Long ball could make for short night for Garcia (O's lose 11-7)

Freddy Garcia threw eight scoreless innings in his last start against the Nationals. Tonight, he's served up three home runs in two innings and trails the Astros 5-1. Garcia is like a box of chocolates. Never know what you're going to get. Against the Astros, he's sort of like that jelly candy that you bite into and want to spit out. Remember those? Jason Castro and Carlos Pena hit two-run shots off Garcia in the first inning, and Marwin Gonzalez - don't pretend that you've never heard of him - added a solo shot in the second Steve Johnson was warming in the Orioles' bullpen in the second, as Garcia ran his pitch count to 44 and put his club in a pretty deep hole. Garcia allowed seven home runs in his first six starts. He's tacked on three more tonight and we're just approaching the third inning. Garcia held the Nats to three hits in his last start. The Astros already have five tonight. Here's hoping that Kevin Gausman isn't watching intently tonight. I bet Astros third base coach Dave Trembley would love to do a Wired Wednesday on MASN2 tonight. Catcher Matt Wieters is 0-for-1 tonight and 3-for-23 in his last seven games, lowering his average to .230. The pitching matchups for the Rays series at Tropicana Field reads as follows: Friday: Jason Hammel vs. Chris Archer Saturday: Kevin Gausman vs. Jeremy Hellickson Sunday: Chris Tillman vs. Matt Moore Update: The beating goes on. Garcia gave up his fourth home run of the night, a leadoff shot by Matt Dominguez in the fourth, and manager Buck Showalter had seen enough. Showalter could use a blindfold and a stiff drink. Jose Altuve and J.D. Martinez - don't pretend that you've never heard of him - homered off Steve Johnson in the fourth to increase Houston's lead to 9-1. That's six home runs by six different Astros. Who's next, George Jetson's dog? Altuve homers, but he isn't tall enough for any of the Disney rides. Seems so unfair. The Orioles hadn't allowed six homers in a game since July 7, 2011 vs. the Red Sox. Down on the farm, Zach Britton allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings for Triple-A Norfolk, with no walks, six strikeouts and one wild pitch. None of the Astros homered off him. Double-A Bowie outfielder Henry Urrutia went 4-for-4 with two homers last night. Tonight, he was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Update II: J.J. Hardy hit his fourth homer in eight games to cap off a three-run seventh inning for the Orioles. Alexi Casilla had an RBI triple and Nate McLouth had a sacrifice fly. Dominguez doubled off Troy Patton in the bottom of the seventh to score two runs and give Houston an 11-4 lead, if you're still keeping track. Update III: Wieters interrupted his 3-for-24 slump with a two-run homer in the eighth inning after Chris Davis doubled, reducing Houston's lead to 11-6. The Orioles are trying to get back into this one, but their bullpen won't allow it. Update IV: The Orioles have a way of keeping it interesting. Manny Machado singled in a run in the eighth, bringing Hardy to the plate with the bases loaded as the potential tying run. Hardy grounded into a double play to leave the score 11-7.



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