Showalter speaks after 9-8 loss

The Orioles battled back from 7-0 and 9-2 deficits tonight to bring the potential winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. However, their rally and a five-game winning streak came to an end.

J.J. Hardy grounded into a force at second base following Matt Wieters' two-out single, and the Tigers held on for a 9-8 win before 30,136 at Camden Yards.

The Tigers' bullpen is a dumpster fire, but their offense was scorching against starter Miguel Gonzalez and reliever Bud Norris. Gonzalez was charged with five runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings. Norris allowed four runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings.

"He just wasn't very crisp," manager Buck Showalter said of Gonzalez, who failed to become the Orioles' first 10-game winner this season. "Sticky night, good offensive team and he paid for his mistakes. Sometimes, like a lot of pitchers, you see Miguel scuffle a little bit the first part of it and get back in step, but he never really found his step. Felt like we'd make a run at them. Just couldn't shut them down there for a while."

Tommy Hunter retired all six batters he faced and Darren O'Day struck out two in a perfect ninth.

"Tommy was really good, and of course Darren," Showalter said. "I was real proud. I'll tell you, that was pretty impressive, our guys battling their way back in that.

"I take a lot of positives, but nothing I didn't already know about our club and our guys. I get to be around them every day. That's why I'm so positive about things and always try to be, because of what you saw out there tonight. It's sticky. As they say in Maryland, it's close. And our guys never gave in, kept grinding. And we had the go-ahead run up even a couple times."

Wieters came off the bench and delivered an RBI single in the seventh and singled again in the ninth. His average is up to .264.

"Matty had a big blow for us, a lot of them to get back in that," Showalter said. "We got some shutdowns from Tommy and Darren to give us a shot at them."

Hunter and O'Day allowed Showalter to save some of his bullpen. He wasn't going to use Brad Brach or Zach Britton tonight except in an emergency.

"Tommy had three days off and Darren had two," Showalter said. "I want to make sure I've got Brach long tomorrow, so I want to stay away from him so he'd have three days. So we stay on our feet physically and don't put anybody in harm's way.

"I was not going to use Zach tonight in any circumstance, against his wishes, but that's kind of where we are."

The Tigers put forth a commendable effort on a day that the front office traded starter David Price and closer Joakim Soria. Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes could follow them out the door on Thursday.

"They've been a good offensive team all year," Showalter said. "They're professionals. Those guys are kind of a perennial playoff team for quite a while. They have strong leadership with Victor (Martinez). They've got some guys having big years. Their shortstop (Jose Iglesias) is having as big a year as anybody at his position. They're a good club.

"I think we caught (Alfredo) Simon. He's got a groin problem. He came out of the game last time. It was almost like hitting a knuckleballer tonight he was throwing so many splits. We kind of figured that going in and finally made the adjustment a little bit. He was throwing about 60 percent splits, a cutter. You could tell he wasn't able to push off very well."

The Orioles fell two games back for the second wild card. Their winning streak ended at five games.

The Orioles are 13-17 in one-run games and 16-20 in the first game of a series.