A recap of the Orioles' 6-5 loss to the Tigers last night:
Six innings, no win
Garrett Olson lasted six innings for the first time since June 5, but he left the game with the Tigers ahead 5-4. Olson allowed seven hits, walked four and struck out five. He threw 91 pitches, 57 for strikes. Olson had a clean first inning but put runners on base in all the others. Gary Sheffield hit a two-run homer in the second, Marcus Thames had a run-scoring double in the third and Brandon Inge belted a two-run homer in the sixth.
Baseless decisions
The Orioles ran into three outs in the first six innings. They strung together four straight hits to open the second, including a run-scoring double by Melvin Mora and an RBI single by Ramon Hernandez. Mora broke for home on Jay Payton's grounder to Inge, who threw to second for the force. Second baseman Placido Polanco fired to the plate, where catcher Ivan Rodriguez made the tag. Nick Markakis attempted to take second base on Aubrey Huff's fly ball to left field in the third, hesitated more than halfway there and was an easy out. And Hernandez got caught in a rundown between third base and home when he tried to score on Brandon Fahey's grounder to first.
Didn't fold
Tigers starter Kenny Rogers battled through six innings and left with a 6-4 lead. He scattered 11 hits, including Mora's solo homer in the fourth, walked two and struck out one. He threw 87 pitches, 55 for strikes. The 11 hits tied a season high against him. Like Olson, his only clean inning was the first. He allowed multiple hits in four of his other five innings.
On deck
The second game of this 11-day homestand begins at 7:05 p.m. with Jeremy Guthrie (5-7, 3.49 ERA) looking to creep closer to the .500 mark. Guthrie has allowed one earned run in four of his past seven starts. He has three career appearances against the Tigers but no starts. He has allowed three runs over seven innings against them. Armando Galarraga starts for the Tigers tonight. He hasn't won since June 18, the last of his four straight winning decisions, but also hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in eight of his past nine games.