Orioles lose game and series to Rays (with quotes)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - This one can't be laid entirely on Ubaldo Jiménez's shoulders.

The home run was costly, but Jiménez offered quality. He was the good version of himself. But the offense didn't reach the same level.

Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer off Jiménez with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Orioles were rationed to Jonathan Schoop's solo homer in a 5-1 loss to the Rays before an announced crowd of 18,430 at Tropicana Field.

The Orioles drop the series and fall to 48-53 overall, 18-32 on the road and 27-22 against the American League East. They began the day 4 1/2 games out for the second wild card.

The Rays began the series with a four-game losing streak that grew to five Monday night, but they rallied to take the last two against the Orioles, who are off Thursday.

Steven Souza Jr. greeted Darren O'Day with a home run in the seventh inning that increased the lead to 3-1. O'Day has surrendered home runs in three of his last five appearances. He's been charged with six runs.

Zach Britton allowed two runs in the eighth on three singles and a fielder's choice to increase his ERA to 3.50 in 18 innings.

Jiménez had allowed 21 runs and 31 hits in 19 innings over four starts since his eight scoreless innings in Toronto on June 29. He also was grappling with memories of his June 23 start at Tropicana Field, when he gave up nine runs and seven hits and walked four batters in 2 1/3 innings.

The gem in Toronto followed, which included only two hits allowed and one walk. He's impossible to figure out.

The Rays were challenged to do it. Jiménez held them to two runs and three hits in six innings, with two walks and a season-high nine strikeouts. He turned in his fifth quality start of the season.

Longoria's 38 home runs against the Orioles lead all active players. Only two have come against Jiménez.

This isn't the first time that Jiménez dazzled beneath the inflatable roof. He turned in a quality start with three runs in six innings on April 26, 2016 and went the distance on Sept. 5 while surrendering only three runs and two hits.

You take the good with the bad with the good with the bad with ...

It didn't look promising in the first inning, with Jiménez running the count full to the first three batters. Mallex Smith grounded out, Corey Dickerson walked and Longoria singled. But Logan Morrison grounded into a 5-4-3 double play - another nice turn by the Orioles - and Jiménez found his groove, retiring 12 in a row before Wilson Ramos doubled with two outs in the fifth.

Schoop gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning with his 22nd home run and 72nd RBI of the season. Alex Cobb had retired the first seven batters before Caleb Joseph singled, and faced the minimum number before Schoop cleared the center field fence with a 440-foot shot on a full count.

The Orioles threatened in the eighth against Tommy Hunter. Seth Smith doubled for the second time today, but Joseph struck out and Rubén Tejada and Adam Jones flied out.

The Orioles have scored three runs or fewer in 47 games and one run or fewer in 15.

O'Day has allowed five home runs in 35 2/3 innings this season, two short of his career high. Souza's ball traveled 447 feet and hit the D catwalk in left field.

The Orioles keep hitting a wall after they appear to be headed up the standings and closer to the second wild card.

Manager Buck Showalter on Jiménez's one bad pitch: "Basically, but I look at all the 90-something pitches he made real quality. The Smith walk he'd probably like to have back. The 3-0 pitch pretty much split the heart of the plate. I don't know where that was. But he had some borderline pitches go his way. He was good, real good. Facing one of the best pitchers in the league and scored one run off him.

"Ubaldo did his part, too. That was impressive. Got off to a little bit of a rocky start. He was 3-2 on the first, it seemed like, four or five hitters, and all of a sudden really was able to use his pitches. Played good defense behind him, too."

Showalter on what keyed Jiménez's roll after the first: "Command of the fastball. He has that fastball, when it's right, that starts at a left-hander and comes back and goes away from the other guy. Split was there, breaking ball was there. Caleb did a nice job with him when he had that many things at his disposal. He was almost as good as Cobb was."

Showalter on disappointment of scoring one run: "Certainly statistically. The guy I know is in the top 10 probably, nine or eight now in ERA in the American League. That's hard to do. In the American League especially. That's a convenient excuse, but that's the type of game you'd like to figure out a way to scratch out a couple more."

Showalter on O'Day's home run stretch: "That one mistake he makes, and he doesn't make many of them, they're on it. He was on it today. That's not very typical. I was looking the other day, his peripheral numbers other than the ERA are really good. He's just got that one pitch that's gotten away from him. That's the life of a one-inning reliever."

Showalter on Britton: "Good, good. He gives up a ground ball single that any other place to left field is an out. He gives up another ground ball - I think he broke his bat - that finds a hole over there because we're holding the runner. He'd probably like to have it over and throw that ball to the plate, the chopper to him with Souza running. He gave up, what, one hard-hit ball? He feels good. And especially in that situation there. We didn't want him to go four days without pitching, so I'm happy where Zach is."

Showalter on whether upcoming games are more important with trade deadline: "They're all important, regardless of what some false deadline ... some people perceive it as. No, they're all important because we're trying to get into the playoffs and be the last team standing. So, to say some are more important than others is a really poor reflection on you as a competitor."

Jiménez on whether he made mistake to Longoria: "I wouldn't call it a mistake. I wanted it inside and it was inside. I just felt like he was looking for it and he put a good swing on it."

Jiménez on feeling like hard-luck loser: "Yeah, but it's a part of the game. I felt good that I was able to compete and give the team a chance to be close on the scoreboard. But it's part of the game. You have to give credit to the other side. They played a good game. They played a good game. That guy pitched a really good game against a really good lineup."

Jiménez on how he got into a groove: "Getting ahead and staying ahead. I was able to throw all of my breaking balls behind in the count or the first pitch. So I had a good command of all of my pitches today."

Jiménez on fine line between good and bad outings: "Like I told you after my last game, I know the results weren't there, but I felt good physically. I know my fastball was there. I was throwing strikes. It was just a matter of getting the ball down in the zone and having a better result like today, but I think hopefully I can go from there."

Trumbo on what made Cobb effective: "Arsenal of pitches, three good pitches he was working with. He located really well. His off-speed was really good, too."

Trumbo on whether this was a crucial series: "Pretty crucial, just like most of them are. We did the best we could."

Jones on whether this was a crucial series: "I mean, we're still in it. I think every series in the second half is important. We didn't get it. Now we get a day off and go to Texas."

Jones on Cobb: "Throwing strikes. We hit the balls hard. We had good at-bats off him. It's not like he went out there and he had 12 strikeouts. He threw strikes. We put the ball in play, just right at guys. It happens."

Jones on Jiménez: "He threw the ball great. Just one pitch I know he wants back. He threw the ball great, man. It was fun to be behind him today."

Jones on what Orioles need to do to get on a roll: "Win. Score more runs than them. That's the name of the game, score more runs than the other team. It's not rocket science. It's just we have to score more runs than the other guys. Right now, we're not."