Wrapping up a 9-4 win

Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed tonight that Chris Tillman will start Thursday afternoon's series finale against the Mariners at Camden Yards, and Ubaldo Jimenez and Mike Wright will start the first two games against the Marlins in Miami.

Tillman played catch today and his back is fine.

Orioles starters have gone seven or more innings in five straight games, with Miguel Gonzalez becoming the latest tonight. He rebounded nicely after Nelson Cruz's three-run homer in the third.

"He got better as the game went on," Showalter said after a 9-4 win over the Mariners. "He threw some zeros up after we scored and got back in it, so that's pretty typical of Miguel."

Seth Smith opened the game with a home run. Gonzalez shut down the Mariners after Cruz's shot into the home bullpen.

"It seems like when there's a leadoff home run against you, you've always got a pretty good chance," Showalter said. "I don't ever remember losing when the other team hits a leadoff home run. Now that I said that, somebody will check it and find it's happened 30 times."

Alejandro De Aza, lowered to eighth in the order, singled twice, doubled and was given an intentional walk.

"Two line drives and the baseball gods let him have another one, so we all know he's capable of good baseball," Showalter said. "We saw it in August and September last year, so it will be good to get him going."

Jimmy Paredes won't stop. He had two more hits tonight, including his sixth home run. He drove in a career-high four runs to give him 22 in 25 games.

"Jimmy's such a sincere guy," Showalter said. "Those guys give themselves such a chance to be successful because he never gives in in the effort department. I was watching him during the last out. He's in every pitch.

"I know down deep he'd like to be playing a position right now, but it fits well for us what he's doing. I don't want to mess with him too much. That was a big hit. He had seven or eight changeups thrown there. Jimmy finally got one up and over, it was actually a ball, and he poked it into left field.

"You never know. We've seen so many guys do good things in spring training and the season starts and it doesn't happen for them. We've seen guys that struggle like heck in the spring and then the season starts and the light goes on. Jimmy was not only trying to make the club and be a part of this, but he knows how you stay here because he's been down this road before. He's not playing like a guy that's out of options. He knows. I think he likes it here and he knows we like what he brings."

Caleb Joseph singled, doubled and drove in two runs. Nice production from the bottom two spots in the order.

"Any time you can present some challenges all the way through the order, you're trying to make them work for every out they get," Showalter said. "Travis (Snider) was on base a couple times. Any time you can present that kind of challenge throughout the order, it makes pitchers work and pitch counts get up a little."

Showalter didn't know that the Orioles were 1-12 before tonight when the opponent scored first.

"It surprised me a little bit," he said.

"Miguel was really good. It was a very typical outing by him. You never felt like he'd given up four runs. I love how he gets right back into the strike zone after giving up a home run. He doesn't let things snowball on him.

"He's working on an extra days rest. We're getting ready to start a period here where everybody is going to be in a five-man, so a lot of the rest the guys will be getting is not going to be there."

Wei-Yin Chen will try to keep the rotation rolling on Wednesday in the second game of the series.

"The reason we've been more competitive the last two or three years is our starters have been more competitive and gotten deeper in the games," Showalter said. "If we do that, we'll have some fun. But it's not all on them. We've got to catch it and pitch six to nine outs. But that's where it all starts. If you don't have that, nothing really adds up. You can't try to outscore people every night."

Cruz tried to outscore the Orioles, hitting his 16th home run to regain sole possession of first place in the majors.

Asked about his return to Camden Yards, Cruz said, "I guess, it was just another game. Maybe the first at-bat was the one that kind of hits you. After that, you've just got to go about your business."

Cruz heard some cheers after his home run.

"That was nice," he said. "The whole game in right field I heard good things. It makes you feel good."

Cruz also had a few misplays, including an error in the seventh when he overran Snider's single and allowed Steve Pearce to score.

"The line, I was playing more in the gap. I tried my best," Cruz said. "The other one was a routine play. I shouldn't have let it go. It was my fault."

Cruz said he didn't think Gonzalez "changed that much" after the Mariners scored four runs off him in the first three innings.

"He was aggressive with his fastball," Cruz said. "He was good the whole game, throwing his fastball for strikes and being aggressive and then throwing his breaking pitches."

Major League Baseball changed Manny Machado's May 16 error to a hit for the Angels' Matt Joyce.