When will it end? The slide of O's rotation continued last night

CHICAGO - The Orioles were 22-10 and playing great baseball. They had a winning percentage of .688 and were on a 111-win pace.

We knew that could not continue to that extent, but just over a month after that hot start, the O's could be under .500 with a loss tonight.

This has not been a slump, this has been a collapse of a pitching staff. Sure, the offense shares blame, too. But right now, the rotation's shortcomings are glaring.

Since that start where the O's got 12 games over .500 they are 9-21. In those 30 games the rotation ERA is 6.70. That is right, 6.70. Yikes.

The last three games have been started by Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman and Wade Miley. They have pitched a combined seven innings, allowing 21 hits and 22 runs with 11 walks and one strikeout. Yep, the last three games, O's starters have gone 1 1/3, 3 1/3 and 2 1/3 innings.

Last night, Miley fell on the sword for the loss. Hard.

"That game is on me," he said. "We've got to be better as a starting staff. We have to be better individually. That is not acceptable. ... I sucked. That's it."

He agrees the string of short starts has put pressure on the next guy in the rotation each night but someone has to reverse the slide.

"Sure, there's pressure, but that is still not an excuse," Miley said. "We've got to go out there and do our jobs. We're not doing our jobs right now. It's embarrassing on all of us. I mean, it's definitely embarrassing for the starting staff. Other than Dylan Bundy. He's kind of holding us alive right now. We've got to pick him up, take some load off of him."

Maybe Alec Asher will get it going tonight.

"Yeah, I mean, that is what has got to happen," Miley said. "Alec is pitching (tonight). The last thing he needs to do is put pressure on himself to think he needs to turn this around. I didn't think that tonight at all. I was trying to make pitches and they were seeing them well."

The road woes continue. The Orioles have lost 10 in a row on the road and 14 of 15. Since beginning the year with a 6-3 road mark, they are 4-18.

The White Sox scored 10 runs last night, their most against the Orioles since scoring 12 in Chicago on July 17, 2009. Over the past six games, O's starters have an ERA of 15.56.

It seems the offense is in a hole early every night. The O's trailed 8-2 in the fourth last night.

"That's tough. No two ways around it. We've got to do a better job," Mark Trumbo said.

Now we await news later today on Chris Davis' MRI this morning. He left the game last night with a right oblique strain.

What if they lose Davis?

"We keep moving," Trumbo said. "No one is going to feel sorry for us, so we can't either. We've got good players and we'll find a way to get it done. I mean he's a middle-of-the-order constant threat that plays great defense at first base. He is a premier talent and it's obviously tough it he's out. We'll find a way."

In the immediate moments after last night's game manager Buck Showalter was not ready to ponder losing Davis for an extended period.

"We don't live in that world," Showalter said. "Y'all can. We can't. Chris is a good player, but we've got some other good players with the opportunity to step up, just like every club. Everybody has got their challenges, including us. We got Manny (Machado) back. He felt pretty good tonight. That was good to get him back. We've got a few people capable of playing over there."

One is Trey Mancini, a natural first baseman who played left field again Monday night. He hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning, once again driving the ball to right field. He's been a bright spot for Showalter, who hopes Mancini can maintain such a solid all fields hitting approach over the long haul.

"Like I've said, in the future the challenge is going to be that he stays out there (often going to right field)," Showalter said. "That was the most encouraging thing about Manny today, he had two base hits the other way. When they start getting a little bit - and he knows it, and I've talked to him about it. The challenge is going to be when you get into this a little bit, whether it's later on this season or next year, the challenge is going to be to stay there and not take the bait of getting in hook mode, because he's a tough out when he doesn't."

Right now, too many opponent batters are tough outs for O's starting pitchers.