Chris Tillman's first-inning struggles and other notes

CHICAGO - Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman pitches the series finale in Chicago this afternoon. He will try to avoid allowing a first-inning run for the first time since May 19.

He has allowed one or more runs in the first inning of his past four starts. He's allowed 13 runs in the first and over his past four starts, 13 of the 21 runs he has allowed have come in that inning.

If he could just get through the first.

"It's not like he goes out there and says, 'Que sera, sera?' " manager Buck Showalter said. "'This is my inning I'm not very good at.' If you guys know half the stuff that Roger (McDowell) and them do every day, sometimes long before anybody gets here, I don't know if I've ever had a harder working pitching coach or hitting coach than these two guys.

"We try a lot of different things, without saying what the obvious answer could be, which is that you just might not be carrying very good stuff early on. That's the case with a lot of pitchers. He's not the only one. That's why I thought in New York, he started out [well]. I'll tell you what, he had good stuff early on, it just didn't carry through."

In his last start at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Tillman gave up six runs in the opening inning on his way to allowing a career-high nine runs in just 1 1/3 innings.

"We've made a lot of mistakes with location. Almost all of them, you go back through them, it's not something they did as much as some of the pitches we've thrown. Some of that is driven by anxiety," Showalter added.

Buck on Hardy: Captain Obvious said Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy is struggling. He is batting .210/.241/.301 and has driven in just two runs over his last 19 games.

Showalter said Hardy is handling his struggles as best as can be expected.

"He's got a lot of pride," he said. "Trust me, he's not happy. He handles it very professionally, but you don't play the number of years he's played and not have some inner fire about competing. And, I wouldn't count him out.

"He's a guy that seems to always rise to the occasion. He's got a lot of wisdom and experience. He's easy to trust," Showalter said. "It's tough right now. Sometimes you can't get out of your own way. Not where he's concerned, but a lot of our guys."

About last night: Now that they've got one win, can they get two? The Orioles' 10-6 win last night over the White Sox snapped their six-game losing streak and 11-game road losing streak. Does it relieve some pressure from the team?

"I don't think it was pressure, but we're relieved a little bit," second baseman Jonathan Schoop said. "Every time we lose, it doesn't feel good. When you win, it's fun. It's a fun game when you win, and finally, we win. We're going to keep rolling."

Right-hander Dylan Bundy allowed five runs in the first two innings last night and then pitched three more scoreless. It was far from his best outing, but at least he didn't suffer a third-inning knockout and he eventually held Chicago bats at bay so his team could rally.

"He's done that before, where you better get him [early]," Showalter said. "Probably his last inning was his best. He never really got in sync with a release point. You could tell he was a little out of sorts a little bit, but that's why you like to see a guy like him. There's a good feeling when he's out there pitching, because they know he's not going to ever give in. They kind of mirror his effort."

Welington Castillo's grand slam in the fifth inning - the first of his career - turned a 5-4 O's deficit into an 8-5 lead. He's shown some power for the Orioles and hit that slam 439 feet to center field.

"He's had a track record of that for a while," said Showalter. "I've said before, and I admit it, I didn't know how good he was. You always wonder how numbers are going to translate from league to league. He had to learn a lot of new hitters, new pitchers."

The Orioles pinned eight runs in five innings on right-hander Miguel González last night. The former Oriole is 1-8 with a 7.32 ERA his last nine starts.

Trey Mancini went 3-for-4 in the victory, is 6-for-12 in this series and batting .299 for the year. He is 8-for-18 during a five-game hitting streak with a homer and four RBIs. Mancini is batting .579 (11-for-19) with a pair of three-hit games, in five games against the White Sox.

With a 4-2 record against the White Sox for the season and just today's game left between these clubs for this year, the Orioles have won the season series. They are 7-0-2 in the past nine season series versus the White Sox, going 39-25 in that time which dates back to 2009.