O's stage two comebacks, but fall short in 12

DETROIT -- Orioles manager Brandon Hyde summed it up succinctly.

“We were an out away from winning through nine and three outs away through 12."

Despite that, the Orioles dropped an 8-4 decision to the Tigers in 12 innings on Saturday night at Comerica Park, when John Hicks delivered a walk-off grand slam.

• Box score

Rio Ruiz’s two-out single in the top of the 12th had given Baltimore a 4-3 lead, but Ryan Eades walked Brandon Dixon with the bases loaded in the Tigers’ half to tie the game and set up Hicks’ heroics.

“I threw six balls in a row. I was trying to pound the zone and fell behind six straight balls,” Eades said. “I just kind of left the slider over the plate and [Hicks] took advantage of it. That was it.”

Hyde said Eades was put into a tough spot, coming in leading by a run with the bases loaded and one out.

“That’s a difficult spot for anybody. I didn’t do my job tonight. My timing was a little off,” Eades said. “I threw some balls, got behind in counts, put myself in a tough spot.”

Paul Fry (1-9) took the loss. He had walked Tigers leadoff man Harold Castro, surrendered a one-out double to Travis Demeritte and intentionally walked Dawel Lugo before being replaced by Eades.

“I’ve got a leadoff lefty [Castro] and that’s supposed to be my specialty, but I lost him,” Fry said. “It just hurts to go out there and have it end like that after thinking we were going to win.”

Trey Mancini’s two-out, three-run homer in the eighth inning gave Baltimore a 3-2 lead, but Mychal Givens surrendered a game-tying homer to Victor Reyes with two out in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

“Obviously, a disappointing loss,” Hyde said. “Our guys battled and took the lead twice.”

Daniel Norris, Drew VerHagen and Bryan Garcia had stifled the Orioles on six hits before Mancini’s blast into the left-field seats.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the third when Harold Castro drove starter Gabriel Ynoa’s 1-0 pitch into the right-field seats. An RBI single from Reyes in the fifth made it 2-0.

Ynoa didn’t get an out in the fifth, leaving Reyes on first for Tanner Scott, who got two outs and gave way to Dillon Tate, who stranded Reyes at third.

Ynoa allowed two runs on seven hits in four-plus innings.

“I was feeling well, the way I was throwing,” Ynoa said through an interpreter. “I was doing OK for the moment. I thought I could’ve gone longer.”