masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgAdam Jones has been slumping, but he was the right guy to give the Orioles their first hit of the afternoon.

He also tossed them a run.

Jones hit his 23rd home run to reduce Tampa Bay’s lead to 7-1 in the fifth inning. He has 80 RBIs this season.

Jones drilled a changeup from Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson, giving him two hits in his last 20 at-bats, and four in his last 38. Jones didn’t have a home run during that stretch.

One more note in the Reid Brignac three-run double: Brignac was…Adam Jones has been slumping, but he was the right guy to give the Orioles their first hit of the afternoon.

He also tossed them a run.

Jones hit his 23rd home run to reduce Tampa Bay’s lead to 7-1 in the fifth inning. He has 80 RBIs this season.

Jones drilled a changeup from Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson, giving him two hits in his last 20 at-bats, and four in his last 38. Jones didn’t have a home run during that stretch.

One more note in the Reid Brignac three-run double: Brignac was hitting .120 with runners in scoring position before today, and .059 with RISP and two outs.

Chris Davis struck out in his second at-bat against Double-A Erie right-hander Trevor Feeney, who now has a story to tell his grandchildren.

Update: Jeremy Guthrie was charged with three earned runs (seven total) and seven hits in five innings, with four walks, five strikeouts and a hit batter. That’s 12 baserunners, not counting another that reached on Mark Reynolds’ error.

Guthrie threw 112 pitches, 66 strikes.

Rick VandenHurk replaced him and served up a home run to Matt Joyce with two outs – yes, two outs – in the sixth.

Tampa Bay 8, Orioles 1.

Update II: The Orioles were held to four hits by rookie Jeremy Hellickson in an 8-1 loss. One of those hits came on a scoring change. Brignac’s error was removed, and Robert Andino was credited with an infield single.