ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Another defeat has made losing the norm this September as the Orioles dropped a 7-0 decision to the Tampa Bay Rays in this season's final series opener Friday night at Tropicana Field.
The Orioles (75-85) lost for the 17th time in their past 21 games, assuring them of no better than a fourth-place finish in the American League East with two games remaining.
Orioles pitchers allowed just seven hits, but issued 10 walks and hit a batter, with three of those free passes coming around to score. Meanwhile, the Orioles managed just four hits in a game when Rays starter Jake Odorizzi was forced from the game after pitching just four innings
What might have been Wade Miley's final start with the Orioles showed flashes of the same pitcher the left-hander has been during his tenure with Baltimore, moments of dominance along with untimely control problems that combined for a lack of consistency.
Miley (8-15) lasted just two batters into the fifth inning Friday, marking his third straight start where he's been unable to get at least five innings deep.
Miley struck out five batters in his first two innings, including opening the game by striking out the side in the first inning, but his five walks led to a quick departure.
In the fourth inning, a leadoff single by Cesar Puello _ a ball that hit off the staircase connecting two of the dome's catwalks and dropped in front of catcher Welington Castillo _ started a two-run inning when Miley walked in a run with the bases loaded and allowed a sacrifice fly to put the Rays up 3-0.
He wouldn't record an out in the fifth, allowing a leadoff homer to Evan Longoria and a double to Logan Morrison before he was replaced by right-hander Chris Tillman.
Since pitching a quality start on Sept. 2 against the Toronto Blue Jays in a game that dropped his season ERA to 4.91, Miley has a 12.56 ERA in the four starts since. He finished with four earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts Friday. His 15 losses on the season are the most by an Orioles' pitcher since Jeremey Guthrie lost an AL-high 17 games in 2011.
The Orioles own a $12 million club option for next season on Miley. Otherwise, they can give him a $500,000 buyout and send him to free agency.
Tillman threw two scoreless frames before unraveling in the seventh, allowing a leadoff homer to Morrison, hitting Puello and walking Trevor Plouffe. Right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis allowed both base runners to score after a wild pitch and two sacrifice flies.
The Orioles had just one extra-base hit on the night, Manny Machado's one-out double down the left-field line in the fourth. But that threat was quickly quelled when Machado was thrown out attempting to steal third base.
Trey Mancini's seventh-inning single extended his hitting streak to 17 games and also gave him 158 hits on the season, which tied him with Cal Ripken Jr. (1982) for the second-most hits in a season by an Orioles rookie.
Eddie Murray owns the team record with 173 hits in 1977.
Mancini's hitting streak, which was already the longest hitting streak by a rookie in Orioles history, is now the longest by any rookie this season. Ben Gamel of the Seattle Mariners had a 16-game streak.
Mancini's streak is also tied for fifth longest by any hitter this season.
Shortstop Tim Beckham left Friday's game after pulling up while running out a ground ball to second base to end the top of the eighth inning, an apparent aggravation of the right hamstring pull that kept him out of the previous three games.
Beckham was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts on the night. He was replaced at shortstop by Jonathan Schoop, who shifted over from second base. Ryan Flaherty entered to play second base.
