Orioles offense disappears in 3-1 loss (with quotes)

SEATTLE - The Orioles raised hopes last night and lowered themselves in the standings 24 hours later. The wheels keep spinning in the mud. Inch forward and drift back.

Wade Miley held the Mariners scoreless through three innings tonight but didn't make it out of the fifth in a 3-1 loss before an announced crowd of 24,927 at Safeco Field.

Jonathan Schoop homered in the first inning to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead, but the Mariners tied the game in the fourth, scored twice in the fifth and completely shut down a team that leads the majors in runs and hits since the All-Star break.

Presented with another chance to reach .500, the Orioles fell to 59-61 overall and 4-5 on the trip, which concludes this afternoon. They're back in fourth place in the American League East after spending one day ahead of the Rays.

This is the fourth time that the Orioles failed to even their record again after being 56-56.

Miley allowed three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings, with three walks and four strikeouts. Manager Buck Showalter removed him after 95 pitches, his command flickering like an old bulb.

It was a disappointing follow-up to his last start in Oakland, when he held the Athletics to an unearned run over seven innings for his longest outing since June 1. However, the offense also must accept blame for its inability to take advantage of early chances and disappearing after the third.

Seattle pitchers retired the last 20 Orioles. Fly balls and strikeouts were the specialties.

Schoop drove a changeup from Andrew Albers into left-center field after Tim Beckham singled and Manny Machado bounced into a double play, his failure to run hard up the line a hot topic on social media. Schoop has 26 home runs and 86 RBIs this season. He's also drawn 29 walks, eight more than he totaled in 2016.

The 29th walk came tonight in the third inning after Schoop fell behind 0-2 in the count, further illustrating how he's progressed in his approach at the plate. A runner on third base, no outs and he didn't swing from the heels. He took a close pitch, maybe a hair low, at 2-2.

The Orioles failed to build on their 1-0 lead due to a perfect throw from center fielder Jarrod Dyson that cut down Machado at the plate.

Machado led off with a bloop double down the right field line and moved to third base on a wild pitch. Schoop walked and Adam Jones lined to Dyson, who picked up another outfield assist.

The Orioles had six hits through the third inning, but only one run. They stranded two runners in the second after singles by Mark Trumbo and Welington Castillo.

No one reached base after Schoop's walk. Twenty up and 20 down.

Albers, making his Mariners debut, retired the last eight batters he faced to get through the fifth inning. An unheralded pitcher shutting down the Orioles. It's not an unfamiliar scene.

Reliever Emilio Pagan retired all six batters faced with four strikeouts. Pinch-hitter Seth Smith lined to center field against left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and Nick Vincent was summoned to get the next two outs.

Edwin Díaz worked the ninth inning for his 26th save.

The Mariners tied the game 1-1 in the fourth inning on Nelson Cruz's RBI single after a leadoff double by Guillermo Heredia. Miley threw 27 pitches in the inning and walked Mike Zunino with two outs, but he struck out Leonys Martin after falling behind 3-0.

Danny Espinosa began the fifth with a double and Dyson reached on a bunt to the left side, with Miley fielding the ball and dropping it while glancing at third base. Dyson's speed factored into the decision to check on Espinosa.

Jean Segura singled to tie the game, Heredia reached on a force at second base and Dyson scored on Robinson Canó's grounder to Chris Davis. Heredia took out Beckham with a hard slide, making certain that the Orioles couldn't turn the double play.

Miley walked Cruz and Darren O'Day replaced him. He's failed to complete five innings in five starts this season, not counting the White Sox game with two line drives hitting him.

O'Day struck out three batters in 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Mychal Givens allowed a hit and struck out two batters in a scoreless seventh and Brad Brach blanked the Mariners in the eighth.

There were too many blanks coming from the Orioles' bats.

Showalter on whether offensive shutdown was due to good pitching: "They pitched well. Good arms, well-rested. It's one of those things kind of like last night, the job (Casey) Lawrence did for them last night. Set up some good, strong arms for them. We only scored one run. That's the story of the game for me. Not many opportunities, but couldn't cash in on the ones we did. Had a couple of decisions on the bunt and whether to turn the double play or go to the plate. Those are things that happen every night that you make decisions on."

Showalter on whether game lost in early innings tonight after won in early innings last night: "No, not at all. Last night, there was a game you could have lost in the first inning. I probably put it wrong. But no, I don't feel that way. They pitched real well and we didn't do a whole lot against them. That's what I look at."

Showalter on Miley: "The body of work is good. If we score four or five runs, we're talking about a different look at his outing. We're fortunate because of the job we got done yesterday that we had some people that almost needed the work today and we were able to keep it close. I thought we'd make a run at them, but they did a great job of pitching."

Showalter on what's allowed Schoop to hit career-high 26 home runs: "He's good, he's a good player. He's just graduating. Two plays tonight give you a good idea. He had two great clock plays. The ball he backed up and took on the short hop to possibly turn the double play. The other one, we were a little slow with the exchange on the 6-4-3 and he didn't throw the ball to first and went to third base. Those are the little things you see. You see him take a walk in an RBI situation because they're not throwing good pitches to hit. Those are things that have allowed him to grow."

Miley on whether anything changed after third inning: "Not really. Barely missing with some fastballs and cutters in. I'm talking like inches in, could have been strikes, and just kind of fell behind a little bit. Man on second, the bunt, probably had a good look at it third base if I get that transfer and get it over to Manny. That changes a lot right there.

"First and third with nobody out, two speedsters on the bag, got a ground ball after that and with two pretty fleet runners on the bases, it's tough to turn double plays. Just kind of fell behind after that, was falling behind. Felt really good. Nothing super negative about the outing. Like I said, fastballs a few inches on the plate a little more and probably changed the outcome."

Castillo on Miley: "He was making good pitches. He was falling a little bit behind. I think he's been the same the whole year, and lately making good pitches and not getting the call. It's hard to pitch a little bit like that. The good thing is he made a good pitch and those guys put it in play. He didn't give them a chance to score more runs. He just gave up three runs. What can I say? That's a good job by him."

Castillo on wasted chances early: "We had the chance to score a couple more runs and support Miley's outing, but that's a part of baseball. We were making outs and he was making his pitches. We got ourselves out. It's tough. It's tough to win when you don't score runs."

Castillo on inability to get over .500: "We are fighting. We know it's not easy, the division. We are fighting and the goal is to win it all. Just have a good record and make the playoffs and move on from there. Nobody said it's going to be easy, so we go out there and grind every day and at the end of the day we'll walk into our house or our hotel with our head up because we've gave it everything we've got."