Nick Markakis supplied an answer you would expect today when he was asked about reaching 1,500 career hits. He noted the achievement, but the win meant more.
"It's pretty cool," Markakis said. "Lot of hard work, time and dedication and it pays off, but I don't look at things like that. The scoreboard is the main outcome. We won whether I got no hits or three hits, it's a victory."
It was the first time in club history that the Orioles won a 1-0 game on a leadoff homer. It was the 28th...
Given just one run to work with today, Chris Tillman made it stand up, once again beating the team that drafted him in the second round in 2006.
Tillman pitched seven scoreless innings as the Orioles edged Seattle 1-0 this afternoon on a Nick Markakis leadoff homer in the first inning.
It is the first time in club history that the Orioles won 1-0 on a leadoff home run.
In winning for the seventh time in 10 games and the 20th time in 29 games, the Orioles concluded a 4-2 homestand and...
In the series and homestand finale today at Camden Yards, the Orioles host Seattle with Chris Tillman (7-5, 3.97 ERA) facing right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma (9-5, 3.06 ERA).
Tillman is 5-0 with an ERA of 2.45 in five career starts against Seattle. Four of his five starts have been quality starts. He last faced the Mariners on Aug. 2, 2013 and got the win at Camden Yards. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and six earned runs.
Tillman has now gone six straight starts without a win,...
You have to wonder how much longer the Orioles can count on their pitching to carry them.
They are not scoring many runs but have continued to win and lead the American League East by 2 1/2 games with Toronto's loss last night.
In the last 20 games, 12 times the Orioles have scored three or fewer runs. They are batting just .213 in those games and scoring 3.2 runs per game. Yet they are 12-8 in that stretch due to strong pitching.
Maybe that goes to show that pitching is every bit as...
Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph said he'd like to have one pitch back tonight. It was a changeup on a 1-1 count from Miguel Gonzalez to Robinson Cano with two men on in the fifth inning.
The game was tied 1-1 at the time and runners were on second and third. Cano hit his 29th career homer off O's pitching to break the game open and Seattle went on to earn a 6-3 win.
"It cost us the game," Joseph said. "We had a base open there and he's a dangerous hitter. We've done the best we can to...
Orioles fans have seen it before - Robinson Cano with a big home run at Camden Yards. This time it was a three-run shot in the fifth inning tonight that lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 6-3 win over the Orioles.
The Orioles fall to 61-48, but with Toronto's 8-2 loss to Houston, they maintain their 2 1/2 game lead on the Blue Jays atop the American League East.
Seattle came up in the fifth of a 1-1 tie against Miguel Gonzalez. Austin Jackson singled with one out and went to third on Dustin...
The Orioles have won four of their last five and six of eight games. They are 24-12 in their last 36 games. They are 10-3 in their last 13 home games.
They'd like all that winning to continue tonight at home against Seattle when Miguel Gonzalez (5-5, 3.77 ERA) faces 24-year-old left-hander James Paxton (2-0, 2.25 ERA).
Gonzalez is pitching very well recently. He's given up two or fewer earned runs in four straight starts and seven of his last 10.
He is 1-0 with an ERA of 1.82 in the past...
This is quite a good trend for Orioles pitching. The staff ERA has improved during each month this year. The ERA went from 4.49 in March/April to 4.00 in May to 3.46 in June to 2.96 in July.
That July mark was the fourth-best team ERA in the majors for the month and best July ERA by an O's pitching staff since the 1976 team posted a 2.90 ERA. It was the best ERA in a full month (minimum 20 games) by any O's squad since the 2.90 mark from May 1981.
For the season, the Orioles' 3.69 team ERA...
So I would think the Orioles and their fans could get used to this starting pitching. The Orioles rotation is on a roll with no end in sight.
Wei-Yin Chen was the latest with a strong start as he gave up one run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings last night. On a night the O's scored just two runs, Chen's outing helped put them in the win column.
Chen was facing the same team in back-to-back starts. In the two outings against Seattle, he pitched 15 1/3 innings, giving up 10 hits and one run....
Even before he was introduced into the game tonight, Andrew Miller got a big reception from Orioles fans in the eighth inning as he was about to throw his first pitch for the team.
He made his O's debut and it was a success, as he protected the club's 2-1 lead with two groundouts around a walk to Robinson Cano.
