Buck Showalter and Adam Jones on the loss at Detroit

DETROIT - Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy gives up one earned run in Boston, yet the Orioles lose. Tonight right-hander Andrew Cashner provided his third straight quality start but again the offense didn't get it done.

Since the Orioles won that series at Yankee Stadium, they are 1-6 and have scored 16 total runs. Tonight they scored two or less for the eighth time in a 4-2 loss to Detroit at frigid Comerica Park.

The Tigers came in having lost five in a row and the Orioles had lost three in a row. The O's streak lives on after they were held to six hits, left seven on base and struck out 12 times.

Tigers starter lefty Franciso Liriano fanned five the first time through the order and Detroit pitchers got the Orioles to chase some pitches up in the zone tonight.

"Everybody in that locker room knows that we're not clicking offensively right now, so everybody's trying to push and do it all in one at-bat," manager Buck Showalter said. "We talk about it in every advanced meeting and around the cages. It's tough for guys at this level to kind of pull back, kind of like a pitcher where more is not always better. But it'll happen."

The Orioles fell behind 2-0 on a Victor Martinez two-run homer in the second, but they tied it up with a Trey Mancini solo homer in the third and on Adam Jones' RBI single in the fifth.

But on Jones' two-out single, Manny Machado was thrown out tying to go first to third to end the inning. An inning later, left fielder Niko Goodrum robbed Luis Sardiñas of a possible two-run double and the Orioles would not score again.

"Manny's a good base runner. That wasn't...he knows with (Craig) Gentry at second base with two outs, he's going to score easily there. Just a mistake we made. You never know what would have happened with (Danny) Valencia there, but that isn't what beat us. We just didn't swing the bats well, consistently," Showalter said.

Jones talked about wasting good starting pitching. The Orioles are now 2-6 in games started by Bundy and Cashner.

"They are doing a hell of a job on that mound," Jones said. "Just sucks that we aren't able to scratch more runs for them. The offense is trying to go out there and score runs and we just aren't doing it. Screw the weather, who cares about the weather. The opponents are playing in it, too. We just got to get better. We got to get better situationally. We had some people on and just couldn't get that hit. But no one likes excuses. We just have to get it done.

"We need to get bases loaded and a bloop hit or something like that to break it up. We are hitting the ball hard but right at guys. Let's try to flip the script. There's no panic in this clubhouse. let's just try to flip the script. But we have to get better. At the end of the day, people only care about results not effort."

Jones feels it's too early to say the Orioles are getting buried in the standings, but they have found themselves firmly entrenched in the second division for now.

"If we are playing this crappy by June let us know. We got still 140 games to go. Anything can happen. You are going to lose 60 you are going to win 60, the other 42 is where you figure it out," he said.

Cashner provided a third straight quality start, allowing seven hits and three runs over six innings on 91 pitches. But he falls to 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA despite allowing just four runs over 19 innings his past three starts.

"I felt like one of the things I worked on this offseason was really spinning my breaking ball. And I'd say that my curveball is probably in the best spot I've had my whole career. You know, I've worked with (Alex) Cobb a lot on throwing my breaking ball...I still believe in all our guys. You look at the track records of all our guys - it's there. We've just got to do better," Cashner said.

At 5-12, the Orioles are 0-4 on this road trip and 1-11 when they score three runs or fewer. Right-hander Kevin Gausman will try to pitch them even in this three-game series on Wednesday afternoon in Detroit.