masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgA long night of missed chances ended with the Orioles losing a key game to Tampa Bay and feeling like the result would have been much different with just one or two clutch hits that never came.

The Orioles set a new season high by leaving 15 men on base tonight and they went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a 4-3 loss to the Rays in the series opener at Camden Yards.

The O’s missed chances read like this tonight:

* Runners on second and third with one out in the second and no…A long night of missed chances ended with the Orioles losing a key game to Tampa Bay and feeling like the result would have been much different with just one or two clutch hits that never came.

The Orioles set a new season high by leaving 15 men on base tonight and they went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a 4-3 loss to the Rays in the series opener at Camden Yards.

The O’s missed chances read like this tonight:

* Runners on second and third with one out in the second and no runs.

* Runners on second and third with one out in the third and no runs.

* Two leadoff singles in the fourth leads to first and third with one out and no runs.

* Runners on second and third with one out in the fifth and no runs.

* Runners on first and third with two outs in the seventh and no runs.

* Chris Davis stranded at second in the eighth after a one-out double when Adam Jones and Matt Wieters struck out.

The Orioles got 10 hits over five innings tonight against 2012 AL Cy Young winner David Price, but scored just twice off him. They left 10 on base over the first five against him, going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

The O’s are batting .347 against Price this year but lost tonight after winning the first two times he had started against them.

Matt Joyce hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Chris Tillman in the fourth to give Tampa a 4-2 lead. He hit a 92 mph Tillman fastball for his 16th homer.

Tillman gave up five hits and four runs over six innings to fall to 14-4 with an ERA of 3.79. He has taken three of those losses against Tampa and is 1-3 with an ERA of 5.09 in four starts against the Rays in 2013.

Wieters went 3-for-5 with an RBI double and solo homer. Danny Valencia, recalled today from Triple-A Norfolk, went 3-for-4 with a walk and RBI double.

The Orioles have now lost their last six games decided by one run while Tampa Bay is 19-9 in its last 28 one-run decisions.

The Orioles have lost six of their last seven against Tampa and fall to 5-8 vs. the Rays on the year and to 67-57 for the season.