Postgame comments from Schoop, Hardy and Tillman after O's sweep Reds

Tonight, the Orioles concluded a 9-2 homestand, the first time they've gone 9-2 or better on a homestand of at least 11 games since going 10-2 from June 22 to July 1, 1979. Although Jonathan Schoop didn't send one to the bullpen, the second baseman homered for the third game in a row in the Orioles' 9-7 win over Cincinnati tonight. How good of a run is he on right now? "It's really good, especially when we win, too," Schoop said. "If you hit a home run and we lose, if you go 0-for-4 and we win, you're happy. It is all about winning." The Orioles faced three teams with losing records on the homestand, but they sure took care of business. "We are going to go in there and play hard and give everything day-by-day and try to win ballgames. This feels really good to get a sweep and now we go to Tampa and Boston and try to win those series," Schoop said. Schoop's homer was his 15th of the year and his ninth in just 125 at-bats since the All-Star break. Schoop has a slugging percentage of .504 with a .752 OPS since the break. "I've got a lot of veteran guys helping me, like Delmon Young, Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz, J.J. Hardy, the whole team," he said. "Trying to find a good pitch to hit. Trying to swing at strikes and good things will happen." J.J. Hardy's two-out two-run single in the seventh inning broke a 7-7 tie after the Orioles let an early 6-0 lead get away. Hardy will take the victory and a nine-win homestand. "The homestand, that was huge for us," he said. "Think we had a chance to sweep every series. To take this one tonight was big. Now we have all games in the division. It just gets bigger." Was it surprising the big lead got away from the Orioles? "I don't know about surprising," Hardy said. "You have to tip your hat. They chipped away, they didn't give up and made it a ballgame. We had to put some serious at-bats together there late in the game and come through with that win." Chris Tillman gave up three runs over six innings tonight to extend his streak of consecutive starts allowing three earned runs or fewer to 17 in a row, fifth-longest in club history. But he said he has pitched better than that this season. "It was a little bit of a grind," Tillman said. "We made it through and made some pitches when we had to. Didn't make it easy on ourselves, but glad it kind of came along as the game went. Think that last inning, I thought was my best inning. Throw that homer out and I'll take it. "Every game is important to us right now. It's not easy to sweep anybody. They came back the first day and the last day. We're happy with it, but we have to be better. I do personally." Tillman threw some praise Hardy's way, for his work at bat and in the field. "Always. Always seems like J.J's got the play when we need him," Tillman said. "Defensively, to me, he's the best in the game at what he does. As pitchers, we really appreciate it." Now it's back on the road after a memorable homestand. "Awesome. Like I said, every game is big to us. Don't give in. Can't do that this late in the season," Tillman said. The Orioles are now 22-0 when they hit three homers or more. They have won seven of eight, 13 of 18 and 27 of their last 39 games. They are 24-7 in their last 31 home games. Now they play the rest of the regular season against the American League East and they are 33-20 in the division this season.