Jason Garcia on his recent success, Mychal Givens on his Saturday stop at Bowie

On a night when the Orioles bullpen gave up 10 runs, Jason Garcia had a strong outing last night. He retired all five batters he faced Saturday in Kansas City's 14-6 win.

Since he returned to the active roster Aug. 6 from the disabled list, Garcia has been throwing well. He has pitched scoreless outings in eight of 10 appearances with a 2.70 ERA, a .167 average against and with 12 strikeouts to three walks in 13 1/3 innings.

What's been the key recently for the 22-year-old right-hander?

"Just trusting my stuff, honestly," Garcia said. "Just been kind of taking the work that I've been doing all year, even from Bowie and Sarasota and figuring out how to put it all together.

"Just taking it a day at a time. Trying not to overwhelm myself with a lot of things. Just every day, I come here and try to get better. Even if it is one small thing, just get better at something."

Garcia spent some time on the DL with right shoulder tendinitis. But now his mid-90s velocity is back and he feels like his slider and changeup have made solid improvements during this season. He will pitch in the Arizona Fall League that starts next month to add some innings and continue to work on his pitches.

Now that he has just about made it to the end of his Rule 5 season, Garcia knows that barring a trade, he will be in this organization again next season.

"I really like it here," Garcia said. "It's a great organization with a great coaching staff. Even down in the minor leagues, we've got a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches. I'm looking forward to the next couple of years. Hope to stay in black and orange for a long time."

Two lockers down from Garcia in the Orioles clubhouse is right-handed reliever Mychal Givens. Givens spent most of this year pitching for Double-A Bowie. When the O's game ended last night, Givens drove near Prince George's Stadium, saw the lights still on and went in to watch the end of Bowie's win over Altoona. It was a victory that gave Bowie its first playoff series win and sends the Baysox to the Eastern League championship series.

"I went over there to congratulate the team on all the accomplishments and (manager) Gary (Kendall) especially," Givens said. "Having the year we had there was great. The guys were fired up and they were happy to see me. I told them to take that next series and try to win it all. It was a great accomplishment for Gary to be the first manager to win a playoff series at Bowie. The accomplishments they've had there this year say a lot for this organization."