Notes and quotes from a winning weekend at Comerica Park

DETROIT - It happened again with the Baltimore Orioles. They lost a tough game and yet there didn't seem to be any tension or concern in their clubhouse after Friday's gut-punching 4-3 loss at Detroit.

The players used a phrase we hear them say often. They would "flush it" and move on. They would quickly put a tough loss behind them, not look back and now work to get needed wins. Then they went out and got two huge wins.

They bashed Tigers pitching for four homers in an 11-3 win Saturday. Then their pitching staff got big outs for nine innings in Sunday's 3-1 win, which featured two more homers. The Orioles outscored the Tigers 17-8 and out-homered them 7-1 over the weekend.

More notes and quotes from the weekend at Comerica Park:

Givens gets Cabrera: Perhaps one of the biggest moments of the year for an O's reliever came in the bottom of the eighth Sunday. Mychal Givens was facing two-time league MVP Miguel Cabrera with runners on first and second, one out and the Orioles leading 3-1. He got one of the game's most feared hitters to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

"That was big," closer Zach Britton said after recording his 41st save. "For a young guy in that situation, he hasn't thrown that eighth inning very often. He did a great job. It's a tough lineup and he battled and made some good pitches. Think it gives him confidence going forward."

Brad Brach pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning before Givens worked in the eighth. Manager Buck Showalter said there is no changing of late-inning inning relief roles, with Brach not pitching the eighth on Sunday. He cited matchups as the reason for how he used the 'pen.

Givens was asked about pitching in the eighth.

"It's just a confidence boost that he (Showalter)...how great our bullpen has been all year and we can do that," Givens said. "To have the confidence of Buck doing that and then going out there and competing like we have all year and (we're) having fun like we've done with our bullpen."

Right-handed batters are hitting just .161 with a slugging percentage of .256 off Givens, who has fanned 85 batters over 67 innings.

Jones was a leader: In keeping his teammates loose before the games and being productive during the games, Adam Jones had an OK weekend. While Cabrera went 0-for-9, Jones was 6-for-11 in the three games with a homer, two runs, three walks and three RBIs.

And he played more outstanding defense, making two big catches in the bottom of the fifth to save Chris Tillman a run. Jones made one nice play running in and one running back into deep center.

"That's a lot of room to cover there, and Adam had a great series defensively, and probably was a difference in Tilly getting his feet on the ground early on in the early innings there," Showalter said. "He ran down some balls that obviously are home runs in a lot of parks."

It starts on the mound: The Tigers scored four runs and won Friday night and then scored just four runs in losing the last two days. For the series, O's pitchers held Detroit to eight runs on 22 hits. The three starting pitchers - Kevin Gausman, Ubaldo Jimenez and Tillman - threw a combined 19 innings allowing 15 hits and six runs for an ERA of 2.84.

"Yeah that was really good," Britton said of the pitching in the series. "We definitely have thrown pretty well out of the pen most of the year. It all starts with Tilly doing a great job coming back. That is a tough lineup for your first one back and he did a great job.

"He allowed us to come in when the matchups were in our favor. Givens and Brad did a great job. It always starts with the pitching and keeping their lineup in check. That was the key to the last two wins."

O's starting pitchers now have nine quality starts over the last 13 games with an ERA of 3.15. They have recorded 13 quality starts the past 20 games with a rotation ERA of 3.75 in that span.

Bourn bashed one: Outfielder Michael Bourn's identity is certainly not that of a home run hitter. He has averaged a homer once every 135.6 at-bats in his career. Now he has hit two in 12 at-bats as an Oriole. He took Justin Verlander deep for a two-run shot in the third inning.

Acquired for minor leaguer Jason Heinrich on Aug. 31, it must be meaningful for Bourn to contribute in a big way so soon with his new team.

"Well, I'm thankful for it, first of all," he said. "Whenever you can help the team win, it is always a good thing to be a part of. Was able to get two runs with that home run and then (Jonathan) Schoop added another one on. Chris was amazing out there and the bullpen came on and shut it down. It was a game that you look for. I know it was a pretty big hit in that situation but I was just trying to battle against a tough pitcher."

Bourn said he is impressed by his new teammates in how they handled Friday's loss and bounced back to win two games.

"That is the thing about this team," Bourn said. "You come into a new clubhouse and you see how they react if they lose a tough game. Came back the next night and won convincingly and then came back and won again today. We won the series. This is a good team to be a part of and we're going to try and keep on doing what we do."

On to Beantown: The Orioles are now 4-2 on this road trip, scoring 41 runs in taking two of three from the Rays and Tigers. Now it is on to Boston for a big three-game series with the America League East leaders starting tonight. At 80-62 Boston is two games ahead of both the Orioles and Blue Jays.

The Orioles are 6-6 versus the Red Sox this year, including a 4-2 mark at Fenway Park. But the Red Sox just won two of three from Toronto, scoring 26 runs. They are 19-10 their last 29 games and 14-7 in their last 21 AL East games.

But for the entire season, the Orioles once again have the best record in division games among the five AL East teams. They are 32-27 (.542), Boston is 30-26 (.536) and Toronto is 33-30 (.524).