Orioles tie 1924 Phillies in blowout loss to Rays (with quotes)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter was away from the team for one day for the birth of his grandson. The distance didn't quiet the buzz over his club's streak of allowing five runs or more in 19 consecutive games, one shy of the major league record.

Showalter hasn't really been listening to it, and he stated this afternoon that he'd be happy with a 6-5 win. Just score more runs than the opposition. He can live with the totals.

By the second inning, the Rays had five runs on the board and the Orioles were tied with the 1924 Phillies. A dubious record and a loss came as a package deal.

Ubaldo Jiménez became the latest starter to make an early exit, his control abandoning him at the outset, and the Orioles stumbled to a 15-5 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.

Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly with one out in the second inning scored Derek Norris, who led off with a double and advanced on Corey Dickerson's infield hit. Shortstop Rubén Tejada made a diving stop up the middle to hold Norris at third base, but it was temporary.

If only the Rays had been content with five runs.

Shane Peterson and Norris hit two-run homers in the third and Jiménez made the slow walk to the clubhouse after only 2 1/3 innings, his shortest start since July 8, 2016 against the Angels, when he lasted 1 1/3. His ERA tonight jumped from 6.25 to 7.26 in 65 2/3 innings, and speculation again will envelop his future in the organization.

The Orioles are a season-worst three games below .500 at 35-38 and have dropped 12 of their last 16. They have two quality starts in their last 18 games.

Jiménez didn't come close, allowing four runs in the first inning after walking the first two batters. Mallex Smith reached after working the count full. Dickerson followed on four pitches.

Longoria produced a two-run single after Jiménez crossed up catcher Welington Castillo and caused a passed ball, and Logan Morrison tripled to right-center field. Morrison scored on Peterson's ground ball up the first base line.

Six batters, four runs. Jiménez issued another walk and needed 36 pitches to get back to the dugout.

Jiménez was charged with nine runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings, with four walks, a strikeout and two home runs. He threw 65 pitches, 38 for strikes.

The nine runs tied his career high on Aug. 9, 2007 with the Rockies. The Cubs needed two innings.

There's just no figuring out Jiménez, who held the Cardinals to two runs over seven innings in his last start after reentering the rotation.

The Orioles were getting to Rays starter Chris Archer. They just needed Jiménez and anyone who followed to keep them engaged.

Mark Trumbo, Jonathan Schoop and Trey Mancini opened the second inning with singles to produce a run. Adam Jones and Trumbo singled to lead off the fourth and they scored on Schoop's 22nd double of the season, reducing the lead to 9-4 and allowing for a glimmer of hope.

If only the hole hadn't been dug so deep. The rotation's stat line comes with a shovel.

The Orioles came unraveled in the fifth, with errors by Mancini and Tejada contributing to a five-run inning against Alec Asher and Miguel Castro - the latter inheriting a bases-loaded, one-out mess. The Rays led 9-4 when Castro entered the game and 14-4 as the teams prepared for the top of the sixth.

Tonight marked the sixth time in 14 games that the Orioles allowed double-digit runs and the 10th time this season.

The Rays sent nine batters to the plate, scored five runs and collected only one hit. Damage was done with three walks and two errors.

Mancini doubled to score Jones in the sixth to leave the Orioles trailing 14-5. Morrison homered off Castro in the seventh for a 15-5 lead. The teams were doing a nasty little dance while a game dragged along.

Pitching is dragging down this team.

Showalter would have taken a 6-5 win. The Orioles are going to need to do a lot more scoring if this trend continues.

Here's a sampling of quotes:

Showalter on big early deficits: "It's tough. It kind of sucks the air out of you early on, but our guys got back in it at 4-2. Just couldn't get any shutdown innings. You walk seven or eight guys and hit somebody. I think we had the same number of hits that as they did. They earned some things and we made it a lot easier on them, obviously."

Showalter on Jiménez: "Command. Never really got in step. We're trying to squeeze every out we can out of him. We're trying to take some load off the bullpen, but we just couldn't get him through any type of length of an outing. Just command. He comes out and walks the first two guys, it doesn't bode well."

Showalter on whether Mallex Smith disrupted Jiménez: "No. He did that all by himself."

Showalter on whether it was obvious right away that Jiménez was out of sync: "Well, I can tell he wasn't carrying ... He's been a little firmer with his fastball, his outings out of the bullpen and really some this year, but he wasn't carrying much fastball tonight. And command. That's a bad combo."

Showalter on rough stretch with pitching: "Got to pitch better. Got to pitch better. It is what it is. The help's going to come from within. We've got to get back in step and create some rhythm for the offense and even the defense gets out of rhythm a lot when the game's being played so choppy and not very crisp. I really don't like hanging it around one phase of it, but it starts if we could just string some good starts together, you can get into some type of rhythm.

