Wade Miley reached his magic number of innings again tonight, leaving the game after the fifth. He's done it 10 times in 23 starts. It's a wall of sorts that can have good or bad on the other side.
Sometimes, there's the improbable.
The pitch count got out of control again, climbing to 30 after the first inning and 113 after the fifth. But Miley retired the last seven batters he faced and settled for the no-decision.
The Orioles gladly took the win, their power and bullpen leading the way.
Adam Jones homered in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game, Welington Castillo homered in the seventh to give the Orioles a lead and Tim Beckham homered in the eighth to give them 10,000 in the regular season in club history, a 5-2 victory over the Tigers turning into a wild celebration before an announced crowd of 33,911 at Camden Yards.
Castillo greeted new reliever Joe Jimenez with his 11th home run of the season, driving a 96 mph fastball to right-center field. Beckham launched a splitter from Edward Mujica for an historic insurance run.
Fans kept cheering for Beckham until he came out for a curtain call, moving to the top step of the dugout, turning toward them and raising both arms.
He keeps raising expectations with 13 hits in 20 at-bats as an Oriole, including three doubles, a triple and three home runs.
The crowd erupted again as Beckham, who's homered in three straight games for the first time in his career, took his position at shortstop following Joey Rickards' RBI double in the eighth that expanded the lead.
Brad Brach retired the side in order in the seventh, came back out for the eighth and struck out two batters before Miguel Cabrera singled and took second on Trey Mancini's error. Zach Britton retired Mikie Mahtook on a comebacker and recorded the four-out save, giving him nine this season and 58 consecutive successful attempts to extend his American League record.
The Orioles can gain a split of the four-game series on Sunday before heading to the West Coast. They're 54-56 overall and 34-23 at home. Tonight's win left them three games back for the second wild card.
Jones drove a Drew VerHagen pitch into the left field seats to give him seven seasons with 20 or more home runs. He also homered off VerHagen last summer in his only at-bat.
The seven seasons in a row is the third-longest streak in club history behind Cal Ripken Jr. (10) and Eddie Murray (nine).
Miley served up a two-run homer to Justin Upton in the first inning. Upton has homered in three straight games for the first time since May 18-20, 2014.
Cabrera drew the first of his three walks, Mahtook singled and pitching coach Roger McDowell visited the mound. And Miley.
Victor Martinez grounded into a double play to finally get Miley back in the dugout.
A two-out walk didn't hurt Miley in the second. Neither did a two-out walk and single in the third. Martinez grounded into a force to begin the streak of seven in a row retired.
Miley also allowed two runs over five innings in his last start Sunday afternoon in Texas. His last quality start was June 1 against the Red Sox.
The Orioles cut the lead to 2-1 in the third inning on doubles by Jones and Jonathan Schoop, whose 80 RBIs tied former teammate Nelson Cruz for the American League lead.
Making his second major league start, VerHagen also lasted five innings and allowed two runs and four hits. He's surrendered four home runs this season in nine innings.
Darren O'Day tossed a scoreless sixth after replacing Miley, striking out two and stranding Cabrera following a leadoff walk. Brach and Britton did the rest, the former throwing 36 pitches and earning the win and the latter appearing for the first time since Monday's non-waiver trade deadline.
The Orioles wish they could get rid of last night's heartbreaking defeat. They'll hold tightly to tonight's comeback and the historical significance behind it.
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