Orioles trying to cut down on the strikeouts (Davis hits walk-off HR)

So much for the Orioles being the club that finally gets all the breaks tonight.

J.P. Arencibia followed up his six-RBI night last night with a towering home run to left field leading off the top of the third inning to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. Manager Buck Showalter argued that the ball hooked foul, but the call stood following a crew chief review that lasted 3 minutes, 45 seconds.

It sure looked foul to me on the replay.

Kevin Gausman could have already been down 2-0 after two innings, but Steve Pearce made a leaping catch at the left field fence in the first to rob Brandon Guyer of a home run, and Adam Jones threw out Logan Forsythe at the plate to end the second.

Pearce sprinted to the fence, went airborne and brought the ball back into play. He received a loud ovation as he trotted off the field.

Gausman threw only eight pitches in the first inning, but he allowed three singles in the second.

Forsythe reached on an infield hit with one out, and James Loney and Kevin Kiermaier had back-to-back hits with two outs. Jones charged Kiermaier's ball and fired a perfect strike to catcher Matt Wieters for the Orioles' 41st outfield assist, which leads the majors. Jones is first on the team with 14.

Strikeouts accounted for 129 of the Orioles' 360 outs in their last 13 games before tonight. That's 36 percent of their outs.

The Orioles ranked fourth in the majors with 1,095 strikeouts, and they've got two more tonight with Gerardo Parra fanning in the first inning and Jonathan Schoop in the second.

The numbers were recited to manager Buck Showalter before the game. He reminded reporters that he was present for all of them.

"It's tough. I know," he said. "I'm open to suggestions. We've tried a lot of things. Scott (Coolbaugh) and our players are aware of it. They've very frustrated with it and I see it just like you do. It's something we've got to get better at. We haven't for the most part.

"We've gone through periods where we are and I get a little tired like everybody does of giving credit to the other pitcher. It's hard because I could tell you 10 or 15 things that go on behind the scenes where you try a little something different, whether it be drills and different stuff in the cages and what have you. Meetings and not meetings. You try a little bit of everything. It's kind of like when you're in a hitting slump, you're doing all this mechanical work and all this other stuff.

"We've got guys who have been treating blisters from all the swings they've been taking. Then you get swinging bunt and some guy loses a ball in the sun and you end up getting 10 hits in a row. It's such a mental, emotional games. If we could get one of those swing to pull and it goes down the baseline inside the bag, we're on our way.

"We get jealous of some of the (hits). And then we do get a ball in there and we aren't able to group more than one together."

The Orioles received back-to-back singles by Chris Davis and Wieters in the second inning, but Davis was thrown out trying to steal before Wieters reached.

Update: Gausman's luck ran out.

Grady Sizemore walked in the third, but Wieters threw him out trying to steal. Brandon Guyer followed with a double and Evan Longoria hit a long home run to left field, the 200th of his career, to give the Rays a 3-0 lead.

John Jaso grounded to Davis, but Gausman tripped over the bag after taking the flip and dropped the ball for an error. That pretty much sums up the Orioles these days.

Update II: Gausman is charged with three earned runs (four total) and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings, with two walks, one strikeout and two home runs. He threw 59 pitches, 32 for strikes.

Another poor start from the rotation.

Gausman is off the hook after the Orioles scored four runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game.

Manny Machado had an RBI single, Gerardo Parra had an RBI double and Chris Davis launched a two-run homer. Pearce ignited the rally with a leadoff double.

The Orioles hadn't scored more than three runs in a game since Aug. 26.

Davis has 37 home runs this season. He also has 89 all-time at Camden Yards, tying him with Melvin Mora for fourth on the all-time list. Davis' 151 home runs as an Oriole tie him with Chris Hoiles for 11th place.

Update III: Mychal Givens replaced Brian Matusz with the bases empty and two outs in the sixth, but consecutive doubles by Arencibia and Sizemore gave the Rays a 5-4 lead.

Update IV: Jonathan Schoop hit a two-run homer off Brad Boxberger in the ninth inning to tie the game 6-6 and force extra innings.

Longoria hit his second home run of the night in the top of the ninth, a solo shot off Darren O'Day that slammed off the left field foul pole. But Matt Wieters walked and Schoop homered.

The Orioles are 4-5 in extras.

The Orioles haven't led in the last 50 innings.

Update V: Davis hit his second home run of the game and his fourth walk-off of the season leading off the bottom of the 11th to give the Orioles a 7-6 win.

Matt Andriese fell behind 3-0 in the count and Davis ended the Orioles' six-game losing streak.

This is Davis' fifth multi-homer game of the season.

The Orioles hadn't led in 51 innings.