"Real exciting reception," Miller said. "I was a little amped up at first. But the goal is to hand the ball off to the next guy with the lead. Bridge the gap between an excellent...
Get a solid pitching performance and win a close game. It's a formula the Orioles are using a lot these days.
They used it again tonight to beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 in front of 39,487 in the opener of the weekend series behind Wei-Yin Chen.
This was the Orioles' club-record tying seventh straight one-run game and they are 5-2 during that stretch.
The Orioles improved to 61-47 for the season to match their season-high at 14 games over .500. They are now 20-11 against the American...
The Orioles started off the Angels series by scoring 11 runs in the first two games. But they got blanked over 13 innings last night and have not scored in their last 17 innings as their series with Seattle begins tonight.
Even in winning six of 10 on their West Coast trip, the Orioles hit just .202 as a team and scored 36 runs.
A look at some O's hitters recently:
* Nelson Cruz is 0-for-17 over his last five games and 2-for-29 over his last eight. Over his last 18 games, Cruz is 7-for-65...
As Andrew Miller joins the Orioles bullpen tonight, he gives the team another power lefty for late in the game.
Zach Britton is ready to welcome Miller to the team and the 'pen.
"He'll be a good addition," Britton said this afternoon. "We watched him throw for Boston and everything we've heard from our hitters, he's a tough at-bat for lefties and righties.
"Anytime you have a tall lefty with the angle that he gets with the velocity and movement on the slider, it's a very...
New reliever Andrew Miller was asked today what he thought of the Orioles when he was watching them from the Boston dugout.
"Admired playing against them," Miller said at his first O's press conference. "Someone asked if this was a big change and if I had any animosity toward Baltimore. Definitely not.
"Clearly they are doing something right here. Last couple of years they've been one of the best teams in what I believe to be the best division in baseball. To be up there is an...
Right-hander Brad Brach has been pitching very well for the Orioles and that continued at Camden Yards last night.
In the Orioles 1-0 loss in 13 innings to the Angels, Brach pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings on just 21 pitches. He retired all six batters he faced with three strikeouts.
"When you go out there in a tie game, you just want to get the outs as quick as you can and get the team back in to hit," Brach said. "That is all I was focused on, to put up zeroes for the...
There were 12 pitchers used between the two teams tonight but Ryan Webb certainly was disappointed to be the only one that was scored on.
He gave up an RBI single to Albert Pujols in the top of the 13th inning of the Angels' 1-0 win over the Orioles.
"You never want to be the one to give it up," Webb said. "A game like that, 12 or 13 innings without giving up a run. It (stinks). You can't walk the leadoff guy, especially with those guys coming up. I went out and did it in four pitches....
Someone finally scored.
Usually something good happens to the Orioles when the game reaches extra innings, but tonight the Los Angeles Angels broke the long, grueling scoreless tie and beat the Birds 1-0 in 13 innings.
Albert Pujols, who had been robbed of hits twice tonight by Manny Machado, lined an RBI single to center to break the 0-0 tie in the 13th inning. Kole Calhoun led off the inning with a walk off Ryan Webb, and Mike Trout's single sent him to third. Pujols knocked in his 67th...
The Orioles will try to complete their first three-game home sweep against the Angels tonight since Aug. 3-5, 2010.
The Orioles have won back-to-back one-run games to take the first two games of this series and they are 9-3 against the Angels since 2013. The Orioles are 19-10 (.655) against the American League West, which is the best record in the league against that division.
Bud Norris (8-7, 3.94) gets the start tonight against Angels' lefty Tyler Skaggs (5-5, 4.49 ERA). In five career...
Dan Duquette called Andrew Miller a left-handed reliever that can dominate left-handed batters and be very effective against right-handed batters as well.
In the end, it appears the Orioles were just not willing to pay the price to get a starter like Jon Lester or David Price, so they strengthened the back-end of their bullpen. As Duquette mentioned today, a lot of postseason games are decided late by the performance of the bullpens.
Miller is having one strong season. He is 3-5 with a 2.35...
He's been with the Orioles since the day he was signed by former Oriole pitcher Calvin Maduro out of Valencia, Venezuela in January 2010.
But now, 21-year-old left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez is leaving the organization after being traded today to Boston for reliever Andrew Miller.
Reached by phone today in Binghamton, New York where the Double-A Bowie Baysox play tonight, Rodriguez said he was surprised by the news.
"They called me and said you got traded. I just have to keep doing my...