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The game started off in promising fashion, as Nate McLouth doubled, moved to third on a Manny Machado groundout, and scored on a J.J. Hardy single up the middle. Unfortunately, that would be the only Oriole lead of the night. In the bottom of the first, the Astros hit a pair of two-run homers off of Freddy Garcia, giving them a 4-1 lead.
They extended that lead in the second with solo shots in the second and fourth, and Garcia ended up surrendering six runs on four homers in three-plus innings. Steve Johnson came on in relief, and results-wise looked far too much like Garcia, surrendering three runs on two homers of his own.
In the seventh, finally free of Dallas Keuchel, the O's scored three runs on a Steve Pearce single, Alexi Casilla triple, McLouth sacrifice fly, and Hardy homer. 9-4 looked better than 9-1, but it didn't stay that way long, as Troy Patton gave back two runs on three hits in the bottom of the inning. The Oriole offense continued to score off the Houston bullpen in the eighth, as Chris Davis led off with a single, and Matt Wieters drove him in with a bomb to left field. Four of the next five batters reached base, loading the bases and scoring another run, but J.J. Hardy killed the rally by grounding into a double play. In the ninth, they only managed an infield hit by Wieters (yes, really), and the O's lost, 11-7.
In total, Oriole pitching surrendered eleven runs on six homers, eight other hits, and four walks - and note that they only pitched eight innings. Brian Matusz was their only pitcher who did not give up a run. Ordinarily, if your team scores seven runs, you feel pretty good about their chances, but with this kind of pitching, "enough runs" is a vague concept. The starting staff has the potential to be good, or at least good enough if the offense keeps clicking, but they desperately need Wei-Yin Chen to come back healthy and effective.
O's fans can take some solace in the fact that the Red Sox also lost today, but this would've been a nice time to gain on them. Tomorrow's game is a 2:10 ET start, in which Miguel Gonzalez will face Bud Norris.