Justin Upton's grand slam in the eighth stuns O's (quotes added)

That one was tough to take. Orioles starter Kevin Gausman had outdueled Justin Verlander through seven innings and the Orioles turned the game over to their bullpen to protect a one-run late lead.

They turned to right-hander Mychal Givens, who has been outstanding, with a 1.86 ERA for the season. He had pitched to a 0.60 ERA over his past 26 games. But he couldn't do it this time.

Detroit left fielder Justin Upton hit a first-pitch grand slam to left in the eighth, and the one-run lead and the win were gone. Upton's 20th homer and seventh career slam turned a 2-1 deficit into a three-run lead and Detroit beat the Orioles 5-2 tonight at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have lost two straight in this series after sweeping Kansas City and bringing a five-game win streak into this series. They fall to 53-56.

A bloop single, line single and a one-out walk preceded Upton's at-bat. He hit the ball 402 feet to left to stun a crowd of 22,882. It was the first grand slam Givens allowed as a big leaguer.

Gausman missed pitching a complete-game shutout by one out in his last start at Texas. Tonight he lost a shutout bid after one out against Detroit. The second batter of the game, right fielder Jim Adduci, hit an opposite field homer to left for a 1-0 lead. He went with the pitch - a 96 mph Gausman heater - for his first homer of the year and second of his career. The first came Aug. 9, 2014, for Texas at Houston.

But Detroit would get nothing else against Gausman tonight. He pitched seven innings, allowing the one run on three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. Gausman has pitched to a 0.65 ERA over his past four starts and 2.87 over his past eight. O's starters have a 1.74 ERA the last seven games.

All the good stats, though, didn't lead to a win, thanks to one big swing in the top of the eighth.
Earlier, the Orioles used the longball in back-to-back innings to tie and go ahead against Verlander.

Shortstop Tim Beckham homered for the second straight game, and again it was to right field. He hit a Verlander slider out on a 2-1 pitch in the second for a 1-1 tie. That hit made him 8-for-13 as an Oriole and was his 14th homer this year, between the Orioles and Rays. He finished 4-for-4 and is 7-for-8 in this series and 11-for-16 in four games with the Orioles.

With one out in the last of the third, Manny Machado went opposite field with a homer for a 2-1 lead. He hit a 96 mph fastball on a 2-2 pitch for No. 19. It was his first homer since July 7. On this night, though, the Orioles bullpen could not make that lead stand up.

The Orioles will try to regroup and bounce back on Saturday night, when Wade Miley (5-9, 5.60 ERA) pitches for the Orioles.

Givens on his inning: "The first two guys got some bloop singles and that started a rally. Kind of gave them momentum by getting those two guys on. That's baseball. No one said it would be easy. Go through some good patches where you throw scoreless innings and there are times they will get runs like that. Just going to wake up tomorrow and try to win another game."

Givens on the pitch that Upton hit out: "It was a pitch I thought I could have got over. But he's a good hitter, a hot hitter right now, and he's one of the top hitters in the league for a reason. He hit a good pitch that went out."

Gausman on continuing his recent run of solid pitching tonight: "Yeah, you know, I was a little sporadic early on in the game. Couldn't really exactly find the release point on my slider, but you know, found it later in the game. That is a big pitch for me when I got it going. Caleb called a great game and my defense knocked down some really hard-hit balls too. So, you know, hats off to them."

Gausman on staying strong late in the outing: "I think any starter can tell you, late in the game, when you know that is your last or second-to-last inning, you kind of see a finish line. Honestly, I knew with Verlander pitching runs were going to be at a premium. So, I gave up that run in the first and just tried to not give up another one. And he did a good job of doing what he needed to do to, so it was a good-pitched ballgame."

Joseph on the pitch ruled a strikeout in the seventh inning: "We know facing him in years past, he'll tick the fastball up late in the game when he needs to, and the first two pitches were real hard and then the last pitch was 101 mph. As you see it, you have to be ready to hit that ball. So make a first move and as the ball is coming into your face you're trying to get out of the way. Just tried to get out of the way and it hit my hand.

"Apparently, on the slo-mo cam, it hit my hand and then as I was continuing to turn to avoid the ball hitting me right in the teeth, the bat came through. And it ricocheted off the barrel. But the hands are a part of the bat when you swing with two strikes. So the umpire deemed that I was (intentionally) trying to swing the bat. So I was called out.

"It's 101 mph at your face. I'm not sure there is a person in Baltimore or Detroit that would say, 'I think he was truly trying to swing at it.' Did that lose us the game? Probably not, so it is sort of irrelevant at this point. But you never know what can happen if you get the bases loaded with one out. Craig has been hitting the ball well. Add on some insurance runs and maybe that eighth inning looks different. Who knows? We'll never know."

Joseph on Givens allowing a slam: "I think the real key to that inning was walking Adduci, the two-hole hitter. We had a good spot to get an out there, and then you have some room for error with a potential base open. I think that was the key versus the slider that kind of backed up on him. He's been throwing the ball really well for a long time, so I don't think it's fair to start dumping on him right now. He is one of the reasons we've made some runs at this thing."