It's hard to be an O in the Citi

NEW YORK -- With Wednesday's 5-1 loss, the Orioles dropped to 0-5 at Citi Field and have lost eight consecutive games to the Mets.

The Orioles, fresh off taking two out of three from the Rays, struggled to put together anything offensively on Wednesday and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10. They've scored just six runs in the five games played at Citi Field, including three over the past two.

They also got a short start from Ubaldo Jimenez, who went just four innings and snapped a streak of eight games in which an Orioles starter went at least six.

"I didn't have any feel for my breaking ball, so I couldn't throw it for a strike," Jimenez said. "It felt I was getting ahead of hitters in the first couple of innings, but I couldn't put it away, because I didn't have the put-away pitch. And that's why I ended up walking those two guys in the second inning."

The Orioles didn't do well on the basepaths, either, as Everth Cabrera ran into a big out in the fifth inning, when he was caught off the third-base bag and blocked by Daniel Murphy on his way back. After Mets starter Jacob deGrom fielded a bunt by Alejandro De Aza, he pivoted and threw to Murphy to cut down Cabrera for the inning's second out. Jimmy Paredes singled in a run in the following at-bat, a ball that could have easily scored two.

"Any time a guy is in the act of catching a thrown ball or a batted ball, he has first right of position, so it didn't have anything to do with [interference]," manager Buck Showalter said of his chat with the umpires after the play. "We were just reviewing because we made contact with him whether or not he had actually put a glove on it. If he slides there, he's safe."

Things aren't going to get much easier for the O's, who now travel a little bit north to face their division rivals in the Bronx.

"I don't think anybody feels fortunate to play the Yankees at their ballpark," Showalter said of the upcoming four-game series. "We don't pay much attention to [records at ballparks]. We just haven't played well. ... We haven't swung the bats well. There are some things in the middle of the diamond we're not doing very well. Defensively, we've got to get better."