masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgIt’s hard to believe that the Twins were a reeling team with a 21-37 record on the road when they arrived at Camden Yards for a four-game series.
The Orioles will need more proof.
Once again, the Orioles couldn’t break out offensively and couldn’t find a way to counter the Twins’ small-ball approach. Chris Tillman retired 14 batters in a row before allowing the tying run in the sixth, and he was charged with two more in the seventh in a 3-2 loss before 35,301 at Camden Yards.
The Orioles…

It’s hard to believe that the Twins were a reeling team with a 21-37 record on the road when they arrived at Camden Yards for a four-game series.

The Orioles will need more proof.

Once again, the Orioles couldn’t break out offensively and couldn’t find a way to counter the Twins’ small-ball approach. Chris Tillman retired 14 batters in a row before allowing the tying run in the sixth, and he was charged with two more in the seventh in a 3-2 loss before 35,301 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have lost four of their last five games and are 0-6 against the Twins this season. They trail the Yankees by six games in the American League East.

“We’re not mounting a whole lot offensively other than it seems like one, maybe two innings,” said manager Buck Showalter. “They’re pitching well and we’re not particularly grouping a whole lot together. It’s a bad combination.

“I thought Tilly was good again. I was proud of our Rule 5, Jason (Garcia). We didn’t have (Mychal) Givens and I didn’t want to use (Darren) O’Day tonight and that’s kind of where we were, so we were fortunate to keep it close there. But they’ve been doing a good job out of the bullpen with their closer out the last three days.”

Tillman-Throws-Orange-Sidebar.jpgTillman hadn’t lost since May 31.

“He was able to stay in his delivery for the most part,” Showalter said. “Got out of it a couple times on four-pitch walks. I thought he repeated his delivery a lot and stayed in sync. He had three pitches, actually used a fourth one sometimes tonight. You give Matt (Wieters) and our catchers that type of repertoire, you’re going to have some success. We just didn’t score many runs. He pitched well enough to win.

“They made some good pitches and sometimes we get ourselves out as much as they’re getting us out, too. That happens all the time in the major leagues. Nobody makes a living, maybe five pitchers in each league, and most of those guys are closers, make a living out of pitching in the strike zone. They take the sting out of the bat, as Frank Howard used to say.

“Henry (Urrutia) hit some balls on the button. You could see the guys had some pretty good swings, but they didn’t quite square it up. The best pitch in baseball is still a well-located fastball. You can see that they and the teams we’re playing are making a lot of pitches that are taking the sting out of the bat at the end. We did the same thing to them some, too. That’s pitching. You’re not going to live in the strike zone. You’ve got to make a living making pitches appear strikes and take them off the sweet part of the bat and the plate. That’s how you get outs. So it’s frustrating that you make a lot of those pitches and guys get a swinging bunt or flare one here or there.”

The Orioles reclaimed the lead at 2-1 in the sixth after Chris Davis led off with a walk and Matt Wieters singled. They advanced on Jonathan Schoop’s sacrifice bunt and J.J. Hardy lifted a sacrifice fly to right field after the Twins issued an intentional walk to Steve Clevenger.

“Jon bunted on his own,” Showalter said. “Thought he saw something there. I knew they were going to walk Clev if he did that. That’s why we didn’t have the signal on to start with.”

Henry Urrutia singled to load the bases, but Manny Machado struck out with the count full. Wieters failed to tag up and take third base on Hardy’s sacrifice fly.

“Torii (Hunter) would have thrown him out by about 10 feet,” Showalter said. “That’s where Torii was lined up to throw anyway.”

Showalter said Hardy made it through the game without feeling discomfort in his groin, but he probably won’t be in Sunday’s lineup.

“That’s where I’m leaning,” Showalter said. “See if we can clear it up a little bit. He didn’t overstretch it, so to speak. He didn’t really have to.”

Showalter doesn’t believe in taking a “woe is me” attitude, but is there any frustration building while losing three in a row at home to the Twins?

“I don’t know if there’s frustration,” he said. “You know how good the competition is and you know how good you have to be. It’s not like you just throw your gloves and balls out there and things happen. You’ve got to make them happen between the lines.

“There’s a fine line as you’ve seen the last two nights between those two things. It can turn very quickly. But the last three games have been frustrating for us, especially the last two. But we’ve got an opportunity very shortly tomorrow.”

Machado said the Orioles “haven’t been playing baseball.”

“They’ve been beating us, outhitting us,” he said. “In key situations, we haven’t been hitting clutch. It’s just part of the game. It happens. We go through that kind of stretch. We’ve just got to keep fighting. There’s still a lot of games left to be won and we’ve got to keep our heads on right. Play a little better baseball.

“Keep playing baseball. It’s a part of the game, part of the grind. Every day, somebody else has to come up and pick everybody up. I think we’ve been playing great baseball, great D. We’ve been hitting. We’re just a couple hits away. It’s nothing that we should be worried about. Just keep our heads on right, keep playing baseball. There’s a lot of games left to be played. We’re not worried about this. We’ve got to stay strong, stay where we need to be and stay on the right path.”

The Twins are peppering the Orioles with jabs to win these decisions.

“These games all count,” Machado said. “We need the wins and you see them winning it like that. But, hey, we get hits like that as well. It’s a part of the game. It’s always been there. It’s always been like that. Everybody needs to eat. They need to eat as well and they need wins as well. It’s tough to watch, but you have to keep grinding and stay focused and like I said, stay on the same path we were on.”

Tillman was cruising along before the Twins got to him, too.

“Just making pitches,” he said. “I think delivery-wise, it’s pretty good. For the most, my pitches all of them were there for me throughout, and I didn’t have a spot where I didn’t want to throw a certain pitch, which has kind of been the case in the past, but tonight I felt I had all of them.

“Any time you’re in the big leagues, you feel the margin for error is small. You’ve got to make your pitches throughout and for the most part we were able to. These guys are throwing the ball real well. It’s tough to watch.

“For us, the last two, three games, they’re throwing the ball real well, especially out of the bullpen. Late in the game, I feel this team has been good. The way their bullpen’s throwing, it’s been tough.”