Machado homers twice, collects four hits in 6-5 win (with quotes)

The Orioles are barreling toward a record that could cause their season to spiral out of control unless they can put their own spin on it.

The pitching staff has allowed five or more runs in 17 consecutive games, three short of the major league mark set by the 1924 Phillies. And there hasn't been much drama attached as their starters keep hitting the magic number.

The only solution for the Orioles might be to keep trying to outslug the opposition. Get more than they give up.

It's a rough way to live, but it's the only way at the moment.

Manny Machado and Adam Jones strung together doubles in the seventh inning against reliever Bryan Shaw to break a tie and the Orioles held on for a 6-5 victory over the Indians before an announced crowd of 22,891 at Camden Yards.

Machado produced the 10th multi-homer game of his career with a solo shot in the first inning and a game-tying three-run shot in the fifth after singles by Rubén Tejada and Seth Smith. Machado also reached on an infield hit in the third and barely missed another home run in the seventh, the ball eluding a leaping Lonnie Chisenhall in right.

Batting second in the order seems to agree with him.

Jones lined a double down the right field line to give the Orioles a 6-5 lead, Mychal Givens retired the side in order in the eighth and Brad Brach stranded runners on the corners for his 13th save.

Miguel Castro earned his first major league win in four decisions after replacing Richard Bleier with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh. He struck out Yan Gomes on three pitches and retired Bradley Zimmer on a ground ball to first.

The Orioles (35-35) have two quality starts in their last 15 games, but they won for the third time in four games.

Machado registered his first four-hit game since Aug. 24, 2016 against the Nationals.

Chris Tillman lasted four-plus innings tonight, but it was only his third-shortest outing in nine starts. He was charged with five runs and eight hits, with three walks, no strikeouts and two wild pitches. His ERA is 8.39 in 39 2/3 innings.

Tillman served up a two-run homer to Edwin Encarnacion in the first that landed in the second deck in left field.

Encarnacion became the fourth player to reach the second level and the second this season, joining Machado on June 2. The Angels' Rex Hudler was the first on June 11, 1995 off Jamie Moyer and Mark Reynolds followed on Aug. 7, 2011 off the Blue Jays' Ricky Romero.

The Orioles tied the game against Indians starter Josh Tomlin with solo home runs by Machado in the first and Jonathan Schoop in the second, giving both players 14 on the season. Always in competition with each other.

Machado would deliver No. 15 to take the lead.

The Indians tried to assist Tillman by having Francisco Lindor picked off second base by catcher Welington Castillo in the first inning and by running into a 5-4-6 double play in the fourth inning after back-to-back singles by Chisenhall and Carlos Santana.

Tillman walked Zimmer after getting ahead 0-2 and Austin Jackson broke the tie with a run-scoring single. Lindor followed with a two-run double.

José Ramírez singled on Tillman's 94th pitch to lead off the fifth and manager Buck Showalter hustled out of the dugout to summon Alec Asher.

Asher retired the first five batters he faced, walked two in a row and was replaced by Bleier. Showalter wasn't offering much rope tonight.

Bleier induced a ground ball from Jason Kipnis to strand two runners.

Tillman lasted 2 2/3 innings in a May 30 game against the Yankees at Camden Yards and 1 1/3 innings on June 10 at Yankee Stadium. In his last three starts, he's been charged with 19 runs and 26 hits in 10 2/3 innings.

Tillman was spared the loss tonight. The Orioles gave up their minimum number of runs and managed to come up with one more.

Showalter on whether Machado batting second ignited him: "No. I don't think so. You going to start hitting singles to right field? It's easy to say, but he's hit some home runs and had some good nights in the three-hole this year, too. I am a believer in a little different, a change. Just a different look sometimes. But I don't put a whole lot of stock in it. Manny would hit well wherever we played him. He looked real comfortable tonight."

Showalter on whether Orioles need one guy to have a big night: "I hope not, I hope not. That's a bad feeling to have in the clubhouse, that, geez, one of us has to go 4-for-4 or 5-for-5. That's a recipe for some problems, I think. But everybody's capable of it. What we need are some consistent starts out of our starters. That would help a lot."

Showalter on Castro: "That was his first win tonight. They do a little something with the guys when they have their first win in there. I could tell they were being real careful about making sure he completely understood what semi-ritual was going on there. One of our smarter moves.

"He's pitched pretty well for the most part since we brought him up the second time. This might be a guy who hopefully will kind of seize an opportunity and run with it. I know Ramón (Martinez) has talked to him about it, and obviously Roger (McDowell) talks to these guys every day. But you've got to feed them little by little. As I'm sure you've seen, it's been a little give here and a little give there and if they handle that, you try to give them a little bit more.

"I'd like to have had a little better situation there. Encarnacion has been hitting right-handers, left-handers. He's a neutral split. But behind him, there were some matchups. But I felt like we were going to need all our bullets tonight to get to Brad and Mychal."

