ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ A dynamic offensive team, the Tampa Bay Rays are not. They are a team in transition, unloading well-paid pieces to prepare for the future. They entered Saturday having not scored a run over their previous 13 innings.
That made little difference Saturday, as the Rays jumped on Orioles right-hander Andrew Cashner early, taking a quick five-run lead two innings in to send the Orioles to a 5-1 loss at Tropicana Field.
With the loss, an Orioles team that approaches the Memorial Day benchmark for evaluating where it stands, fell deeper into the American League East cellar, now trailing the rebuilding Rays (24-26) by eight games and the first-place Boston Red Sox by 19.
Whether the Rays' unconventional pitching experiment _ using relievers to start games before a traditional starting pitcher enters in the second or third inning _ creates a game-wide trend remains to be seen, but it seemed to work well against the Orioles (17-35) on Saturday.
Coming off consecutive road wins for just the second time this season, the Orioles completely fell flat in the loss.
Facing another early deficit _ one that probably should have been larger had the Rays been more aware on the base paths _ the Orioles' offense sputtered, managing just three hits.
Cashner (2-6) allowed 15 base runners _ 11 hits and four walks _ before being lifted three batters into the sixth without recording an out in the inning. While Cashner allowed five runs, the damage should have been worse.
He allowed hits to seven of the first 11 batters he faced, with three of those going for extra bases.
Three batters into the first, with C.J. Cron on first after a one-out single, Joey Wendle pulled a ball just inside the right-field line and into the corner for an RBI triple. Wilson Ramos drove in Wendle with a double, but was thrown out at second when he went in standing up and momentarily came off the bag.
Navigating through the bottom of the Rays order in the second inning, Cashner allowed singles to three of the first four batters he faced, with No. 9 hitter Rob Refsnyder's single scoring another run. Two batters later, Cron doubled with two outs to drive in two more runs to give Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead.
Cashner has failed to get through six innings in five of his past six starts after a stretch of four consecutive starts of six innings or more.
For the second straight game, the Orioles faced a reliever to open the game, and hard-throwing right-hander Ryne Stanek retired all five batters he faced, striking out three, before giving way to left-hander Anthony Banda (1-0), who held the Orioles to one run over 61/3 innings.
Orioles batters combined for 11 strikeouts, marking the 24th game in 52 they've reached double digits in strikeouts, which is tied for fourth most in baseball. The Orioles are 6-18 in games in which they struck out 10 or more times.
The Orioles' only run came in the seventh, when designated hitter Chris Davis hit an opposite-field RBI single against the shift to score Manny Machado, who opened the inning with a double.
The Orioles didn't have a hit until Danny Valencia's leadoff triple into the left-center-field gap to start the fifth. Valencia was stranded at third after Davis struck out swinging on three pitches, Joey Rickard struck out on four pitches and Andrew Susac grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
