September 05, 2009|By Jeff Zrebiec | Jeff Zrebiec,jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com
Over six uneven innings, Orioles rookie starter Chris Tillman didn't make a great argument that the club should abandon its plans to shut him down after a few more starts.
It's also fair to question how much gas is left in the tank of Tillman's teammates. Tillman allowed five earned runs, and the Orioles' new-look lineup was shut down by Scott Feldman and Neftali Feliz as the Texas Rangers took the series opener, 5-1, at Camden Yards on Friday before an announced 15,557 who had very little to get excited about.
"Offensively, we didn't have much going at all," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I think we had two real opportunities and both with two outs. And you're counting on [Nick Markakis], the guy you've been counting on all year and he just doesn't get a hit, so it seems like everything is going south for you."
Brian Roberts, batting third for the first time in his career in Trembley's latest attempt to jump-start the lineup, drove in the Orioles' lone run with an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Felix Pie, who batted leadoff in Roberts' place, made his greatest contribution defensively, elevating over the wall in left-center field in the seventh inning to take a possible three-run homer away from Ian Kinsler.
But those were the only highlights in the Orioles' fourth straight loss and their 33rd defeat in 47 games since the All-Star break.
In those 33 losses, the Orioles have been held to one run or fewer in 10 of them, and two runs or fewer 14 times.
"We have to make do with what we got," rookie outfielder Nolan Reimold said when asked about the absence of the traded Aubrey Huff and the injured Adam Jones from the lineup. "No excuses."
The Orioles (54-81) fell to a season-worst 27 games under .500, and are now just one defeat from clinching their 12th straight losing season. They'll need to go 9-18 the rest of the way to avoid just their third 100-loss year since the club's 1954 inception.
Their latest loss included some gamesmanship. Feldman was asked to change to a darker color glove before the start of the bottom of the second inning after second base umpire and crew chief Joe West was alerted to the matter by the Orioles. Rangers manager Ron Washington made sure Orioles reliever Cla Meredith did the same in the seventh inning.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," Trembley said. "That's the rule, and those guys were told in spring training not to do that. [West] was absolutely right to enforce that."
The change hardly affected Feldman, who allowed just one run, four hits and two walks over 6 2/3 innings to improve to 11-1 with a 2.80 ERA on the road this season, and 15-4 overall. He has won six straight decisions, and his 11 road victories tied the club record.
Trailing 5-1 with two on and two out in the seventh, the Orioles had a chance to get back into the game, but Feliz relieved Feldman and struck out pinch hitter Ty Wigginton. The rookie phenom faced seven batters and retired all of them in picking up his second save and extending his scoreless innings streak to 19 2/3.
Tillman, 21, never appeared to get comfortable. He couldn't consistently throw his curveball over the plate for strikes, and his tempo was extremely slow early. He got into too many deep counts and struggled to put hitters away.
"I didn't feel like I had any of my stuff," Tillman said. "In the beginning on the curveball, I had the right spin. It just wasn't the right location. It was pulling off a little bit. When I did throw for strikes and got ahead, I was fine. It was just a matter of throwing it for strikes when I didn't early in the game. ... They just kind of deleted that pitch and looked [for a] fastball, something straight. They did what they had to do."
The five runs Tillman surrendered tied a career high. He also allowed seven hits, including Nelson Cruz's sixth-inning solo homer, and three walks. He appeared to settle down after a rocky first inning before allowing three runs in the fourth, all with two outs, all after first baseman Michael Aubrey failed to turn what could have been an inning-ending double play on David Murphy.
Tillman fell to 1-3 with two or three more starts remaining before he is shut down for the rest of the season.
"I'm real positive about the fact that we need to close the gap from what they do on the side and what they do in between starts to a little bit more consistent during the game," Trembley said. "The ability's there. We just need to get it more consistent."
Box score
For Friday's game PG 4
RANGERS @ORIOLES
Today, 4:10 p.m.
TV: Chs. 45, 5
Radio: 105.7 FM
Inside: Roberts bats third, for now PG 5
