Jiménez can't get O's rolling in 6-4 loss (Asher optioned, quotes added)

In two innings tonight, Orioles starter Ubaldo Jiménez allowed three runs and forced two relievers to get up in the bullpen.

This wasn't the good version.

Jiménez served up a pair of home runs in the first, including Jed Lowrie's two-run shot only two batters into the game, and the Orioles confirmed again that momentum is the next day's starting pitcher in a 6-4 loss to the Athletics before an announced crowd of 18,493 at Camden Yards.

The night included a Game of Thrones promotion that flew over my head like baseballs into the seats. I didn't get any of the references on Twitter, but I know when a starter didn't bring his best stuff. And when a team keeps hitting, yes, the wall.

Jiménez strung together three scoreless innings after the three-run first, but Healy hit a long two-run homer in the fifth and the Orioles couldn't go ahead against starter Paul Blackburn and five relievers while falling to 61-65 overall and 37-26 at home.

Another series-opening win has been followed by a loss. A pattern has been detected, but it remains unbroken.

Khris Davis homered off Darren O'Day in the ninth after the Orioles scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to pull within one run.

Jiménez tied his career high with three home runs allowed, two of them from Healy. He was charged with five runs and nine hits in five innings and has surrendered 11 runs and 17 hits in his last two starts over 9 1/3 innings.

In 126 innings this season, Jiménez has registered a 6.57 ERA as he approaches free agency.

Blackburn exited the game in the fifth inning after Trey Mancini's line drive slammed off his right arm for a leadoff single. None of the balls that accounted for the first 22 outs left the infield. Seth Smith flied to center field in the eighth.

Manny Machado hit a two-run homer off Simon Castro in the sixth inning, measured by Statcast at 456 feet, to reduce the lead to 5-2 and allow him to tie Jonathan Schoop for the team lead with 27. He walked with two outs in the eighth to load the bases and Schoop followed with a two-run single off Blake Treinen.

Treinen, the third reliever used in the inning, retired Adam Jones on a ground ball. He pitched around the Athletics' 101st error that allowed Mancini to reach leading off the ninth, and the Orioles slipped back into fourth place in the American League East.

Lowrie homered after Boog Powell's leadoff single and Healy connected with two outs and the bases empty. Some fans already were booing and the reception didn't improve after Matt Olson followed with a single and left-hander Richard Bleier moved to the bullpen mound.

Jiménez threw 28 pitches in the first, and he was nailed on a right arm by Bruce Maxwell's comebacker in the second, bringing assistant athletic trainer Brian Ebel on the field. Jiménez gave the thumbs-up sign after a few warmup tosses and allowed another single to Powell - the sixth hit in 1 2/3 innings. Alec Asher began to throw in the bullpen.

Two runners were stranded in the second inning, one in the third after a two-out walk and one in the fourth after Maxwell's one-out single. Matt Joyce led off the fifth with a double and Healy put a ball deep into the left field seats for his fourth career multi-homer game, all of them coming this season.

Asher entered the game in the sixth after working two-thirds of an inning last night. He's expected to be optioned today to make room for reliever Miguel Castro, who's coming off the bereavement list.

Bleier replaced Asher in the eighth and escaped a second and third, no-out jam.

Note: J.J. Hardy went 1-for-2 with a walk, run scored and throwing error at Triple-A Norfolk. He played six innings.

Update: Asher was optioned after the game to make room for Castro.

Manager Buck Showalter on home runs: "We couldn't keep the ball in the park. I didn't think Davis got all that one, but the ball's flying this time of the year. Manny got all of his, that's for sure."

Showalter on Jiménez: "You'd like to say take the first inning away, but you can't take those away. Rough start from him. Put up three zeroes. We were hoping to get five innings out of him. Took a pretty good pop there. As long as he stayed hot, he was OK. He'll be pretty sore tomorrow. You watch these guys get hit by batted balls. Their pitcher, our pitcher. We were fortunate, or unfortunate for them. He was pitching real well. I think that kind of gave us a shot there.

"The velocity of some of these balls coming off the bat going up the middle, sometimes I shake my head. I was talking to Wade about it today. The feelings you have to have about getting out there. I wish everybody could stand and see how close that is."

Showalter on inability to win second game of series: "We've talked about it and they're certainly aware of it. It's a very obvious thing to say. They know it. But we're going to have to be consistent in our starting pitching to have that type of momentum and to have those things happen.

"We have some good ones and then we have some that really put us in the hole early on. We did a great job of getting back in there. We had some good people up and we couldn't get that last one. We created a real hole for ourselves. Sometimes, we climb out of it, sometimes we don't."

Showalter asked again about second game of series blues: "Well, that's the same thing we answered earlier. We don't pitch well in all three is a big factor. You know, if we pitch better, we'll do better. And it's not just on Ubaldo. We had some opportunities there, but guys grinded through it. They pitched well.

"The guy at the end and we actually got a break, I hope he's OK, that he had to leave the game because he was pitching real well. That was legit. He had a lot of late life, some balls that appeared as strikes and then ran off the plate and got deep in on some guys."

Jiménez on first inning: "I left a couple of pitches up and they made me pay for it. The first one was a fastball that was supposed to be inside, but it got too much of the plate. The other one was a hanging slider."

Jiménez on wrist: "I didn't get it X-rayed. It didn't get any bone. I got hit really hard. I was lucky. It didn't hit any bone."

Jiménez on three scoreless innings: "It's never a good feeling not to be able to do that for the team. Today was a tough one. I think in the second inning, I just thought about trying to go after guys as best as I could, trying to stop the bullpen from getting in the game."

Mancini on hustling to reach base in ninth: "Yeah, you never really know what can happen, especially in a tight game like that, so you figure it doesn't take too much effort to run 90 feet. So yeah, I was just trying to run hard and make them look up and be surprised maybe that I got up the line a little quicker than he thought."

Mancini on attempting a comeback: "Yeah, we did a good job of battling back. But sometimes it happens that way. Jones had the slider there had a really good swing on it. Yeah, we had a shot at the end there, but sometimes it doesn't work out."

Mancini on early deficit: "It's not like you're up at the plate thinking, 'Oh, we're losing by this.' You want to get a hit and start a rally for your team no matter what the score is. Obviously, you have to do more for your team, but we've been there before. The other day we were down five and came back. It's nothing this offense can't handle."