Showalter on how Hardy "completes" the infield (O's lose 5-2)

The Orioles need a win tonight to stay within two games of first place in the American League East. The Red Sox already took care of business.

The lineup is missing Mark Trumbo again, but center fielder Adam Jones continues to start after fouling a ball off his foot a few nights ago.

"A lot of guys wouldn't have played last night," said manager Buck Showalter. "Adam hammered one off his foot the night before. We went through some things last night before we decided to play him.

"That hurt. Take a sledgehammer and hammer your foot and then hit 30 seconds later. It hurts. Shin, foot."

The Orioles honored their minor league award winners, including catcher Chance Sisco, the organization's Player of the Year, and left-hander Donnie Hart, its Pitcher of the Year.

"Donnie's been good for a while," Showalter said. "He's a guy that I've been asking about for a year and a half. I hope a starting pitcher is winning that award, too, as we go forward.

"Chance had a good year from start to finish. I was comparing some of his numbers versus a guy like (Steve) Clevenger, who had a great minor league hitting track record, and he's doing it at a younger age. Like all those guys who play that position, the question is going to be catch, call a game and throw. We're excited about their progress."

Showalter referenced how relievers Mychal Givens and Oliver Drake shared the pitching award last year and Hart won it this year. Relievers are ruling.

"What are you going to do, penalize them because they're relief pitchers?" he asked. "You could have given it to Brian Gonzalez this year. You could have considered (Ofelky) Peralta. There were four or five names you could have considered who were starters.

"I'm sure whoever voted didn't want to penalize a relief pitcher. It's not fair. And it's kind of correlated pretty well. Mychal Givens has been pretty good up here. Donnie has and Ollie, really."

Shortstop J.J. Hardy has 11 hits in his last 21 at-bats, including two doubles, a home run, seven RBIs, four walks and three runs scored. His infield hit last night with the bases loaded tied the game in the eighth inning.

Hardy's misplay at shortstop last night was only his fifth error of the season.

"I think he's feeling, knock on wood, as healthy as he's felt in a while and we're seeing the benefits of that," Showalter said. "It's also a reminder of what we've missed when he wasn't here. It seemed like forever."

This is where Showalter provided the comedic moment of the day, one that's sure to find its way onto a video clip.

"I don't want to get into, what was that movie with Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger about completing somebody? He kind of completes our infield and kind of makes everything work like last night," Showalter said.

"You know what? Let's take that back. I'm going to regret that. Please. Am I going to regret that? Probably.

"You know like with your wife when you say something and you want to grab it and put it back in your mouth? Too late. It's out there. Made sense, though. He had me at 'Hello.' "

The Orioles already showed Hardy the money.

Update: Adam Jones led off the bottom of the first inning with a double to right field, moved to third on Hyun Soo Kim's grounder and scored on Manny Machado's liner to right. The Orioles lead 1-0.

Update II: Kim's sacrifice fly scored Hardy and increased the lead to 2-0 in the third inning. Hardy led off with an infield hit, making him 12-for-22 in his last eight games.

Chris Tillman hasn't allowed a hit in three innings. He's hit a batter and struck out five.

Update III: The no-hitter and shutout were lost in the fourth inning. Evan Longoria tripled with one out past a diving Michael Bourn in right field and beat Chris Davis' throw home on Brad Miller's grounder.

Update IV: Longoria led off the sixth inning with his third home run of the series to tie the game 2-2. He's hit eight homers against Tillman in his career.

Update V: The Rays scored again in the sixth on Richie Shaffer's two-out RBI double and they lead the Orioles 3-2.

Tillman threw 112 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs and four hits, walked one, struck out six, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.

Update VI: The Rays scored two unearned runs in the eighth to lead 5-2.
They loaded the bases against Oliver Drake on Davis' error, a bunt single and a walk, and Mikie Mahtook blooped a two-run single into right field off Mychal Givens.

Update VII: The Orioles lose 5-2.