Orioles waste early lead and late rally in 6-4 loss (with quotes)

OAKLAND, Calif. - The want-to isn't lacking in the Orioles. It's the can't-do that's destroying a season.

Can't get out of the first inning unscathed. Can't get the rotation and bullpen completely on track, a steady flow of offensive production or the level of defense that used to be a trademark of the franchise.

The Orioles surrendered four runs tonight in the bottom of the first to wipe out a brief lead, put together a game-tying rally in the sixth and were burned by another error in the bottom half in a 6-4 loss to the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum.

Manny Machado's low throw after fielding Stephen Piscotty's ground ball led to an unearned run off Brad Brach after Jonathan Lucroy doubled and Jed Lowrie directed a single into right field with two outs.

Chris Davis and Jace Peterson couldn't make diving stops and the Orioles failed again to get a shutdown inning. They've committed 24 errors on the season, including three tonight.

The Orioles (8-24) have lost 10 of their last 12 games, 16 of 19 and 18 of 22. They've dropped 10 straight on the road.

Brach nearly wiggled out of the jam by retiring Matt Joyce on a shallow fly ball and watching as Peterson fielded Marcus Semien's grounder and fired home for the out. The infield made a play. But Peterson couldn't corral Lowrie's ball in the outfield grass.

Semien's two-out single off Darren O'Day in the eighth scored Lucroy for a 6-4 lead. Caleb Joseph dropped a pop up in foul territory earlier in the inning.

Andrew Cashner's pitch count forced him out of the game after 4 2/3 innings. He was charged with four runs (three earned) and six hits, with three walks, five strikeouts and two home runs.

Adam Jones celebrated his 1,500th game with the Orioles, and his move up to second in the order, by homering in the top of the first inning. Jones launched a slider over the center field fence after Daniel Mengden came after him twice with four-seam fastballs.

Singles in the third and sixth innings made Jones 5-for-28 since collecting three hits on April 26 - his last multi-hit game. He was robbed of a fourth hit on Semien's diving stop and throw with Joseph on second base and one out in the seventh inning, and Davis was robbed of an extra-base hit and game-tying RBI on Joyce's leaping catch at the left field fence.

The Orioles' 1-0 lead lasted four batters. Joyce drew a leadoff walk, Semien reached on a fielder's choice/error, Lowrie popped up and Khris Davis hit a long three-run homer to left-center field.

Matt Olson followed with a home run and the Athletics led 4-1. A single followed before Cashner retired the next two batters. He threw 37 pitches and received one visit.

The Orioles have been outscored 40-11 in the first inning this season and 9-1 in the past two nights.

Davis' ball traveled an estimated 432 feet to left-center field, Olson's 429 feet to center. Davis crushed a 94 mph fastball. Olson supplied the power while turning around a changeup.

One of the four runs was unearned after Peterson was charged with an error for failing to make a barehanded catch of a ball that Machado flipped to him. Peterson had to reach back for it. The blame could have gone in either direction.

The Orioles should have gotten a force on the play after Cashner issued a walk that qualified as the first mistake of the inning.

Cashner threw 21 pitches in the second inning while stranding two runners, both of them reaching with two outs. His count stood at 94 after a scoreless fourth inning and 114 after a two-out walk in the fifth that ended his night.

Brach, making his earliest appearance since April 10, 2016, struck out Mark Canha to strand two runners, but the unearned run in the sixth proved to be the difference in the game.

Cashner was in danger of losing his fourth consecutive start, but the rally against Yusmeiro Petit in the sixth inning spared him another defeat. He's 1-4 with a 4.89 ERA in seven outings. He hadn't pitched in Oakland until tonight.

The Orioles strung together four consecutive singles off Petit to open the sixth, starting with Jones' bunt hit. Machado, Davis and Mark Trumbo reached as two runs scored, and Danny Valencia's single to center field with one out tied the game 4-4.

Peterson grounded into a double play against Lou Trivino.

Angels rookie Jaime Barria no-hit the Orioles last night through the fifth inning. Mengden strung together four scoreless innings after Jones' home run, allowing two more hits and retiring 12 of the last 14 batters after Trumbo's leadoff double in the second.

The Orioles fought back, only to be flattened again. And a little more air came out of their season.

Manager Buck Showalter on Cashner: "Sometimes, down's not good to certain people and up's not good to certain people, but he found his way after that. He battled his way through. He knew we were short down in the 'pen, especially long, and he almost got through the fifth. I know he really wanted to stay in there, but I'm not going to have him throw over 115 pitches in the first of May."

Showalter on what's most frustrating part of errors: "I can sit there and talk about them. I'm not going to throw anybody under the bus. They know it's not only ... sometimes it's a team thing, whether it's communication on fly balls or ... You can always find both sides of it. I'm not certainly getting into critiquing players who are trying and sometimes they're in a position where they can do some things, but they're working at it. They're doing as good as they can. It's just, we're not able to put all three phases of the game together on a consistent basis."

Showalter on whether it's frustrating or encouraging to battle back and lose: "Our guys aren't into signs of encouragement right now. It's about trying to have more runs than them after nine innings or 10 or 11 or 12. And that's really what they're looking at, and we all are. You can always find something encouraging in games and we try to stay there, but our guys know what we've got to get better at. The same issues are getting us in trouble every night."

Showalter on Jones breaking out of slump: "I don't think anybody says that word. Adam, he's grinding every day. There's not a day goes by that I don't know how blessed we are to have a guy that posts up and competes like he does every night, regardless of what's going on. We're lucky to have him. I talked to him today about moving to second (in the batting order) and he always has the same response. He's a baseball player."

Cashner on how he settled down after first inning: "I think the biggest thing was controlling my sinker, and I didn't do a very good job of that. But I think it was probably one of my worst best outings I've ever had as far as grinding through and giving us a chance to win."

Cashner on wanting the last out in the fifth: "I think for me it's more, the bullpen's been eating a lot of innings lately, so for me it's just to keep grinding and keep going. I told (Showalter) I felt like I had a lot left in the tank. I was just kind of getting on the side of my sinker, and sometimes it was getting on top of it too much."

Jones on 1,500th game with Orioles: "It's really humbling, first off, to be able to play as long as I've played. My 1,600th game overall, first 100-plus with the Mariners, but being able to be with one team this long is extremely humbling and rare. Not many players in today's current state play with the same team this long. It's been a blessing to build all the relationships I've built in Baltimore, all the friendships, all the community stuff I've been able to do. It's just been a complete blessing that I've been able to do this and be good for this long.

"It's a tribute to health, No. 1. If I'm healthy, I'm able to do stuff. The greatest ability is availability, and over my 11 years here, I've been available quite often. That's the blessing. It's humbling. I really can't put it into words. I've tried to over the last couple years to put all these accomplishments into words but it's hard because I'm still going, I'm still fighting, I'm still playing for the next day. Until I'm done, I just feel blessed and humbled for the opportunity."