Showalter on Tillman: "Some of the same things, deep counts. Not a real pitch that he could put guys away with when he got counts in his favor. Tempo was not a real confident presentation. You all saw it. The fastball velocity and stuff, there's just not a lot of crispness and he's trying to throw it 3-1 slider and left it right in the middle of the plate. Really middle in, where he ... It was a challenge for him."

Showalter on whether Tillman's off-speed stuff works with 88 mph fastball: "It has in the past. He's throwing a lot of pitches that are balls right out of his hand. That's why you're not getting any swings at pitches that are slightly out of the zone. He's competing his butt off. That's why some of those hot pitches at 0-2 don't really serve any purpose."

Showalter on what club will do if Tillman doesn't get any better: "You always talk about, if this doesn't get any better what are we going to do? We certainly do. Nobody knows that more than Chris. It's a little bit different proposition than what we did with Ubaldo (Jiménez) because Ubaldo is able to pitch out of the 'pen. I'm hoping Chris can solve this as a starter, but obviously the return we're getting right now isn't as good as he needs to give us and he knows that.

Showalter on how close it is to making that decision: "It's not ... He'll make his next start."

Showalter on whether he thought Machado's double was a home run: "I think he did. It's funny now, right? It's so hard because of the way the balls been carrying on a given day, you never know.

"It's nice to have (Craig) Gentry back. That's a pretty good outfielder we're able to put out there in the ninth inning and the eighth inning. That's something we haven't had since he left."

Showalter on whether it was good to see Brach escape a jam: "No, it wasn't good. So did Bleier, had two jam shots. I think both bats were broken on it. That's a tough part of the lineup going through.

"That's a good team. I'd be surprised if they don't win their division. There's not many holes there. There're starting to play real well. There's not many breathing spots. Brad did real well to go through that part of the lineup."

Tillman on outing: "Not very good. Not very good. I was actually really fortunate to make some pitches with some guys on base and Manny made some pretty incredible plays, as well as Welington. You're fortunate to get out of some situations early, but just too many pitches that are not very competitive from the start."

Tillman on frustration level: "It's frustrating, but you keep thinking about the same thing over and over again you're not going to get anywhere. You've got to buy into the process and keep working. You've got to show up tomorrow ready to start and get better for the next start. I know I'm not the only one, but you've got to keep going. You can't just dwell on all the negative.

"There are a lot of good things that happened tonight. Bullpen was outstanding. Offensively was impressive. Defensively, outstanding. Just got to get better with the starting pitching."

Tillman on whether he's looking for out pitch: "I wouldn't say I'm looking for an out pitch. I would say I'm looking to be me and make the pitches I know I'm capable of making. That's something I'm not doing right now. If I start giving myself a chance and our defense a chance to make some plays as opposed to throwing non-competitive pitch after non-competitive pitch, I think we'll be in a lot better shape. I'm not looking for an out pitch. I've just got to be myself and make pitches that I know I can."

Tillman on changes in arm slot: "No, physically I'm fine. like I've said all along. That has nothing to do with my body, and my body feels great. It's just mechanics. I've got to get back, get back to what I know and what I'm capable of."

Tillman on changes within a start: "It's kind of hit and miss. One pitch I'll hit and the next pitch, it's kind of not there. I've just got to get consistent with it and make consistent, big pitches - my pitches, as opposed to making non-competitive pitches and try to fight back in the count every time. I've been doing that, they're fouling balls off and I'm throwing behind and it turns into a real short start real quick."

Machado on win: "We came back and, you know, we were down 5-1, 5-2 and we battled as a team overall. This was a great team win. Just happy I was able to do something for us today and come out with a victory. We played great baseball. That's what we've got to keep doing as a team, keep playing as a team. One another will pick each other up. That's all we can ask for."

Machado on any difference batting second: "No, same. The pitchers are going to throw me the same pitches. Just because I'm in the two-hole doesn't mean I have my name changed."

Machado on Castro: "He's proving himself and he's been throwing the ball well. He's going to go out there and do what he can. I know he's a competitor and he wants to win. He's going to go out there and he did a hell of a job. He went 1-2-3, made some hell-of-a-pitches and got us back in the dugout to come back and get that W."

Machado on competition with Schoop: "I want him to do was well as he can. He's having a hell of a year so far. Hopefully, he continues growing as a player and as a hitter. I'm just happy for him, as much as I can be."

Machado on whether he feels like he needs to hit: "It's a team sport. You can't win one side - offensively, defensively, pitching, whatever. We've all got to stick together and do what we've got to do as a team. We'll figure it out as a team. At the end of the day, we're not going to blame it on the pitchers. We're not hitting, either. We've got to get together as a team and do the little things that count, and hopefully that takes us to the next level."