Hardy, Tillman and Jones comment after Orioles win over Tampa Bay

For the first time in team history, the Orioles hit back-to-back homers and then added three in a row later in one game tonight. The last time that happened in the majors was June 19, 2012 when Toronto did it at Milwaukee. The Orioles hit five homers tonight in a 9-1 win over Tampa Bay in the opener of an 11-game homestand. "Just one of those things, can't explain it," said J.J. Hardy, who hit one of the five homers. The Orioles scored four runs at Wrigley Field over the weekend and then hit five homers tonight. "Think everyone else was pressing a lot more than we were," Hardy said. "We had three rough games at Wrigley, but honestly we came in today and I don't feel like anyone was even thinking about that. Except everyone else. Everyone else was kind of pressing, but I don't think any players were. "We look at it as going out there and trying to put good at-bats together. We are not worried about who is throwing and tonight we were able to score some runs." The postgame talk was as much about the defensive play Adam Jones made in the sixth inning as the homers. His leaping catch at the center field wall robbed Evan Longoria of a three-run homer and then he threw out Matt Joyce at second base after he had tagged up. It was a spectacular 8-4 double play. "That ranks up there with one of the best, for sure. He got up there and then threw him out at second to show off his arm a little bit. Great all-around play," Hardy said. While throwing praise around, Hardy saved some for Chris Tillman, who gave up three hits and one unearned run over seven innings. "Every fifth day, all our pitchers have been good, but every fifth day when he takes the mound, we feel like we have a great chance to win," Hardy said. Tillman improved to 11-5 with a 3.41 ERA. He needed just 84 pitches to record his 11th start of seven innings or more. "Mechanically, I'm pretty sound and I'm able to repeat my delivery," Tillman said. "That translates into being able to throw all your pitches for strikes and that's important. Plus (Nick) Hundley was right on with every pitch. I have to take my hat off to him. I felt good. It was there for me and we were able to throw pretty much any pitch we wanted to." Tillman has recorded 15 straight starts allowing three earned runs or fewer. He is 6-2 with an ERA of 2.15 in that stretch. He said the key has simply been those consistent mechanics. "It comes back to being confident in my delivery. When you trust your delivery, you are not afraid to throw any pitch in any count," he said. Now about that catch by Jones. "I told him I had a little bit of deja vu," Tillman said. "I swear in 2009, 2010 he probably made three or four like that for me. It's awesome. Typical Adam, not satisfied with the catch. He had to throw someone out, too. "That is why he is in the upper echelon. One of the best center fielders in the game, if not the best." Meanwhile, if you wanted to get Jones tonight to boast about his outstanding defensive play, you were out of luck. "Tillman went out there and gave us the start that we needed," he said when asked about the play. "The offense provided him support and he went out there and threw the hell out of the ball and allowed his defense to work for him. "When your pitcher keeps you in the game, you're alert. Just got to know your awareness, know where you're at, who is on base and what is going on. That is all it is. The pitcher keeps you in the game, things like that can happen." Jones was much more expansive with his comments when asked about the Orioles ending the three-game losing streak tonight. "It's three games. Hip, hip hooray. It's not the end of the world," Jones said. "People around here thinking it's the end of the world because we lose three games. I know we haven't done it since (May), but ... it's three losses. Not the end of the world. People felt our offense was struggling. It's a game, you run into stuff like that. "The strength of this team is the ability to forget. Something happens, move on. That is the strength of this team. "It's a new day. We don't dwell on yesterday in this clubhouse. Like this game. It's over with. Tomorrow is a new day."