Showalter on the Game 1 win and more

The Orioles now lead the season series against the Yankees 9-3, including a 5-1 record at Camden Yards. They seemed to be headed toward an 11-inning loss before Jimmy Paredes' two-run walk-off double - the Orioles' ninth walk-off win of the season. Two of them have come against the Yankees. The Orioles have 5,000 victories in club history. Manager Buck Showalter earned his 1,250th this afternoon. The Orioles have won 14 of their last 17 series openers. They've won five games in a row to tie their longest streak of the season. Kevin Gausman has logged seven or more innings in his last three starts and registered a 2.53 ERA. Left-hander Andrew Miller struck out the side in the eighth and lowered his ERA to 1.17 in 17 appearances with the Orioles. He's allowed one earned run in his last 12 games, striking out 18 in 10 2/3 innings. Alejandro De Aza is 11-for-28 (.393) during his seven-game hitting streak. So, what does Showalter think about someone like Paredes being able to sit for 11 innings and line a game-winning double on the first pitch thrown to him? "Yeah, it's tough," he said. "It's a tough job description, but it beats doing it in Norfolk. Jimmy does a lot of work to be prepared. Had a lot of good at-bats there. "I thought Nellie (Nelson Cruz) had a big at-bat, I thought Steve Clevenger had a nice, calm at-bat. But boy, did they pitch well. Both teams pitched really well and it was indicative. This late in the year, pitchers are ahead of hitters." The Orioles needed a lift after the news of Chris Davis' 25-game suspension. "Of course, of course," Showalter said. "To try to underplay that wouldn't be completely frank about it. But I think everybody's still kind of putting their arms around it. Like I said before, we've had a lot of challenges, some of them self-inflicted and you've got to fight your way through it, and we did that today with the pitching, just like they did. Boy, there's a lot of quality pitching today out there." Gausman qualified, so to speak, with his seven scoreless innings. "He was good. He was really good," Showalter said. "He had to be because (Brandon) McCarthy was good, too. Anytime you get the game to a (Dellin) Betances and to (David) Robertson... but we like our guys, too. It was very indicative of a lot of good pitchers being ahead of the hitters." Showalter couldn't avoid more questions about the suspension and the mood in the clubhouse. "You go through the season with all types of things that take a shot at you, that try to knock you down," he said. "Some of them put you down for a little while, but I think it'll be a day or two. "One thing you understand about this game and sports in general, they will all move on without you, whether you're a coach, manager, player. You try to keep your arms around reality and realize that as bad as some things may look, they shall pass and you've got to keep grinding through it and realize that life in general lets you up a little bit. "New York and Boston, Toronto, Tampa, they've all had some real shots taken at them. And let's put it this way, our guys are experienced at it this year, as is every club in the majors leagues." Showalter has talked about one player's misfortune opening the door for other players. Guys will get their chances to step up, as we witnessed again in Game 1. "The opportunity is there because I gave it to them and I don't think it had anything to do with Chris today," Showalter said. "It's September baseball and 40-man call-ups. I think you know how most guys feel about that, but you take advantage of it while it's part of it, so you've got a lot of situations that come up that don't normally come up. We were able to take advantage of it today. "Since 8 o'clock last night, there's been a lot of things you go through. First of all, you're managing a baseball team for the city of Baltimore and you're trying to keep good things going. I think there's a lot of things going on in this world and our country and different things that are a lot tougher than what's going on here today. I hope we all keep that in mind. But we'll see. "There might be another challenge around the corner. You take them as they come, and like I told the players today, to do things that can kind of separate you a little bit. It's a societal thing as much as it is a baseball thing. Trust me." For the Yankees Jacoby Ellsbury DH Derek Jeter SS Brett Gardner CF Brian McCann 1B Chris Young LF Stephen Drew 2B Ichiro Suzuki RF Zelous Wheeler 3B Austin Romine C Bryan Mitchell RHP