily on outing: "Just frustration. Just really want that slider back. I feel like pretty much anywhere else on the plate, anything else and it's probably a different result. It's really frustrating, really want that pitch back, but that's not how that game works so we've just got to keep moving forward."

Straily on whether he felt no margin for error with Glasnow pitching: "Anything can happen in a game, and so when you go out there, you're attacking just as in any other game. You're just trying to throw as many zeros as possible on the board for your guys and sometimes, yes, you're facing a guy who hasn't been giving up much, but at the same time maybe tonight was the night that turned around. You don't know until you play the game."

Straily assessing his starts with Orioles: "Some bad, some good. Some frustrating days for myself for sure. I'm not putting up the numbers that I'm used to up there in terms of innings for my team, so that's something that I really need to turn around here really quickly."

Ramirez via interpreter on outing: "I think it was a good outing overall, but there was some consistency to be made, which I'm going to continue to work on and hopefully do a better job the next time out."

Ramirez on going from Norfolk rotation to bullpen here: "My mindset is still to help the team regardless of the role, whether starting or relieving. If the opportunity is to come out of the bullpen, I'll do that and try to help my team."

Ramirez on saving the bullpen tonight: "I think it was valuable. The objective of coming (in) in a situation like that is to go as long as you can, to throw as many innings so that they don't have to use that many pitchers."