Davis hits 30th homer to back Chen's strong outing in win over Seattle

Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen delivered a much-needed solid performance, for him and his team, and Chris Davis continued to smash and mash baseballs. The duo carried the Orioles to a win tonight.

Davis hit his 30th homer and drove in two runs, and Chen went 7 1/3 innings as the Orioles beat Seattle 3-2 in the opener of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

With their 11th win in 16 games, the Orioles improved to 4-3 on this road trip and to 57-54 on the season. They moved to within 4 1/2 games of idle first-place New York in the American League East and to within two games of the Angels for the second wild card.

Davis went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the fourth for a 2-1 lead. In the sixth, he crushed the first pitch he saw from right-hander Mayckol Guaipe out to center field for the 3-1 edge.

Davis now has three 30-homer seasons. He hit 33 in 2012 and 53 in 2013 before reaching that mark tonight. He is now the fifth player in Orioles history with at least three 30-homer seasons:

5 - Eddie Murray
4 - Rafael Palmeiro, Boog Powell
3 - Chris Davis, Frank Robinson

Over his last 19 games, Davis is batting .319 (22-for-69) with 11 homers and 29 RBIs. Davis has knocked in at least one run in nine of his past 13 games with 22 RBIs in that stretch.

Adam Jones hit a solo homer in the first inning off lefty Vidal Nuno that provided the Orioles the 1-0 lead. Jones hit No. 18 on a 1-1 slider. Jones doubled in the fourth, going 2-for-4, and scored on Davis' single. The Orioles' two homers tonight gives them two homers in 10 of their last 13 games. They've hit 22 in that span.

Chen gave up just three hits and one run with two walks and five strikeouts. He is now 6-6 with an ERA of 3.21. He threw 111 pitches, 70 for strikes. He retired 12 in a row entering the eighth but was pulled after issuing a one-out walk as Zach Britton came on. Britton finished up, recording his 28th save in 29 chances. Britton has converted a career-high 24 consecutive saves since May 3.

It got interesting in the last of the ninth when Franklin Gutierrez doubled with two outs and went to third on a wild pitch. He would score to make it 3-2 when Austin Jackson struck out but reached first on a passed ball. But then, Britton fanned Jesus Montero on his 36th pitch to end the game.

Chen had allowed nine runs in 8 1/3 innings over his past two starts. He was 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA in four second-half starts before tonight's outing. Chen provided a big lift tonight for an Orioles rotation that had pitched to an ERA of 6.09 the previous 10 games.

In the second game of this series on Tuesday night, Chris Tillman (8-7, 4.35 ERA) will pitch against Mariners right-hander Taijuan Walker (8-7, 4.67 ERA).