On the offense, tonight's game and a scoring change

ST. PETERBURG, Fla. - What else can Orioles manager Buck Showalter do in an attempt to ignite his offense?

Showalter tinkered with his lineup again yesterday, putting Jimmy Paredes in the leadoff spot against Rays starter Chris Archer. Paredes struck out in all four at-bats.

Ryan Flaherty batted second and singled in the first inning. Jonathan Schoop will replace him at second base tonight.

Manny Machado was lowered to third and singled twice and walked. He also was hit by a pitch.

He's going to hit in any spot in the order.

Showalter needs a few guys to heat up and he's giving them plenty of opportunities. Paredes is 11-for-59 with three walks and 23 strikeouts this month. Travis Snider struck out and bounced into a double play last night before being removed for a pinch-hitter, making him 2-for-24 with six strikeouts this month. Chris Parmelee is 6-for-43.

Paredes was the first Orioles leadoff hitter with four strikeouts since J.J. Hardy on July 27, 2011 in Toronto.

It all starts with starting pitching, and there's room for improvement in the rotation, but the lack of offense is killing this club.

Miguel Gonzalez is an example of how the rotation needs to become more consistent. He's living it by allowing six, one, six and two runs in his last four starts. In his last two outings, he's allowed eight runs and 15 hits over 10 innings.

Gonzalez has faced the Rays three times this season and surrendered two runs and 10 hits in 21 1/3 innings. He's walked six and struck out 17.

Gonzalez is 5-4 with a 3.20 ERA in 14 career starts against the Rays and 4-2 with a 2.05 ERA in seven starts at Tropicana Field. The current Rays are batting .218 against him.

James Loney is 4-for-23, Kevin Kiermaier is 2-for-11 and Evan Longoria is 7-for-30 with a home run.

Left-handers are batting .251 against Gonzalez this season and right-handers are hitting .250. I guess that counts as being consistent.

Tampa Bay right-hander Erasmo Ramirez has allowed one earned run or fewer in eight of his last nine starts. He surrendered only two runs in the other start, and he's lost once since May 24.

Ramirez's first appearance against the Orioles this season came in relief. He tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout on May 3. Ramirez started on May 30 and shut out the Orioles on three hits over seven innings. He's 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four career games (three starts) against them.

The current Orioles are 5-for-50 against Ramirez, who's holding left-handers to a .189 average this season. Flaherty is 2-for-5, Matt Wieters is 1-for-5 with a home run, Machado is 1-for-8 with a home run and Chris Davis is 0-for-8 with three strikeouts.

Chris Tillman last night became the first Orioles pitcher with consecutive starts of seven or more innings, two hits or fewer and one run or fewer since Matt Riley on Sept. 7-15, 2004. Riley issued 12 walks in those two starts.

Darren O'Day hadn't allowed a run to the Rays in 10 consecutive appearances before taking the loss last night. The last run came June 16, 2014. The three hits allowed were the most against the Rays since June 9, 2008 while pitching for the Angels.

Before yesterday's game, Showalter said he agreed with the scoring change Thursday afternoon that gave Davis a double on a ball that Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner appeared to lose in the sun. Gardner initially was given an error.

Official scorer Howie Karpin checked with both clubhouses afterward and made the change.

"Oh, yeah," Showalter said." In fairness to him, I've known him a long time and he's very conscientious. One of the few guys who comes down. He came down and asked, and he went to Gardner afterward. He never called it a hit and then went to error and back to hit. They just put it up there. And that's what's tough on scorers. Guys jump to conclusions. He scored it an error all the way.

"That's a great example of how there should be a team error. A pitcher shouldn't get penalized for giving up a fly ball to left field, the left fielder shouldn't get penalized, and the hitter really shouldn't get penalized for contacting a ball into an area where nobody could catch it because of the sun. So who's at fault? It's a hit, but the pitcher shouldn't get penalized, either.

"There are so many things. You should be able to assume a double play in the majors on a routine double play. And I think you should get an RBI for hitting into a double play with a man on third. You did bat the run in. There are about 10 they should change. A team error would make it so much easier for scoring.

"You've got different scorers looking at it differently, which is crazy. It should be uniform."