The Orioles made it interesting in the ninth, but it wasn?t enough.
With the tying run 90 feet from home plate, Melvin Mora dribbled weakly back to A?s closer Huston Street, who picked up his 20th save.
Tuesday?s game began amidst 100-degree temperatures, and was delayed for an hour and 27 minutes with two outs in the top of the third inning.
The rain washed out both Orioles starter Russ Ortiz and the ball club?s hopes for a season-best four-game winning streak, as the A?s won, 5-4, before 20,827 fans at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The Orioles didn?t get the start they expected out of Ortiz, whom Perlozzo optimistically hoped would last deep into the ballgame.
“I just want him to be competitive and get us deeper in the game, and improve on what he?s been doing,” Perlozzo said before Ortiz took the hill. “And give us some hope that he can help us out. We kind of need all of those guys to do something to help us out.”
Ortiz, who was removed during the rain delay, lasted 2.2 innings in his third Orioles start. He left with the game tied at three, while recently-recalled reliever Eddy Rodriguez struggled with his control.
“I think that all of our pitching is about making your pitches. If you don?t make your pitches, you?re going to get hit no matter what you?ve got.”
Rodriguez walked four in 2.1 innings of work, and allowed a pair of unearned runs to score in the fourth. Both runners had reached base via walks.
Following first-inning singles by Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada, Jeff Conine roped a base hit into right-center field, plating Mora for Conine?s 1,000th career RBI.
Mora and Tejada have been in the middle of the clutch-hitting that has powered the Orioles offensive run over the past week.
“They?re our go-to guys, you know. They really are,” manager Sam Perlozzo, whowas ejected in the bottom of the eighth for arguing a called third strike, said. “They?ve been like that all year long. You can get away with that every so often.”
Kevin Millar joined the attack an inning later, depositing a 2-2 pitch from Oakland starter Esteban Loaiza in the left field seats for a two run homer. Millar?s blast was his seventh of the season, and his first since June 5.
Loaiza lasted 5.1 solid innings, enduring the nearly hour-and-a-half rain delay.
“We?re facing guys that have been around the game and know what to do throughout the season to keep pitching as long as they can,” Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez said of Loaiza.
As far as Ortiz, Tuesday?s rain-shortened outing may wash out any thoughts on a demotion from the rotation.
“I?m trying to think positive and think that he?s going to do well and be in the rotation,” Perlozzo said, noting that there aren?t any clear alternatives to the veteran right-hander.
“We can see the .500 in the distance but it [isn?t] close enough yet,” Perlozzo said. “We?ve got a lot of work to do.”
