BALTIMORE _ It remains to be seen whether Ubaldo Jimenez gets another chance to make a good last impression in the waning days of his four-year career in Baltimore, but Friday night's performance against the Tampa Bay Rays certainly didn't qualify.
Jimenez pitched a perfect first inning and then allowed six runs on eight hits before he could get six more outs in an 8-3 loss before 28,835 at Camden Yards.
And as so often has been the case, it happened in a heartbeat for the Orioles, who at 74-81 are assured of finishing no better than at .500.
He hit the leadoff batter in the second inning and gave up two groundball singles to load the bases before Rays catcher Wilson Ramos hit a mammoth grand slam deep into the bleachers behind left-center field. All of that took place in the span of just nine pitches.
The Orioles answered with two runs off Rays starter Alex Cobb in the bottom of the inning, but Jimenez allowed a leadoff homer to Evan Longoria in the third and also allowed a two-out RBI single to Adeiny Hechavarria as the Rays (75-79) re-extended their lead to four runs.
The Orioles tried to chip away at it. Chris Davis led off the fourth inning with his 25th home run of the season, but the Rays answered again _ this time against reliever Miguel Castro _ with a run in the fifth on an RBI double by Corey Dickerson.
If it was any consolation, Davis' home run marked the first time the Orioles had scored in multiple innings in a game since they scored in each of the first five innings of Monday night's series opener against the Boston Red Sox.
Cobb pitched six innings and allowed three runs on nine hits to get the decision, improving his record to 12-10.
When Adam Jones singled in each of his first two at-bats Friday, he tied and passed Brady Anderson to move into fourth place on the Orioles' all-time hit list with 1,615. It'll take a while to reach the next rung on the hit ladder, since Eddie Murray is third with 2,080.
Davis hit his 224th career home run as an Oriole in the fourth inning to pass Rafael Palmeiro and move into sole possession of sixth place on the team's all-time home run list. Jones is fifth with 248.
The Orioles ran themselves out of a potential big inning in the third when Manny Machado was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on Jones' single. Third base coach Bobby Dickerson sent Machado even though left fielder Corey Dickerson had the ball in hand as Machado was reaching third base. Instead of a bases-loaded, one-out situation with the Orioles trailing by four runs, they had one more chance to make something out of a three-hit inning. And Trey Mancini struck out.
When Longoria homered in the third inning, the Rays tied their single-season record for home runs with 216, which was set last year. The Orioles entered the evening leading the major leagues with 228 homers.
