ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The Orioles' three-game series at Angel Stadium _ the beginning of a crucial 10-day, 10-game West Coast stretch _ turned within a 24-hour span.
An uplifting win Monday on Manny Machado's fifth career grand slam put the surging Orioles at .500 for the first time since late June. But a disappointing one-run loss Tuesday night was followed by Wednesday afternoon's 5-1 defeat.
The Orioles (56-58) dropped two of three on the first leg of their West Coast swing, having missed an opportunity as they head north to Oakland and then Seattle. They fell to 2{ games out of the second wild-card spot.
They had just four hits Wednesday and scored just three runs over their last 20 innings in Anaheim.
On Wednesday, the Orioles went from potentially tying the game to a three-run deficit quickly in the sixth inning.
Trailing 2-1 in the top of the inning, the Orioles had the leadoff man on base after outfielder Joey Rickard was hit in the helmet by an 89-mph fastball and had to leave the game. The next two hitters _ Adam Jones and Machado _ couldn't move pinch runner Craig Gentry.
Gentry then tried to score from first base on Jonathan Schoop's two-out single to center, but was thrown out at the plate on shortstop Andrelton Simmons' relay throw home.
Two batters into the bottom of the inning, after Kole Calhoun led off the inning with a single, Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed a first-pitch two-run homer to first baseman C.J. Cron, putting the Angels up 4-1. The Angels added another run on Kaleb Cowart's bases-loaded walk from Orioles closer Zach Britton in the eighth.
Combine that with Tuesday's loss, in which a nine-pitch sequence in the seventh inning broke open a tie game against right-hander Jeremy Hellickson in a 3-2 loss, and the Orioles realize how quickly momentum can shift.
The Orioles' only run Wednesday came on Welington Castillo homer in the third. The top six hitters in the team's batting order were a combined 1-for-22.
Angels starter Troy Scribner held the Orioles to two hits over five innings, and three relievers combined to hold the Orioles scoreless for four innings, allowing just two hits over that span.
Gausman entered Wednesday's start coming off his best stretch all season, but couldn't duplicate that success against the Angels (57-58).
Gausman's four-game streak of quality starts ended Wednesday as he allowed four runs over 51/3 innings. He allowed 10 base runners (eight hits and two walks), but limited the damage early in the game.
"It was a battle today," Gausman said. "Wasn't as crisp early on as I have been in my last couple starts, but felt like I was getting better as the game went on."
The two-run homer Gausman allowed in the bottom of the sixth inning to Cron was a indeed dagger, but Gausman was living dangerously throughout the game.
"You know he made one mistake," Showalter said. "He was trying to go up and in off the plate and threw it down and in and hit his bat. But Kevin was really good. Did a good job of holding runners. Our whole pitching staff did. You know the way they play the game, you have to be on your toes to get them from really impacting the game on the bases. Kevin was good."
Gausman (8-8) stranded a runner at third with one out in the second and yielded just one run in the third after the Angels loaded the bases with one out. He also received two double-play balls.
The Angels scored their first run on Simmons' sacrifice fly in the third, a ball that came after Mike Trout's bloop single into shallow right dropped just out of the reach of Orioles second baseman Schoop _ and then added another run in Cesar Puello's first major league hit, an RBI single that followed Cron's leadoff double in the fourth.
"Didn't do a very good job of finishing hitters," Gausman said. "Felt like I was getting to two strikes a lot but left some pitches up. They didn't necessarily hit them hard, but to the right spot."
Gausman held the game close until four pitches into the sixth, when Calhoun singled and Cron blasted a two-run shot on a 94 mph first-pitch fastball.
Gausman had six strikeouts, three coming on his four-seam fastball and three on his splitter.
With two singles, Orioles shortstop Tim Beckham had his sixth multi-hit effort in nine games since joining the club in a nonwaiver deadline trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Beckham is hitting .514 (18 for 35) with the Orioles and has hit safely in all nine games with his new team.
With that streak, Beckham became the first Orioles player to hit safely in each of his first nine games with the club since Eric Byrnes opened his Orioles career with an 11-game hitting streak in 2005.
