The Orioles' return to respectability in the past few years has been led by three tenets that buoyed the organization during its glory years: pitching, defense and the three-run homer.
This version can still hit the longball, but much of its troubles early on in 2015 – exhibited profoundly in Tuesday's 10-2 blowout loss to the Toronto Blue Jays – have been punctuated by inconsistent pitching and shoddy defense.
That was the bottom line Tuesday when a 2-2 pitcher's duel in the seventh turned into the Orioles' sixth loss in eight games thanks to three costly errors that led to eight runs in two innings.
"That wasn't us. That wasn't us," said third baseman Manny Machado, whose eighth error of the season opened the floodgates for the Blue Jays in a four-run seventh. "That was the inning that we lost the game, and they took advantage of it. It's part of the game. We collapsed, and they took advantage of it."
The three errors tied a season high for a club that has boasted three Gold Glovers each of the past two seasons.
To make matters worse, the Orioles' top pitcher, Chris Tillman, dropped his fourth straight decision Tuesday, something he had never done in his big league career. He has now lost five consecutive decisions to Toronto, including all three games this season against the American League East rival.
"It's like when hitters are struggling with a good track record, somebody will pay for it down the road," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Tillman.
In his last three outings versus the Jays, Tillman has allowed 19 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings – a 12.51 ERA. He's not alone in his difficulties against the Blue Jays (17-17). The Orioles (14-17) have given up at least 10 runs four times this year – and all have been against Toronto.
Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion led Toronto's 13-hit attack with two home runs, the second multi-homer game of his season; the other one also came against the Orioles on April 21.
And, yet, Tillman was heading toward just his second quality start in seven 2015 outings Tuesday before everything unraveled in the seventh, thanks in part to a shaky defensive effort.
"It's right there, it really is. If I make one more (good) pitch in that game, that's anybody's ballgame to have," said Tillman (2-5), who allowed five earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. "You can't quit. You've got to keep going. That's what we are going to do."
Playing before an announced 17,319 at Camden Yards, Tillman and Blue Jays veteran lefty Mark Buehrle were locked in a 2-2 tie. With one on and no outs in the seventh, Justin Smoak hit a hard grounder to first baseman Chris Davis, who threw to Machado, who was covering second base with the Orioles in a defensive shift.
Machado picked up the force out, but then threw a little behind Tillman and the ball glanced off the pitcher's glove at first base.
"That's a tough play. He's on the move. Next time, I've just got to him in the chest," said Machado, who has made six throwing errors this year. "It's part of the game. It's something I've got to get better at. There's nothing much to it."
With two outs, Josh Donaldson singled up the middle to score pinch runner Devon Travis for the go-ahead run.
"I've got to make that play and when I didn't, I need to get the next guy out," Tillman said. "We've practiced that a ton in spring training and throughout the year and I got there in almost too much time and I went out to get it and it just kind of got away from me."
Things got rough after that. Jose Bautista hit an automatic double that bounced over the left-center fence to chase Tillman. Donaldson scored on a passed ball by catcher Caleb Joseph and Encarnacion followed with his second homer and third RBI of the game.
Toronto scored four more in the eighth to blow the game open. Davis and J.J. Hardy each made throwing errors and Donaldson added a two-run homer to deep center against reliever T.J. McFarland, who allowed four runs, but none earned.
It was the Orioles' first loss at Camden Yards since April 24; they had won four straight at the ballpark spread over 17 days.
On Tuesday, the Orioles took the lead in the third when Hardy led off with a single, moved to third on Machado's two-out double and both scored on a two-run single up the middle by red-hot-hitting Jimmy Paredes.
The single extended Paredes' career-high hitting streak to 11 and gave him 15 RBIs in 20 games since being activated from the disabled list April 18. The 26-year-old designated hitter has hit safely in 18 of 20 games this season.
The Orioles never scored again against Buehrle (5-2), who lasted six solid innings. The 36-year-old lefty has won all three starts against the Orioles this year.
He had help from an Orioles' defense that is unaccustomed to being in the middle of the pack defensively in the AL.
"I've been very privileged to watch a lot of really good defensive games played here the last few years," Showalter said. "Obviously, tonight wasn't one of them."
twitter.com/danconnollysun