Showalter on whether Orioles need to call up a reliever: "At least one, for sure. I didn't want to use Ash more than an inning or so tonight. I was trying to stay away from Donnie (Hart). Darren (O'Day) needed to pitch today or tomorrow. It might take him out of play tomorrow. But those are things that starts like that that we've been having quite often do to a club."

Showalter on offense staying engaged: "Our guys are, it's tough to stay in ... I think it affects us defensively as much as anything. The tempo and the rhythm, too. Just the whole game, it's tough to string much crispness together when we're a little choppy with the pitching. The guys who have been pitching well this year are still pitching well. We just haven't had a group effort yet."

Jones on early deficits: "I mean, it hasn't been easy. But like I said, as captain of the team, I feel like the guys are out there grinding. Just right now, we're in a stretch with unfamiliar territory I think to a lot of guys. I think that everybody, especially on the pitching front, they want to be that guy to get it done, get it done get it done. It's frustrating. I'm sure they're more frustrated than anybody else because they're the ones out there throwing the ball. But I stick behind our pitchers, our players. I grind with them.

"Trust me. I know that they're frustrated. If anybody else is frustrated, imagine how they must feel. I think we just need to keep grinding. Keep grinding, keep grinding, keep grinding. Good times are going to come back. I know it's been frustrating for the last month, but the guys are grinding, and I'm not going to let up on them. I'm going to grind with them. That's just my style of play."

Jones on why he's confident Orioles will come back: "That's just the faith I have in these guys. We've been through some ups and downs together, the majority of us, for the last six or seven years. I'm not just going to give up on anybody. This will turn around. I'm a firm believer of it. I believe in our guys, I always have. And you've just got to ride this bad wave.

"I know it's a bad wave that's going on, but we've just got to ride it because good times are going to come back. Because when they do, be ready for them."

Jones on what this stretch does to young players: "This is the part that builds the character of the game. Obviously, this game is built on failure. If you're able to hone into your skills, on your craft, minimalize the mistakes, it will be good. When you go through tough streaks like this, it makes you really appreciate the winning. It just shows you how amazing the winning is. We need to get back to that. We need to get back to just the overall winning, the winning.

"Obviously, we want to win the game, but the winning mentality, win the inning, win the pitch. Things like that. We'll be fine. Obviously, it's frustrating. If I'm frustrated, I can't imagine how frustrated the pitchers are. I'm going to stick with them. I'm going to get back out there tomorrow in center field and root on the pitcher the best I can. Hopefully, he goes out there and just attacks the zone and uses his defense."

Jones on the streak: "I think it's more media, obviously. We don't necessarily know what's going on in those stats, but social media keeps you aware. You're aware and updated on anything that's going on right now. I'm pretty sure if I go on Twitter right now, it's a lot of people cussing us out. It's the grind of the season. We've got a lot of games left. You go and have a good week, you're right back in it, especially in this division because of how good it is. You've just got to ride it out and keep grinding.

"I know it's super cliché, but in this business, in this industry, you have to do that. If you get ahead of yourself, you'll falter back. So tonight wasn't that fun, but come out, and everybody get a good night's sleep, tomorrow, come out ready to go, ready to play because the Rays are going to be ready. I believe (Dylan) Bundy will be ready, too."

Jiménez on outing: "Pretty much, I didn't have anything. Fastball wasn't sinking at all. Breaking balls weren't there. I just got hit."

Jiménez on whether he knew right away: Yeah, after the first inning. I was trying to throw all the breaking balls, but I didn't have any. All of my breaking balls were flat. Even the fastball."

Jiménez on his frustration level: "It's tough. You don't want to go out there and pitch three innings. You know how things have been going here, but it's part of the game. It's very tough, but there's nothing I can do right now. I have to get ready for the next one."

Jiménez on whether a change in routine impacted him: "No, no, not really. That's not an excuse for the kind of game that I had tonight. I just got hit because I didn't have anything."

Jiémenez on what the last month has been like for team: "It's been tough. It's been really tough. It's not easy to come to the stadium every day knowing that you're going to struggle. I know we're all expecting that this is going to end one of these days, but it just keeps happening. The only thing we can do is keep being positive and fighting every day."

Jiménez on whether this is worst stretch of pitching he's seen: "I know when I was in Colorado, we had some tough years, but this time is very tough. It's lasted too long."

Jiménez on whether the streak is a topic in clubhouse: "No, not really. The only thing you're trying to focus on is going out there and competing, giving your team a chance to win. Even if it didn't happen or doesn't happen, of course you don't want to be talking about how tonight we're going to give up five more runs. It's not like that."