Rays homer twice off Wei-Yin Chen to take series opener

The Orioles' return tonight to Camden Yards did little to change their recent fortunes. They lost another game, this one to Tampa Bay by a 6-3 score, as they combined poor offense for six innings with poor starting pitching to lose for the 11th time in 12 games.

The Orioles have scored just 10 runs during a five-game losing streak as they fall to 63-68. That is one game off their low point of the season when they were six games under .500 at 23-29. The Orioles have scored three runs or less in 11 of the past 12 games.

Wei-Yin Chen's recent run of good pitching ended as he allowed nine hits and five runs over 4 2/3 innings. He falls to 8-7 with an ERA of 3.36. Chen had allowed three earned runs or less in 16 of his last 17 starts before tonight and was 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA over his last four starts for the Orioles. This was his shortest outing since going 3 1/3 innings against Detroit on July 31.

Tampa Bay hit two homers off Chen as Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run shot in the fourth to put the Rays ahead 3-0. They added two in the fifth for a 5-0 lead. In that inning, Evan Longoria hit a solo homer. It was his 15th.

Of the 14 homers Tampa Bay has hit in 13 games against O's pitching this season, eight have come off Chen. He has given up nearly a third of his 26 homers on the season to Rays batters. Chen has allowed two or more homers eight times.

Chris Archer blanked the Orioles over six innings tonight on four hits. But his pitch count reached 113, forcing him from the game. He pitched out of several jams and the Orioles were just 1-for-7 against him with runners in scoring position. He entered with a career mark of 1-4 with a 5.06 ERA versus the Orioles, but got the win tonight to improve his season mark to 12-10 with an ERA of 2.78.

The Orioles ended a 19-inning scoreless stretch when they scored three runs on four hits off reliever Matt Andriese in the seventh. Adam Jones had an RBI single and Steve Clevenger singled in two more runs.

Manny Machado made his first major league start at shortstop tonight. He made one great play in the hole at deep short to rob Rene Rivera in the top of the sixth. When Machado led off in the first tonight, Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier went way above the fence to rob him of a homer. According to ESPN Stats and Info, O's batters have been robbed of six homers in 2015, twice as many as the next closest teams, Texas and Colorado.

In the second game of this series on Tuesday night, Chris Tillman (9-9, 4.58 ERA) faces lefty Drew Smyly (1-2, 3.82 ERA).

Congrats to Bowie: The Orioles' Double-A Bowie affiliate tonight clinched a playoff berth in the Eastern League for the sixth time in 23 seasons. The Baysox scored four in the last of the eighth to rally and beat Altoona to clinch their first playoff berth since 2012. Now 76-58, Bowie's magic number to win the division title is down to three.