After stranding 10 men on base during Friday night's 2-0 loss in Tampa Bay, the Orioles were reminded that being in the lower third of the majors in run production won't help their playoff push.

The Orioles (19th) are just two spaces ahead of the Rays in total runs (439 to 434) in the league. A series against the Rays won't be filled with a lot of runs, simply because Tampa Bay won't give them up (they've given up the 25th fewest in the league).

When the two teams squared off in late July, the Rays allowed eight runs during three games, six of which came during the final game of the series. During the last seven games, the Orioles have scored four or more runs just twice against the Rays.

The Orioles have traditionally had problems against Saturday's pitcher, Jeremy Hellickson. He's 5-2 with a 2.25 ERA and 34 strikeouts against the Orioles. The O's starter, Wei-Yin Chen, is 0-2 against the Rays, with a 5.84 ERA.

The odds are against the Birds figuring out this run problem against Tampa, but with the Rays pushing ahead in the wild-card chase last night, manager Buck Showalter is going to need to push the right buttons.

Posted Aug. 4, 2012