Orioles tie longest losing streak of season at 14 games (updated)

The Orioles bolted to an early lead tonight and lost their offensive touch. Their starter ran up a high pitch count that threatened his removal by the middle innings.

Manager Brandon Hyde tries to find new methods to pull the Orioles out of their old ways, whether it's with his personnel or how he gets them to the ballpark. Tonight's lineup underwent drastic changes based more on health than a hunch.

What's it going to take to form a congratulatory line after the final out rather than shuffling back to the clubhouse, a few players lingering at the railing with blank stares?

What else can Hyde possibly say about it?

The Rays scored twice in the fourth inning off rookie Spenser Watkins to break a tie, their bullpen did its usual bulk work and the Orioles were defeated 8-4 at Tropicana Field to tie their longest losing streak of the season at 14 games.

The Orioles are 38-81 overall, 1-14 against the Rays and 6-23 in St. Petersburg, Fla., since the beginning of the 2018 season. They've been outscored 131-40 during the streak and 121-55 against Tampa Bay this season.

The 1988 Orioles lost their first 21 games. The inaugural 1954 team lost 14 in a row and the current version has twice matched it.

"It's kind of tough to explain," said Cedric Mullins. "We're trying to go day-to-day and keep the confidence up and try to rub that confidence on other guys and try to create some momentum. A lot of stuff's not going our way and we're not helping by creating our own problems out there."

Asked whether it's hard at times to stay focused, Mullins replied, "Yeah, for sure. It's a matter of us trying not to focus on the negative and always pull positives and take it to the next day. It's a long season. We've had some tough stretches and we've had some pretty good ones, too. It's now trying to find that good stretch again and hold it as long as possible."

"We're trying to win," Hyde said. "Our guys are not quitting and I give our guys credit for that because this is challenging. And we're facing really good teams, too. We're not facing .500 clubs from other divisions. We're facing teams that have added. We've subtracted for three years."

Ryan Mountcastle extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a solo home run off former Oriole Shawn Armstrong, his 20th, in the eighth inning.

Joey Wendle led off the fourth with a double, made it to third base with two outs and scored on Brandon Lowe's single. A fastball running away that the former Maryland Terrapin slapped into left field.

Lowe stole second base after Richie Martin dropped the throw from catcher Austin Wynns and scored on Wander Franco's double, also to the opposite field, for a 4-2 lead. Lowe has 70 RBIs this season, 17 against the Orioles.

The Rays loaded the bases against Paul Fry with no outs in the sixth on Ramón Urías' error and two walks. Franco singled off Dillon Tate, and a lunging Martin, and sacrifice flies by Nelson Cruz and Austin Meadows gave Tampa Bay a 7-2 lead.

Fry has issued 12 walks this month and struck out only two batters in 4 1/3 innings. He's been charged with 13 earned runs, with two of them unearned tonight.

Mullins began the game with his ninth career leadoff home run, driving an 0-2 pitch, the third consecutive slider thrown by Rays opener Louis Head, over the right field fence.

Austin Hays singled with two outs, stole second base and scored on Pedro Severino's single. Head, making his first career start, threw 34 pitches in the inning.

Watkins couldn't keep the lead through the bottom half of the inning, losing it over his 27 pitches. He loaded the bases on two singles and a two-out walk to Randy Arozarena, and Ji-Man Choi, only 3-for-27 this month, matched his RBI total with a two-run single to right field. Choi was tagged in a rundown.

Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough replaced Head as the bulk reliever after his reinstatement today from the COVID-19 list and retired the first nine batters. Maikel Franco led off the fifth with a double, the next two Orioles grounded out to the left side and Mullins flied to right.

Franco was the only baserunner against Yarbrough in five innings. Wynns had an RBI single off Andrew Kittredge in the seventh that scored Jorge Mateo, who's built a nine-game hitting streak and has 15 hits in 12 games with the Orioles.

"It's hard. It's not easy. There's no doubt about it," Hyde said.

"What's disappointing is we're just having tough times getting people out and we're not scoring a ton of runs. Tonight's game was fairly close, it got away from us there in the sixth. Then Mounty's homer put us within three, striking distance, but we're just not in many games right now and that's very, very hard."

Hyde has his own streak going - number of consecutive days asked about the mood in the clubhouse and dugout and how players stay positive. It seems unavoidable as the club is tied to the worst stretches in baseball history. The elephant in the room is standing on its hind legs.

