Showalter speaks after 4-1 win

Mike Wright was given a reprieve tonight. He responded by giving the Orioles one of the best starts of his brief major league career.

The Royals managed only an unearned run off Wright over seven innings, and the Orioles hit three home runs in a 4-1 victory before 14,878 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles' rotation has registered back-to-back quality starts, raising the total to seven in the last 21 games.

Brad Brach struck out the side in the eighth to lower his ERA to 0.88 with 34 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings. Zach Britton registered his 18th save in as many opportunities, and the Orioles improved to 33-23.

Wright took a shutout into the seventh with his pitch count at 87. He gave up consecutive one-out singles to Paulo Orlando and Cheslor Cuthbert, and the Royals broke a scoreless tie on Jonathan Schoop's throwing error.

Schoop was trying to fake the throw to first base and fire to third after Manny Machado fielded Jarrod Dyson's grounder, but he lost control of the ball and spiked it into Cuthbert's right elbow. Orlando raced home as the ball took a high hop.

Cuthbert is day-to-day with a contusion.

"Jon was trying to make a good play there," said manager Buck Showalter. "He was arm-faking going to third to catch an aggressive baserunner rounding the bag and the only thing I was telling him is who you're arm-faking because the runner's got his back to you when you're coming across. He wasn't throwing that ball to first. He was trying to arm-fake and go backdoor at third, which he probably would have had a play on, but just couldn't get a good grip on it. He knew Dyson was running. We had no play."

Wright didn't allow an earned run in seven-plus innings for the first time since his first two major league starts. His ERA tonight dropped from 5.88 to 5.14.

"Command. He was down. Threw a lot of quality two-seams down and got a return for it," Showalter said.

"They're a low-walk, but low-strikeout team. They're very aggressive and a couple of their injuries have made them a lot more right-handed, which created a better matchup. But Mike was good."

Wright would have been starting tonight at Triple-A Norfolk if the Orioles hadn't recalled him to replace injured reliever Darren O'Day on the 25-man roster.

"He got a do-over. Not many people do," said Showalter, who broke a tie with Davey Johnson for sole possession of 29th place on the all-time win list with 1,373. "I think he would have eventually gotten one anyway, but it came a little faster. It's kind of like we got the benefits.

"Like I said before, I don't care how well you pitch down there, when you've had some challenges up here, you don't really gain all the answers just from going down there. But it's kind of like he took all the things we've been talking that he's capable of doing better and he did them tonight. We'll see what the future holds."

Wright pushed through the troublesome sixth inning, stranding Whit Merrifield after a one-out walk, and might have gotten through the seventh unscathed if not for the error.

"Yeah, I thought the hump inning was the sixth facing the top of the order there and he held his stuff throughout," Showalter said. "In the future I think he's going to be able to continue in that game, but he had a good outing and kind of knowing some of the history ...

"Brad had three days' off and Mychal (Givens) had a couple. It worked out well. Mark kind of got us off the schneid. He's good."

Royals left-hander Danny Duffy served up home runs to Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters in the seventh and exited with one out. He stayed in the game after being hit on the ankle by Trumbo's liner in the fourth.

"Pretty impressive," Showalter said. "That young man continued to pitch well. He took a pretty good blow there. That was impressive. He had good stuff. Late life. He's one of the few guys we've seen in quite a while that features about 70 percent fastballs, which tells you how good his fastball is."

Trumbo's best months are April and May, but he's still hot in June, going 9-for-22 with a double, four home runs and seven RBIs.

"I think Mark's in a place he seems real comfortable. We'll see," Showalter said. "We all want to take something and say, 'Here's the trend or tendency.' Things change. That's why they're human beings. Things can change. Some good to the bad and some bad to the good.

"Nobody knows exactly how it's going to happen, but I don't think he's really into that unless you remind him of it. Have you?"

The Orioles have come from behind in their last five wins, the bats coming to life in the seventh inning and later. They haven't folded against the top late-inning relievers in baseball.

"It's such a fine margin here," Showalter said. "There's a lot of guys who make a really good living feasting off fourth and fifth starters and guys who don't pitch at the end of the game that you're ahead in. But that hasn't been the case with our guys. They've been facing some of the best relievers in baseball. It's been impressive to do. It's not easy.

"Over the course of the season, if you're not getting runs off of those guys, you're not going to like the results. So, we've been fortunate. It's not something you like to depend on, getting runs off those guys. Their bullpen is and has been good for a long time. So is ours. Brad was really good again tonight. Top of the order, come in and do that job. That was impressive."

The Orioles are outscoring their opponents 54-25 in the seventh inning. Machado homered in the eighth off Kelvin Herrera to complete the scoring.

Just one of those flukish things?

"Probably some of that, but a lot of good pitchers pitch in the seventh inning," Showalter said. "The good bullpens and starters that go that far have a really good outing. So, it's been kind to us so far."

Showalter also said he wasn't aware of any injury to center fielder Adam Jones, who increased the lead to 3-1 with an RBI double in the seventh and appeared to be in pain as Schoop was thrown out at home to end the inning. He was bent over at second base, but stayed in game.

"Somebody else asked me that and somebody asked me last night," Showalter said. "I get it about four, five times a week, so I get to know his body language. I talk to him every night. I'll ask him again now. Pretty sure what he'll tell me."

The Orioles are 22-3 in games that Brach pitches.

Wieters has 100 RBIs as a catcher. He's batting .362/.375/.609 (25-for-69) with 17 RBIs in his last 19 games.