Tillman's Effort Wasted In Orioles' 4-1 Loss To Astros
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Chris Tillman remains in search of his first win since April 18, and the Baltimore Orioles are still looking for a breakout performance from their lackluster offense.
The Orioles managed only five hits and wasted a fine outing by Tillman in a 4-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
Tillman (2-6) allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings. He's winless in his last six starts and has dropped five straight decisions, tying a career high.
To be fair, in this one the right-hander didn't get a whole lot of support.
"It's a step in the right direction for a guy we know is capable of pitching at a good level," manager Buck Showalter said. "We obviously haven't been giving our pitchers much margin for error, but he gave us a real good chance to win tonight. Probably even a little bit better than that."
Jimmy Paredes had three hits, but the Orioles fell to 1-16 when scoring fewer than four runs.
"When you're not scoring a lot of runs, the tendency is to press and try to overdo it," cleanup hitter Chris Davis said. "I think you've seen that in the last few games, just guys getting out of their approach, out of their rhythm and trying to do too much with pitches that aren't good pitches to hit."
Scott Feldman (4-4) gave up one run and four hits in six innings against his former team. The right-hander was 5-6 in his lone season with the Orioles (2013) but is 4-0 with a 2.41 ERA lifetime against them in Baltimore.
"Fortunately at the right times I made some good pitches and got them to hit it to the right place," Feldman said.
Pat Neshek gave up a hit in the seventh, Chad Qualls worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Luke Gregerson got three straight outs for his 13th save.
"It's hard to score on us late when we can hand it to the bullpen," Houston manager A.J. Hinch said.
Tillman blanked the Astros before stumbling in the seventh immediately after Baltimore took a 1-0 lead. After Evan Gattis hit a leadoff double, Tillman got two straight outs before Chris Carter delivered an RBI single and scored on a double by Jason Castro.
"Just a couple pitches beat him tonight," catcher Caleb Joseph said of Tillman. "It's unfortunate that they were back-to-back."
Luis Valbuena added a two-run double in the eighth, also with two outs.
Feldman and Tillman dominated the early innings before the scoreless duel ended in the sixth. Paredes led off with a double, took third on a groundout and scored when Davis lunged at a breaking ball, sending a fly to right field that was deep enough to enable Paredes to tag up and reach the plate standing up.
Tillman walked the leadoff man in the second, third and fourth innings but avoided damage. The last time, Preston Tucker was cut down at the plate trying to score on a two-out double by Valbuena.
The Orioles got into a pattern at the plate, too, grounding into double plays to end each of the first three innings.
THREE SPOT
Astros: For the first time this season, rookie LF Preston Tucker started in the No. 3 spot in the batting order, although Hinch wouldn't make a long-term commitment to the move. Tucker went 0 for 3 with a walk.
Orioles: No. 3 hitter Adam Jones went 0 for 3 and is stuck in a 3-for-25 slump. He entered the month batting .400 and is now at .310.
TRAINERS ROOM
Astros: RHP Samuel Deduno (lower back strain) worked a bullpen session Tuesday and is expected to participate in a rehab assignment on Friday for AAA Fresno. ... RHP Brett Oberholtzer (finger blister) is scheduled to start Wednesday for Fresno.
Orioles: SS J.J. Hardy returned to action after being pulled from Monday's game with back spasms. ... Matt Wieters (elbow) began his rehab assignment by catching for Double-A Bowie. He went 2 for 4 at the plate.
ON DECK
Astros: Collin McHugh (5-2) starts for Houston in the series finale Wednesday. In his last 19 starts, he's 12-2 and the Astros are 15-4.
Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3) is 4-0 with a 2.24 ERA lifetime against Houston.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
