Wrapping up Beckham's home run and a 5-2 win

It had to be the new guy.

Tim Beckham, playing in his fifth game tonight since the Orioles acquired him from the Rays, hit the 10,000th regular season home run in club history. The ball exploded off his bat in the bottom of the eighth inning, the kind of sound that makes heads snap in its direction, and another chapter was penned in an improbable story.

Beckham provided an insurance run and some added thrills in a 5-2 win over the Tigers at Camden Yards. Fans received Jonathan Schoop's bobblehead. Beckham gave them an historical moment and in return got a rare curtain call.

"Oh yeah, that's a great feeling man, just to come in and help the club win a couple ballgames," Beckham said. "To be a part of the Orioles organization is a blessing and like you said, 10,000 home runs, that's crazy to think about. That's stuff you don't think about during the game. You're just playing the game and competing and good things happen."

Like a crowd refusing to quiet down until he acknowledged it from the top step with both arms raised.

"It was a great feeling," he said. "My first one in my career for sure. Tampa doesn't pack out the stadium like that, but it's a great feeling to play in Baltimore, in front of the Orioles fans. The energy they bring to the stadium every night is pretty fun.

"Each day that goes by, the more comfortable I get with the team and the more comfortable I get with the players and the coaching staff. It's been fun, it's been fun. I'm happy to be here."

Did manager Buck Showalter have Beckham in his 10,000th home run pool?

"The last four days I would," he said. "Not when he was in Tampa."

Beckham has 13 hits in 20 at-bats with the Orioles and has homered in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. The 13 hits are the most in a five-game span in his career.

He's having a career in one week.

"He's gotten off to a good start here," Showalter said after his club improved to 54-56 overall. "Love the way ... I think we have the smartest fans in baseball. They understand what's going on. It was nice. It's another one of those things, you're in the dugout and you've got to step back and realize you're lucky to watch those types of things. That's a lot of home runs."

The Orioles hit three of them. Adam Jones connected off starter Drew VerHagen in the fifth to tie the game, Welington Castillo homered off Joe Jimenez leading off the seventh to provide the lead and Beckham crushed an Edward Mujica splitter in the eighth.

Jones has reached 20 home runs in seven consecutive seasons, three short of Cal Ripken Jr.'s club record.

"Just being healthy, knock on wood," Jones said. "I think just being available. If you're not playing, you can't do much. I think that me just being in the lineup on a consistent basis, I think that if I'm playing, there's a possibility of doing something. Playing a lot of games each year, I just think that when I'm there, there's an opportunity to do something.

"My teammates push me every day to be better, to be a better player. It's not just me. My teammates push me, and my health, I've been fortunate enough to be healthy."

VerHagen and Wade Miley each allowed two runs and four hits in five innings. Miley retired the last seven batters and threw 113 pitches before Showalter turned to his bullpen, which shut out the Tigers on one hit over four frames.

"VerHagen, I think there should be a rule that you have to draft at least one pitcher from Vanderbilt every year," Showalter said. "He's got a good background starting. We knew he had that power curve. You've got a lot of guys with curveballs, but he's got a power curve. That's why sometimes they put on the board 'slider.' But he pitched well. You get a spot start like that, you know there's going to be some unknown about it.

"I thought Welington had the big blow to put us over the hump. Wade gave us four shutout innings after that and was champing at the bit to go back out there in the sixth. He said he had 140 in him tonight. But we were a little short in the bullpen today right-handed and we had to get five out of him to have a chance to match up late the rest of the game. That's a lot of zeros to put up against that lineup."

Miley served up Justin Upton's two-run homer in a 30-pitch first inning before he settled down.

"I was able to get in a little rhythm there in the third, fourth and fifth," he said. "Really, the fourth and fifth, I was able to get ahead. That was the big key. I was getting a head of guys, and even when I wasn't ahead, I was executing the pitch I was trying to throw there. I smoothed everything out, the bullpen did a good job, and Timmy had another big game. Jonesy with a big game-tying homer.

"I just was mixing speeds, curveball, fastball. Just kind of back and forth, moving it in and out. I started elevating some fastballs later and getting some swings. When you throw more strikes, I think guys will get more aggressive. They'll swing at pitches out of the zone more. In the first inning, I wasn't throwing a lot of strikes. When I threw a strike, they hammered it."

Zach Britton registered the last four outs for his ninth save, striking out John Hicks to end it.

"If you remember from the past, he had four days off," Showalter said. "He was going to pitch tonight anyway. I had told Alan (Mills) early in the game, just to alert him, there was a chance if the situation presented itself that he would pitch in the eighth inning. He was initially getting up for (Victor) Martinez, but things kind of changed in that inning."

Beckham changed the mood among Orioles fans from happy to ecstatic. He's been pretty good at it in a short period, delivering again tonight from the sixth spot in the order.

"He's given us a little jolt and a little juice," Showalter said. "He's going real well where he is, which is a little higher. He kind of hit all over for them when he played. Dan (Duquette) and I were talking about it, Dan was intrigued by his numbers outside of The Trop.

"He's in a good place, he's in a good frame of mind. The first time guys change organizations, so to speak, they have a tendency to go one way or another. Obviously he's started off in a good way and handled the defensive part of it, probably more importantly, so far."

"He's doing what he's been doing for the entire season in Tampa," Jones said, "but now we've got his numbers. Pretty much, he's just doing what he's been doing all season. We're just fortunate to have him here.

"It's a fresh face. It's a familiar face, but a fresh face. He offers a lot of intangibles that we don't use a lot here. His speed game is tremendous. He's not afraid to take that extra base and not afraid to risk anything. That's what we need. I'm glad that he's here. He brings a lot of energy the five days he's been here. Let's continue it."

Said Miley: "He's the first overall pick. I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be doing stuff like that. He's a pretty talented player. We've seen him in Tampa for quite a few years. He's gifted, no doubt."

Beckham might have been an unlikely choice to hit the 10,000th home run, but no one is hotter at the plate.

"Not just a cool part, a great part of Orioles history," Jones said. "It's tremendous that he was able to do it, and this is one of the most historic franchises in all of baseball and all of sports. It's cool to be a part of that. It's going to be mean something to his family and his kids down the line."

It's nothing that Beckham could have imagined. Not the milestone home run or the overall production this week.

"I was coming off a tough series in New York and I was going to Houston," he said. "Looking forward to playing Houston, but as soon as I got there, they told me I was traded to the Orioles and automatically I thought, 'Man, that's a great club to be with.' They have a lot of fun. They go out and compete every night. That's something I wanted to be a part of. It's been fun.

"I go about my business the same way every day, same routine. Just trusting my routine when I go up to the plate. Trusting myself. I don't think about which stadium I'm in when I'm hitting. I just want to put together a good at-bat, each at-bat, and good things will pay off."