Showalter: "It may not look aesthetically pleasing, but you end up with a W"

The Orioles were a man short and almost went through their entire bullpen today, but they managed to take the series with a rain-delayed 5-4 win over the Mariners at Camden Yards.

Infielder Rey Navarro had a tooth extracted and wasn't available.

Manager Buck Showalter said the club will discuss whether to bring up a pitcher after using six relievers behind starter Chris Tillman, who was done after three innings because of the 2 hour, 5 minute rain delay.

Tillman had no shot at returning after the long layoff.

"We were thinking about it when it first started," Showalter said. "We knew there was going to be a lot of rain. We knew we were going to get the game in at some point. I think we have the best grounds crew in baseball, and it's going to be a good surface and we're going to get out there at some point.

"The way we do it, he had one up after the 12-15 minute mark in the bullpen inside, then he had a second up 15 minutes later, and we don't do a third up. When we got to the point where he'd normally get up, that would be about 80 pitches, so he had 56-57 at the time. Especially with some of the challenges he's had with his back a little bit. It made it tougher, but we got it done.

"It's a grind game for both teams. It's what separates what these guys do for a living. It's just so easy to give in. The hitter after Darren (O'Day) walks a guy, OK? That's moxy. To come back and get us in the dugout 3-2. Tommy (Hunter) getting a 3-2 groundout there. You'd like to have it not get there. Mac (T.J. McFarland) comes in and throws two ground balls that just happened to go into right field."

The tiebreaking run scored in the eighth inning on J.J. Hardy's RBI single that plated Chris Davis.

"J.J., he's not there yet, where he's going to be offensively, but he found a way to get it done," Showalter said.

"His confidence is fine. With his track record, it's not his first year in the big leagues. He doesn't have to get a hit May 20 to be confident or unconfident. We all know. He takes great confidence in his track record and the confidence we have in him. He's meant a lot to us since he's come back. What he gives to us offensively, we know there's going to be a return down the road."

Davis reached on an infield hit and moved up on Steve Pearce's slow roller to the mound. Davis raced home on Hardy's single, doing a combination slide/dive across the plate to beat the throw.

"I thought a big play, too, was Stevie putting a ball in play that allowed Chris to get to second base," Showalter said. "He swings through that, it's probably a throw out with a 3-2 count.

"It's not easy. You've got two teams trying to win the series. Tommy striking out (Robinson) Cano, you won't see that very often in that situation. We had a base open for Nelson (Cruz). There's always a base open. Sometimes it's home plate."

Showalter brought in left-hander Brian Matusz in the fourth and the Mariners countered with two right-handed pinch-hitters and scored twice to reduce the lead to 4-3.

"They just didn't cooperate," Showalter said. "I was hoping we'd get some right-handed hitters in there early, which would set up the rest of our bullpen."

The Orioles head to Miami tonight with at least one roster move pending - Everth Cabrera comes off the disabled list - and three wins in their last four games.

" It was actually one of those games when you gain some experience, you kind of get on the plane feeling good about doing something that not just anybody can grind through. It was one of those games that we've been good at over the last three years," Showalter said.

"It may not look aesthetically pleasing, but you end up with a W."