Hyde and his coaches insist that there's no quit. Hyde noticed and praised the high level of energy in the dugout Monday night. Players voice their frustrations and concerns - John Means said a lot of guys are losing sleep over it - but they also vow to keep moving forward and treat a new day as a chance at redemption.

Before today's game, Hyde said he's changed up bus times and altered the daily routine in an attempt to get the team out of its rut. But nothing drastic. Nothing like his friend and mentor, Joe Maddon, has done in the past with costume themes on flights and other outrageous ideas to lighten the mood - tactics that make some old-school managers role their eyes but seem to work with his players.

"I haven't brought in the zoo animals this season, or we haven't worn Kentucky Derby outfits on planes," Hyde said. "But I think that we are trying to stay positive and light. We all understand how hard this game is, we're very aware of the situation we're in against the teams that we play and how hard it is and where we are as a ballclub right now. It's challenging. And our players, it's still a positive environment. I think our guys are still enjoying being here. I know they are.

"We're just going through a really rough time in this rebuild right now. We're playing against teams that are postseason and we're a long ways away and they're playing to win and we're trying to just do the best we can and stay positive with it."

Watkins stranded two runners in the second inning after Hays made a diving catch to rob Wendle.

Arozarena singled off the fence in left-center field with two outs in the third inning, making him 22-for-43 against the Orioles this season. Choi grounded into a force on Watkins' 62 pitch.

By the conclusion of the fourth, Watkins was up to 74 pitches and had allowed at least four runs in his fifth consecutive start. He surrendered only one run in each of his first three.

Watkins has an 8.39 ERA in his last five starts over 23 2/3 innings. Orioles starters haven't exceeded the fifth inning in the last nine games, posting a 10.90 ERA during that stretch.

"The amount of data that's available to each team, just like we have the data, guys make adjustments," Watkins said. "This is the big leagues, this is why they're here. They make adjustments, they make them fast. Especially from the left side of the plate, I'm a guy with spin, I use a lot of spin, so looking out over the plate I've got to do a better job of adjusting my sites hard in, things like that. Just making adjustments like they're making adjustments."

Tanner Scott appeared on back-to-back nights and stranded Arozarena in the fifth after a one-out walk. Tate inherited another bases-loaded jam from Fry, and again, it didn't work out.

"I think we're having a really tough time out of the bullpen against these lineups we're facing," Hyde said. "We're struggling out of the bullpen. We've got guys that I've been using the majority of the year out of high-leverage spots that I'm trying to get going in low-leverage spots to try to get some confidence and try to get them to feel good. Our starting pitching, we're not shutting people down. We're OK at times, and then we're having a tough time putting zeroes up out of the 'pen. And we're not scoring a ton of runs, either."

Meadows had an RBI double off César Valdez in the eighth.

"It's hard," Watkins said. "There's no reason to beat around the bush. You guys know that, too. It's hard. No one wants to lose. I don't think anybody here wants to lose. It's just a matter of leaning on our core group of veterans that have been through this and know how to get out of this type of stuff. That's what a lot of us guys have been doing, looking to these guys who still go about their business the exact same way whether we're winning or losing. Learning how to be a pro through something like this is what a lot of guys are learning, including myself.

"It's been tough. This type of thing is not fun."

Notes: Adley Rutschman hit his first Triple-A home run in Game 1 of Norfolk's doubleheader in Charlotte. Rutschman had three hits and Jahmai Jones slugged a three-run homer.

Hunter Harvey pitched the sixth inning on his injury rehab assignment, loading the bases with no outs on three singles and allowing only one run. Mikie Mahtook hit a walk-off grand slam off Manny Barreda in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie.

Rylan Bannon hit his 10th home run in Game 2. Ryan McKenna tripled, homered and had an RBI single. McKenna would have stayed with the Orioles if DJ Stewart's sore knee forced him onto the injured list.

Mike Baumann threw 39 pitches and was removed after one inning. He allowed two runs and three hits with two walks.

Left-hander Ty Blach, on an injury rehab assignment, threw two scoreless innings at Single-A Delmarva. He allowed one hit and struck out two batters.

Darell Hernaiz had a two-run single in the sixth. Colton Cowser and Coby Mayo had singles. Jensen Elliott tossed four scoreless innings with three hits, no walks and no strikeouts.