Wrapping up a 2-1 win

NEW YORK - The Orioles no longer are tied with the Red Sox for last place. They weren't sellers and they aren't in the cellar.

Chris Davis' home run leading off the top of the ninth inning gave the Orioles a 2-1 win over the Yankees. The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays 5-1 in 10 innings.

Davis connected off left-hander Chasen Shreve, who had just replaced starter Masahiro Tanaka. Quite the greeting.

Davis has 41 home runs this season, 10 against left-handers. He's 10-for-25 with six home runs and 10 RBIs in his last seven games.

T.J. McFarland retired seven of the eight batters he faced after replacing starter Kevin Gausman, who exited with his pitch count at 103 after Alex Rodriguez's game-tying home run leading off the bottom of the sixth.

Darren O'Day retired the two batters he faced and Zach Britton notched his 31st save with a perfect ninth. The Orioles had their fifth win in the last 19 games and improved to 19-24 in one-run games.

Davis on what he knew about Shreve: "Not a lot. I don't know if I faced him earlier in the year or not. I know he's had some success this year. We went over him in the hitters meeting, but some guys will pitch you differently than they pitch everybody else. Some guys will kind of stay true to the reports. Just go out there and try to look for a good pitch. I think it was big for me to get in a hitter's count in that situation and just look for something I can drive."

Davis on importance of winning a close game: "It was big. I thought Kevin threw the ball well. He gave us a chance and that's all you can really ask for out of your starter. And obviously the bullpen was big for us. But I just thought we did a good job of hanging in there. This is a good team, obviously, and we did a great job of minimizing our mistakes tonight and trying to take advantage of the opportunities that we had to score."

Davis on his success versus left-handers: "It's good. Coming up with the Rangers, I felt like I always hit the ball well against left-handers in the minor leagues. Obviously, the big leagues are a little bit different story. But over the past few years, I've just made little adjustments here and there and I tried to do everything I can to not overswing or go up there and look for a certain pitch. Just try to see the ball and hit it and it's worked out for me."

Manager Buck Showalter on Davis: "He's been solid in a time of need. He's been able to dial up some things that we need. It's hard to do because they all know what he's capable of. It's kind of like when you see a pitcher like (Masahiro) Tanaka go out there you know exactly what he's going to do. He's going to throw about 30 percent fastballs and he's going to pitch a lot of splits and cutters, and he still does it. That's why guys are quality major league players, because they do it when (other teams) know what they're capable of."

Showalter on Gausman: "He had a 3-2 pitch to (Brian) McCann that cost him about 15 pitches. I don't know if it was laborious, but that team makes you labor. There's a lot of power throughout the lineup and you're trying to be careful. And that's part of the process we talk about. Hopefully, that kind of stuff will start coming down some. But Kevin's the kind of guy, he takes everything, whether it's a two-inning outing or a seven-inning outing, he takes it in and he digests it and you know he's going to learn from things as he goes forward. And he's going to be a good pitcher for us."

Showalter on importance of winning tight game: "Not important, but we've played a lot of these games and there's such a fine line between a W and an L at this level, with some exceptions, obviously. It's a good reminder of how good they've been in close games throughout the last three years or four years or whatever it is. I think there's a confidence there, too, when you get a guy like J.J. (Hardy) back. You're able to start putting a reminder of the team that you normally have on the field - Matt (Wieters) comes back - there's a little more sense of a lack of anxiety because there's some track record there in those types of games."

Showalter on bullpen: "Just a reminder what Mac did for us last year and did for us this year when he's here. When you face a team like the Yankees, he matches up well for the most part. If you look at his numbers in this ballpark and teams in the division, it's been nice to have him back."

Gausman on Davis: "He's a freak. He just continues to do those type of things. Seems like every time we need a big hit, he's coming up to bat that inning and he's doing it. He's an awesome guy, too. Just all-around great, great to be around."

Gausman on high pitch count: "Think I threw 30-something pitches in the first inning. Didn't really get hit hard, but had some ground balls that got through. When you get in situations like that, not really much you can do. Just try to get out of it, try to go scoreless when you can. Any game you try to go seven innings, especially as a starter. I just wasn't able to do that overall."

Gausman on overall performance: "I was a little sporadic early on, but made some good pitches when I needed to. Especially with guys on base. They were pretty tough. They didn't really hit the ball too hard but it seemed like they had guys on base every inning. Guys on second with two outs. Kind of tough situations, but I felt like as the game went on my command got better and I got a better feel for what I wanted to do."

Gausman on home run to Rodriguez: "Obviously, he's a veteran guy. Been around a long time. I think he was looking for that pitch and I threw it not enough inside. Just gave him a little bit too much of a strike."