Showalter, Tillman and Britton wrap up 3-2 win

BOSTON - The question barely reached the air tonight before Orioles manager Buck Showalter took it down with gusto and a nice turn of a phrase.

The Orioles won the first game of another series against the Red Sox, with Chris Tillman playing stopper and Zach Britton serving as dominant closer in a 3-2 win at Fenway Park.

Can winning that first game set the tone?

"Not at all," Showalter said. "We've got 99 games left. Ninty-nine. You don't send messages, you don't set tones. It's 99 games left. Just get a good seat and buckle up."

The ride wasn't always smooth tonight. David Price retired 19 Orioles in a row. Britton inherited runners on the corners with one out in the eighth inning and David Ortiz at the plate. But the Orioles prevailed to take over sole possession of first place in the American League East.

Tillman retired 12 in a row before Jackie Bradley Jr.'s home run in the seventh. He improved to 9-1 with a 2.87 ERA.

"You had two good pitchers on top of their game," Showalter said. "Just waiting for it to get dark. Left-handers are so hard to see in this ballpark. He doesn't need any help.

"Both of them were real good. You know pitchers are good when you know what they're going to try to do and they do it anyway. (Price) throws less than 50 percent fastballs against us. He's such a pitcher more than he is a thrower. You see it with (CC) Sabathia. He still throws hard, but that's why he's going to be a great investment for the Red Sox for a long time, because he's always going to be able to figure it out."

Britton figured out how to convert his 20th save in a row, striking out Ortiz on three pitches in the eighth and the side in the ninth. He let an inherited runner score on Hanley Ramirez's RBI single, but it came on a ground ball up the middle.

Ortiz was 5-for-17 with a home run against Britton before swinging through three blazing fastballs.

"He's a very good hitter," Britton said. "He's been hitting the ball extremely well this year, so I really want him to hit into a double play, so trying to make quality pitches, keep the ball down. The strikeout was OK. I just really needed to make a better pitch to Hanley Ramirez). That's a big run right there to put them pretty close.

"(Mychal) Givens did a good job battling. More than anything, I wish I would have saved that run and made a little bit better pitch to Hanley. I got rushed a little bit on it, so if I could take a pitch back, I'd take that one back."

Britton lowered his ERA to 0.96 while notching that 20th save.

"It's incredible watching that guy pitch," Tillman said. "I'm not just saying that because he's my teammate. He's got some of the best stuff I think I've seen in baseball. His sinker it's ridiculous. I don't know how anyone can put a good swing on it. He takes a lot of pride in it and it's fun to watch."

Everyone else is impressed by Britton. What about Britton?

"I try not to think about it too much," he said. "I think when I get out on the mound, I'm trying to make quality pitches and trying to help us win. I think that's the most important thing. The numbers normally take care of themselves when you go out there and you execute pitches, and that's really my only mindset right now."

Britton worked multiple innings for the fourth time this season. The extended effort is needed more while Darren O'Day remains on the disabled list.

"It's only because we had four days off," Showalter said. "If you all watch how we do it, when he's got multiple days off like that, we'll do it. I knew Mike was only going to get three hitters there. I'm trying to stay away from using Brad (Brach) and Mychal on the same night, because it puts us in harm's way the next day. It's made it tougher.

"We'll get Darren back at some point, but it's an opportunity for somebody else. Maybe (Odrisamer) Despaigne. But the only reason we do it is because Zach had four days off coming in. I wanted to get him on the mound yesterday when it got back to that one-run game. We were talking on the plane how that situation may arise."

Britton has grown accustomed to the differences between entering in the eighth and the ninth.

"I know in the eighth for the most part there's going to be guys on if I come into the game, and obviously the ninth for me a majority of times is going to be a clean inning, so the pressure to make quality pitches is always there, but a little bit more so when I know the guy that Buck's bringing me into the eighth for is a guy that he wants me to get out and really expects me to get out, so I've got to execute pitches," Britton said.

"I think I've had the five-out, the four-out save a handful of times now, so I'm pretty used to it. Obviously, having the starter background, I think it (helps). Especially with the sinker, for me especially, it gets a little better the more I throw. At times it's good, especially with all the days off I've had, to get back out there for almost two innings."

Tillman threw 12 pitches in the first inning and 34 in the second, but he held the 2-0 lead provided by Manny Machado's home run down the right field line in the first.

"I was talking to him after he finished and he said actually the first couple of innings he didn't feel good," Showalter said. "Command-wise the ball just wasn't coming out of his hand like he wanted. That was one of those outings where you don't make decisions just by pitch count. You could tell that he was carrying his stuff, never really started to do anything different.

"That was one of those games where pitch count didn't play a lot into it. They kind of dictate that. But he didn't feel good first couple innings. I didn't know that until afterward. He's like a lot of good pitchers. You better get him early. We were fortunate. That (Pesky) Pole's been pretty kind to us so far this year, so we'll take it."

Tillman needed to dial it up to stay with Price.

"You know it's going to be a tough one today," he said. "A guy like that you want to keep runs to a minimum. You knew it was going to be a close, tough game. It ended up being just that."

What changed for Tillman after the second inning?

"Really, a lot," he said. "I just couldn't find myself the first couple innings and Wiety (Matt Wieters) did a great job of getting me back on track. It was just a matter of finding the rhythm of the game and making some pitches I needed to make."

And being the stopper that the club so desperately needed after losing three in a row and again having major concerns about its rotation.

"I think all of our guys are going out and trying to go deep in the game and give the team a chance to win," Tillman said. "I don't put any pressure on myself, just keeping the same game plan and going out and making pitches, quality pitches to get to that result that we need."