Orioles left-hander Wade Miley had it all laid out for him. The Orioles scored five runs in the first inning and did it in historic fashion, seemingly setting the tone for an upbeat fireworks night at Camden Yards.
Instead, the game blew up faster than any of the colorful rockets that were shot into the sky afterward. The Orioles suffered a particularly distasteful 15-8 loss Friday night to even the four-game series against the Houston Astros at a victory apiece.
It isn't supposed to be heavy lifting when your teammates give you four home runs before they make their first out of the game, but shutdown innings have been elusive for the Orioles rotation this season and that certainly was the case when the Astros came up for their second time at bat.
"I stunk," Miley said after lasting just 1 2/3 innings, allowing six runs and seven hits.
He had allowed a leadoff home run to George Springer to begin the game, but struck out five of the next six batters before it all went south.
With two outs and one runner on in the second, he let five straight hitters reach base — four of them hitting safely to drive in runs. The unkindest cut of all came from MVP candidate Jose Altuve, who slapped a two-run double down the right-field line to complete a five-run comeback and put Houston ahead, 6-5.
"It's embarrassing for that to happen," Miley said. "… I made a lot of mistakes over the middle of the plate, even after the strikeouts a lot of fastballs trying to get ahead and they were just middle cut and they drove them. That's on me. I've got to set a better tempo than that."
It was obvious at that point that it was going to be one of those nights. The Orioles came back to regain the lead with two runs in the third, only to have Ubaldo Jimenez surrender three runs over three innings of long relief.
The Orioles inched back again in the fifth on their fifth home run of the game — the 19th of the year by Pedro Alvarez — but reliever Tyler Wilson gave up home runs to Altuve and Evan Gattis in the sixth as the Astros pulled away.
Manager Buck Showalter ended up using all three of his long relievers – Vance Worley also allowed two runs – so the club will make at least one roster move before Chris Tillman takes the mound for Saturday night's game. Wilson was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk after the loss.
It was a painful turnabout made more painful by the fact that the Boston Red Sox were busy blowing out the Tigers in Detroit, ending the evening with the Orioles back in third place.
"These are the best players in the world and things like that happen," Showalter said. "Things snowball. There's such a fine line. If you're going to wallow in self-pity … Our guys turn the page very quickly, just like their team did before tonight's game. You can't sit there and live in that world. If you do, you're going to have it happen again and again and again. That's why our guys have been engaged in this division because they don't do that."
First batter inefficiency: The Astros were able to come storming back because the Orioles pitchers were unable to keep the Houston leadoff batters from getting on base. In the first six innings, there were four leadoff hits and two leadoff walks. Only one of those leadoff base runners failed to score.
Fun home run facts: The four home runs in the first inning were a first in the modern era of baseball, since they all came before an out had been recorded by the opposing starting pither. The back-to-back-to-back homers were the first set by the Orioles since Delmon Young, J.J. Hardy and Chris Davis hit three in a row on Aug. 25, 2014. And somehow, Astros starter Collin McHugh remained in the game almost twice as long as Miley.
Davis digs in: Davis' homer was his fourth in a span of just 14 innings, dating to the second inning of the second game of the Red Sox series on Wednesday night. He now has 28 homers and 66 RBIs for the season.
Trumbo's quick response: Mark Trumbo has hung tenaciously to the major league home run lead. He has been challenged for it repeatedly by either Todd Frazier or Edwin Encarnacion and has shared it several times with one or both of them. Each time he has been challenged for it, however, he has responded quickly to regain sole possession of the lead. He did so Friday with his 36th of the season in the first inning.
peter.schmuck@baltsun.com
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