BALTIMORE _ A series of injuries to Orioles starting pitchers has forced manager Buck Showalter to think creatively about filling a growing number of rotation holes.
And Saturday night, he sent right-hander Yefry Ramirez _ who hadn't made a start since Aug. 19 _ to the mound to face the Chicago White Sox.
Ramirez did his job. The Orioles offense didn't in a 2-0 loss.
The Orioles needed a deep start badly, as Orioles starting pitchers failed to record an out in the sixth inning in seven of the eight starts entering Saturday, placing added workload on the team's already-expanded bullpen.
Ramirez (1-6) took advantage of a free-swinging White Sox lineup early, striking out seven in his first five innings. He had a little extra on his four-seam fastball, and he threw it effectively up in the zone against an aggressive group of Chicago hitters.
Showalter took Ramirez as far as he could, but after allowing back-to-back doubles with two outs in the sixth inning _ scoring the game's first run _ he was done after 83 pitches, one out shy of a quality start.
But the Orioles (42-106) couldn't muster any offense against the White Sox (59-89), held scoreless by Chicago right-hander Reynaldo Lopez over seven innings.
Right-handed reliever Mychal Givens allowed a huge insurance run in top of the ninth, yielding a solo homer to outfielder Avisail Garcia.
With the loss, the Orioles suffered their 14th shutout defeat of the season and came within one loss of matching the franchise record for defeats in a season with 14 games remaining.
The Orioles couldn't take advantage of the few scoring opportunities presented. Their best was in the seventh, when they put Lopez on the ropes after a single by Trey Mancini and a walk to Chris Davis put two on with one out in the inning.
But Tim Beckham struck out swinging and Renato Nunez popped out to first to end the Orioles' best scoring threat.
The Orioles also put two on with two outs in the ninth against right-handed reliever Juan Minaya, but Nunez flied out to end the game.
Ramirez had made his four appearances entering Saturday in relief, and his 2.57 ERA over that stretch (especially compared to his 7.34 ERA in seven starts) raised eyebrows in assessing his future.
He looked strong in his return to starting. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.2 mph, nearly an entire mile per hour better than it was entering the game. And of his seven strikeouts, six of them were on fastballs, and five of those were swinging.
Ramirez entered the sixth having allowed just one hit _ Adam Engel's bunt single in the third _ and no base runner went beyond first base over his first five innings.
In the sixth, Tim Anderson opened with an infield single, but was erased attempting to steal second for catcher Caleb Joseph's second of three base runners caught stealing on the night.
With one out, Yoan Moncada doubled and scored on Yolmer Sanchez's double that landed just inside the left-field foul line, scoring the eventual winning run.
