BALTIMORE _ It was a week ago Wednesday night that the Orioles scored an uplifting victory over the Boston Red Sox and seemed focused on winning the American League East title.
Seven days later, they seem determined to play their way out of the postseason entirely.
The Red Sox scored five runs in a disastrous sixth inning and moved to the threshold of a deflating four-game sweep at Camden Yards with a 5-1 victory Wednesday. The loss dropped the Orioles six games out of first place. They are now badly exposed to the group of teams behind them that are trying to scratch their way into the two wild-card playoff slots.
The only question is whether Chris Tillman can salvage the final game of the series and give the Orioles (82-70) a chance to regain their equilibrium during the upcoming interleague series against the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks.
Nothing, it seems, can be taken for granted at this point, not after Chris Davis scooped up a soft bouncer in the sixth inning and made an inexplicable two-run throwing error to keep the dominoes tumbling hard in the wrong direction.
To that point, the Orioles were scuffling along with a 1-0 lead after starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez pulled a couple of great escapes against the relentless Boston offense. The Red Sox (88-64) had runners all over the place through the first five innings, but were cruising on karma. Four of their six hits were either infield roll-outs or soft fly balls and the other five base runners came on three walks and a catcher's interference call. Even the decisive swing by catcher Sandy Leon was just a slow bouncer that should have ended the inning with the Orioles still ahead.
Maybe it's all just meant to be for the Red Sox, who parlayed a similarly odd defensive screw-up by New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia into an unlikely victory Sunday. Both times the error was followed by a game-breaking home run _ this time a three-run shot to the flag court by No. 9 hitter Andrew Benintendi.
The Sox won for the seventh straight time and the Orioles dropped to a 2-5 on the homestand everyone hoped would propel them into the final week sprint with the Toronto Blue Jays and Red Sox for the chance to skip the wild-card round and open in the Division Series.
Instead, the Orioles' power-packed offense has taken much of the past week off and they now have to contend with the Houston Astros, who have crept to within a game of the second wild-card berth, and the Detroit Tigers, who could sneak even closer with a victory at Minnesota.
