Wrapping up a 5-3 loss

The Orioles rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning tonight and brought Manny Machado to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Pretty much how they'd draw it up, except the ending needed a rewrite.

Machado grounded out against Mets closer Jeurys Familia, and the Orioles' winning streak ended at four games with a 5-3 loss before 34,068 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have lost nine straight games to the Mets.

Kevin Gausman turned in a quality start by definition, allowing three runs and six hits over six innings, with one walk, six strikeouts and two home runs. But Mets starter Jacob deGrom lowered his ERA to 1.98 by holding the Orioles to one run over 7 2/3 innings.

"Kevin gave us a good chance to win," said manager Buck Showalter. "We knew there weren't going to be many opportunities with deGrom out there. As advertised. We've seen him before. But Kevin held up pretty well, I thought. Held them in check, finished strong like he's done his last two or three outings. It was good to see him pitching competitively for us."

Asked about the plan of attack versus deGrom, Showalter replied, "Everybody in baseball, when a guy has that good of a hand and can do some things with the baseball, it's ... I think the combination of stuff and command is a tough combination. But we had a pretty good run at them, if we could have gotten a little shutdown there."

The Orioles brought the best defense in the majors into tonight's game, but second baseman Jonathan Schoop dropped a throw that ruined the chance to cut down a runner at the plate, and he committed a throwing and fielding error.

"The game's crazy," Showalter said. "The guy (Michael Cuddyer) gets hit on the fists, and the ball that Jon gets has pine tar all over it and it sticks to his hand. He's not going to say anything. Manny's got to hurry there with a tough feed, a sinker down, a tough spot, but you've got to hurry. We didn't execute the first part of the relay where we have a guy out pretty easily at the plate."

Asked again about Schoop to close his postgame media session, Showalter said, "He gets a ball that's got pine tar all over it and it sticks to his hand. And Manny's trying to hurry. It's got a lot of hair on it down by your knees and you've got a runner bearing down on you."

The hair was a figure of speech.

Third base coach Bobby Dickerson sent J.J. Hardy on Henry Urrutia's bloop single into left field with two outs in the fifth and the Orioles trailing 3-0, and Michael Conforto cut down the Orioles shortstop at the plate.

"It's two outs, guy made a great throw," Showalter said. "You're not going to get too many opportunities to score off him, so you'd better take a shot at it when you can."

Familia issued bases-loaded walks to Hardy and Urrutia to force in two runs with two outs in the ninth before retiring Machado.

"That guy's got as good a stuff as you want to see," Showalter said. "There's a reason why they're in first place. They've got a lot of good arms and experience, too.

"Manny just missed the first breaking ball he saw. We had our chances. We had some people out there who can run. If we could get a ball where they can't catch it ... They're a good team. So are we."

The Orioles will face only good teams the rest of the way as they try to hold onto a wild card spot or repeat as division champions.

"They have (Noah) Syndergaard tomorrow," Showalter said. "That's why they're in first place. They run out five above-average starters.

"We've been playing a good schedule all year. It's called the major leagues. That's the way you want it. If we're going to get where we want to go, we're going to have to earn it. Everybody will. That's why it's so rewarding if you can do it."

Here's a sampling from the clubhouse:

Schoop on his performance: "We battled back, but there were some mistakes I made today and I've got to be better. I've got to play better. Some easy mistakes that I do today that I've got to be better for my teammates and better for myself."

Schoop on dropped throw on attempted relay: "That was a mistake on me. I was trying to get it so quick out of my glove and it dropped. Like I said, I played a poor game today and I've got to get better for my teammates and myself."

Schoop on trying to forget about tonight: "Yeah, I have to. I have to get it out of my mind. This time in August I've got to play better. Play better defense, plus offense. Today I played poor defensively, but I've got to flush it out and come back tomorrow. Same mentality, because it's a different game tomorrow."

Hardy on play in fifth inning: "It's full count there, two outs. I got a pretty good jump there. I'm going when he starts swinging the bat. He hit it soft apparently. I didn't the play, but I guess it was a one-hopper. And he made a pretty good throw, strong arm. I would have been really surprised if I got held up there. With two outs like that, you've got to try."

Hardy on Schoop: "I wouldn't worry about it. He's been solid all year long. He was solid last year. He's been solid all year long. Forget about it and move on."

Gausman on outing: "I thought I threw some real good pitches. Obviously, two of them weren't too good, especially to a veteran hitter like (Curtis Granderson). He's having a great year. He has the most homers on their team. To do that, especially in those situations early on, you put yourself in a hole right away."

Gausman on the outcome: "I think we showed some fight at the end. Unfortunately, still got the loss. That was the biggest thing. I wanted to keep us rolling. I feel like our offense is kind of clicking right now, but that guy was pretty good tonight, so tip your cap your to him. But obviously a tough loss. Winning four in a row, the way we beat Oakland, kind of felt like we were starting to get going."

Gausman on remaining schedule: "It's going to be big. September is going to be huge for us. Obviously, the rest of August is pretty big, too. I feel like every team we face now is going to be good. This time of year, it's going to be tough. We have a really good stretch here in the next two weeks going into September. We can put ourselves in a good spot."