J.J. Hardy: "There could be worse spots to be in" (O's down 5-1)

For anyone asking about the mood or the vibe inside the Orioles clubhouse this afternoon, it falls somewhere below panic. Far, far below.

The Orioles understand the significance of this series and the impact of losing the first two games. They've tumbled into third place, five games behind the Red Sox, and barely hold onto the second wild card.

They don't need Captain Obvious pointing out how they're moving in the wrong direction.

"You don't want to say 'desperation,' " said shortstop J.J. Hardy. "Obviously, we're disappointed we haven't won the first two games or even one of the first two games, but we can't dwell on it. Nothing we can do about it now other than just look forward and try to win tonight's game. It's as simple as that.

"We can't be paying attention to what everyone else is doing. We can't be paying attention to what we've done the last couple of days. I think we're still positive. We've got 11 games left and if the season ended right now we'd still be in the postseason. I think there could be worse spots to be in, for sure."

With 11 games left on the schedule, the Orioles remain in the hunt for the division title despite moving below the Blue Jays and farther away from the Red Sox.

"I mean, until we're out of it, until it's mathematically not possible, then I think yeah, that's the goal," Hardy said. "I think it would be stupid for us to give up on that when we're not mathematically out of it."

The numbers coming from the offense need to improve, and in a hurry. Two runs in each of the last four games, and two or fewer in six of the last nine, won't get it done.

"Well, that's the pitching that we're facing," said Hardy, who's 12-for-26 in his last eight games. "We're facing probably the Cy Young in (Rick) Porcello, who had a great game, and then (Eduardo) Rodriguez. That's a pretty damn good arm. He was throwing the ball really well yesterday. They're good pitchers. And we had good pitchers going up against them, too. They just got the bigger hits at the better time.

"Yeah, obviously, we'd like to score a lot more runs every game, but it's not that easy."

No one in the clubhouse needs to be told of the offensive shortcomings and the gap between the Orioles and the Red Sox, how it's widening over the final homestand of the season.

"Our guys know how many games we've got left and they know a lot of things," said manager Buck Showalter. "We've talked about it. A lot of things that doors aren't open to. You've got to pick your spots where a team talks about those things. But our guys know what's at stake because they get asked about it all the time. They certainly don't need their peers - and I consider that the coaches and everybody - pounding on that. But it's discussed. We have advanced meetings, we talk about things that need to be talked about."

The Orioles averaged 19,422 fans for the first two games of the series, a disappointing turnout that's obviously been noticed. Center fielder Adam Jones said it's "sad."

"The city wanted a winner," he said. "The last five years, we've had a winner. I don't know if they've gotten complacent on us winning already. I hope they haven't. Winning is fun every single year and being in the race is very exciting every single year. To the ones that come every night, thank you with open arms. We appreciate it because you don't have to."

Showalter was asked whether he's surprised by the turnout.

"Not really," he replied. "I don't dwell. I try to stay focused on the things that we can control. That's trying to play good, winning baseball and consistent.

"No, everybody has decisions to make. They have a lot of pull on their time and their dollars and I respect anybody's decision to come or listen or watch. I'm just glad for the support that we have. That doesn't mean that because there are X-number of people at the ballpark that you don't have great support."

Steve Pearce underwent surgery today to repair flexor tendons in his right arm. No complications. Everything was good.

"If I know Stevie, he'll be more on the shorter side of recovery," Showalter said.

"The three tendons, they actually have to tear it a little more to repair it properly, the way it was explained to me. Should be as good as new. Well, I wouldn't describe Stevie as knew. He's had a lot of beat-up on that body."

Update: The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the third and settled for one run on Jones' sacrifice fly to shallow left field.

Jonathan Schoop singled, Matt Wieters reached on sacrifice/fielder's choice and J.J. Hardy walked on four pitches.

Update II: Chris Davis committed a throwing error that let two runs score with two outs in the sixth and Andrew Benintendi followed with a three-run homer off Brad Brach to give the Red Sox at 5-1 lead.

All five runs were unearned.

Brach entered with two on and one out. Aaron Hill reached on a bunt single, with confusion between Brach and Wieters contributing to it, but Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out after getting ahead 3-0 in the count. Sandy Leon grounded to the right side, Davis cut in front of Jonathan Schoop and fired the ball past Brach.

One pitch later, the lead grew to 5-1.