BALTIMORE -- For the second successive outing, Jeremy Guthrie gutted out a quality start for the Orioles. But Baltimore's bats continued their early-season slumber, falling to 9-for-57 with runners in scoring position in Monday's series-opening 5-1 loss to the Rays.
Guthrie hunkered down after allowing a solo homer in the third inning, retiring the next eight batters before running into a snag with one out in the sixth.
The right-hander yielded a one-out double to Carl Crawford, and Ben Zobrist's RBI triple just eluded the glove of a diving Adam Jones in shallow center field. Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly produced another Rays run, and an infield single on a soft grounder to shortstop Cesar Izturis warranted a short mound meeting for Guthrie.
Guthrie sent B.J. Upton down on strikes to minimize the damage and retired the Rays' bottom three batters in the seventh. It was an emphatic finishing statement after a strong outing from Guthrie, who allowed three earned runs on eight hits scattered over seven innings.
As good as Guthrie was, Rays starter Matt Garza was better -- again. With the leadoff spot vacated by Brian Roberts, who was placed on the disabled list with an abdominal muscle strain prior to the game, Felix Pie was penciled in at the top of the lineup. It didn't take long for the outfielder to adjust, sending a 1-0 pitch from Garza over the right-center-field fence for his first career leadoff homer.
The Orioles posted a pair of singles to open the second inning, but didn't record another hit until pinch-hitter Ty Wigginton's bloop single with two outs in the seventh. That effort went for naught when Wigginton was caught trying to advance on Garza's second pitch to Nolan Reimold, which squirted past catcher Dioner Navarro. Navarro recovered and threw the ball to Brignac to start an unusual 2-4-3-6 inning-ending putout.
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