Orioles fail again to earn series win with 8-1 loss

An Orioles rotation that's already run nine starters through it is seemingly in a holding pattern.

Gabriel Ynoa took his second turn this afternoon, retired nine of the first 11 batters and was hurt by the latest home run surrendered by the staff and some fundamental breakdowns in an 8-1 loss to the Giants before an announced crowd of 16,991 at Camden Yards.

An offense that produced nine runs on Friday was held to three in the last two days and the Orioles fell to 18-41 overall and 8-23 at home. They're off Monday and still waiting for their first series win since April 22-24.

Evan Longoria homered with one out in the fourth to tie the game, jumping on a slider immediately after Ynoa struck out Mike Yastrzemski with the same pitch. The Giants took the lead later in the inning on a two-out walk to Brandon Belt, a balk and Kevin Pillar's double.

Two unearned runs were attached to Ynoa in the fifth, beginning with a leadoff walk to Stephen Vogt.

Stevie Wilkerson mishandled Steven Duggar's grounder on a potential double play and both runners advanced when right fielder D.J. Stewart caught Joe Panik's fly ball and tried to nab Vogt at third base rather than hitting the cutoff man. It was a costly decision when Longoria produced an automatic double with two outs, Duggar scoring on the play instead of holding at third.

Ynoa worked a season-high five innings and allowed two earned runs and four total with five hits, two walks and four strikeouts. His 82 pitches were three fewer than his total over four innings against the Tigers on Memorial Day. He's been charged with four earned runs in nine innings since moving into the rotation.

Before today's appearance, Dan Straily hadn't pitched since he followed Ynoa on Monday and allowed one run in four innings. He could return to his previous role at some point, whether it's replacing Ynoa or David Hess, whose ERA rose to 7.36 and his WHIP to 1.509 Saturday afternoon. But Straily was charged with three runs today in three innings.

Hess' next opportunity would come Friday night in Houston if manager Brandon Hyde keeps everyone in turn. Dylan Bundy, John Means and Andrew Cashner are starting against the Rangers, who counter with Drew Smyly, Mike Minor and Ariel Jurado.

Hyde watched Hess' outing on his phone while attending daughter Aria's high school graduation.

"With David, I just felt it's kind of what I see from the dugout is that he just is not able to put away guys," Hyde said. "In a ton of 3-2 counts, allowing baserunners, deep counts, not being able to executive putaway pitches to get him through innings and allowing the inning to continue and allowing at-bats to be long and shortening his outing.

"I just think he's not executing and not being consistent with a putaway slider, or when he's trying to elevate, be able to elevate, and be able to move his fastball to both sides of the plate. And I feel like he's really predictable and they're able to spoil a lot of pitches on him, which leads into a 3-2 count, which leads to two walks in the first inning yesterday. Just be able to kind of put guys away early or be able to strike guys out when necessary, he's just having a tough time doing that."

Hyde checks for signs of eroding confidence and believes that Hess is fine.

"David's one of the more mature people in that clubhouse," Hyde said. "He's a real mature guy. I feel like he's the same guy every single day. I haven't seen him hang his head, I haven't seen him look down about how the start of the season's going for him. He comes to work and he prepares.

"I thought he had four really good innings in Colorado and we were hoping he could build off that until yesterday and it didn't really happen, so hopefully it turns around his next time out."

Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija was making his second career start in Baltimore, the first coming with the White Sox on April 29, 2015 in the crowdless game. He allowed a run only two batters into today's outing when fellow Notre Dame alumnus Trey Mancini homered to center field for a 1-0 lead, but he retired 16 of the last 17 batters.

Samardzija allowed three hits in six innings and only one after the first, and he left with the Giants ahead 6-1.

The Orioles drafted Mancini, who increased his home run total to 12 while strengthening his All-Star bid, in the eighth round in 2013. The Cubs selected Samardzija in the fifth round in 2006.

"I ran into him in the tunnel yesterday and said, 'Hi,' real quick, but we never went to Notre Dame at the same time," Mancini said. "He was a bit older than me, so I never met him or faced him before. But it's always cool to have another Notre Dame guy playing.

"I played against A.J. Pollock one time here and pretty soon I'll play against Cavan Biggio, who I'm friends with on the Blue Jays. So it's always pretty cool to play guys from Notre Dame."

Mancini knew all about Samardzija's exploits as a two-sport standout. He didn't need to attend the same classes to gain knowledge or an appreciation.

"Oh, of course, yeah," Mancini said. "He's one of the best wide receivers in school history. I mean, he was a stud football player and a great athlete. He had his pick of what he wanted to do and chose baseball. But, yeah, especially after going there, it's very admirable that somebody can play two sports.

"I played with (Pat) Connaughton, who played basketball and baseball, too, and Samardzija did the same thing, so it's pretty cool."

Longoria's game-tying homer in the fourth inning was his 41st against the Orioles and 22nd at Camden Yards to lead all active opposing players. Brandon Crawford homered off Branden Kline with two outs in the sixth and off Straily leading off the eighth for a 7-1 lead.

The Giants hit five homers in the series after ranking 28th in the majors with 50 prior to their arrival in Baltimore. The Orioles have surrendered 122 to stay on their record-setting pace.

Straily allowed a run in the seventh on Pablo Sandoval's sacrifice fly that scored Yastrzemski, who drew a one-out walk. Longoria, who began the day batting .209, singled to come within a triple of the cycle. Keon Broxton robbed him in the eighth with a leaping catch at the fence in right-center field.

Crawford homered off Straily in the eighth and Panik had an RBI single after Duggar doubled.

The Giants scored in five consecutive innings to keep pulling away.

The Orioles loaded the bases against Reyes Moronta with two outs in the seventh and Broxton struck out for the third time today.

Stewart went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and is hitless in his last 16 at-bats. His spot on the roster could be in jeopardy with Chris Davis eligible to come off the injured list Tuesday.

Note: Ryan Mountcastle hit three home runs today at Triple-A Norfolk to give him 11 for the season. He's healthy again and raking.