BALTIMORE — Jered Weaver's pitch count soared. He looked fatigued. The right-hander had given up more earned runs than he had in 21 of 23 games this season and more hits than he had given up in 12 of those games.
And then the second inning started.
BALTIMORE — Jered Weaver's pitch count soared. He looked fatigued. The right-hander had given up more earned runs than he had in 21 of 23 games this season and more hits than he had given up in 12 of those games.
And then the second inning started.
That's the kind of night it was Friday for Weaver and the Angels, who were bludgeoned by the Baltimore Orioles in a 16-6 loss at Camden Yards, an inauspicious start to a 10-game road trip.
Outfielder Felix Pie became the fourth player in Orioles history to hit for the cycle -- and the first since Aubrey Huff did it against the Angels on June 29, 2007 -- and Baltimore tied a club record with nine doubles.
The Orioles set season highs for hits (19) and runs, pinning eight runs and nine hits on Weaver, whose 3 1/3 -inning start was his worst of the season, and seven runs and seven hits on reliever Shane Loux in the seventh.
Baltimore right-hander Chris Tillman, a Fountain Valley High graduate making his fourth big league start, gave up three earned runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings to gain the win.
As is the norm after such ugly losses, Manager Mike Scioscia said the Angels must "turn the page." This page, they'd prefer to turn and burn.
"Jered was obviously out of sync," Scioscia said. "I don't know if he felt real strong, but he was trying to be real fine, he got behind in counts and had trouble putting guys away. Weav has been throwing the ball well for us. This one wasn't pretty, but we'll move forward."
Unless the pitching staff continues to drag the team down. Superb starting and relief were the backbone of the Angels' playoff runs over the last five years, but their team earned-run average of 4.87 ranks 12th in the American League and 27th overall, and their starting pitching ERA of 4.85 ranks 10th in the AL and 23rd overall.
"We've been a little rough around the edges on the mound," Scioscia said, "but we all feel the ingredients are there on the pitching staff for us to reach our goals."
Weaver (12-4) had won nine of 10 decisions and was coming off wins over Minnesota and Texas in which he had a career-high 11 strikeouts. He was facing a Baltimore team that was 7-19 since the All-Star break and had scored seven runs in three games against Oakland this week.
Didn't matter. The Orioles rocked Weaver in the first, an inning in which they sent 11 to the plate and got two hits, a double and a single, from leadoff batter Brian Roberts.