When the game was over, Adam Jones was more interested that the Orioles got the win than any personal milestones, but he did hit his 30th homer tonight to drive in his 100th run.
Jones became the seventh Oriole to reach the 30-homer mark in back-to-back seasons and first outfielder since Frank Robinson hit 49 in 1966 and 30 a year later. He also reached 100 RBIs for the first time.
"Cool feat," Jones said. "You play the game for team success but individual success comes with that. That is a testament to the guys ahead of me. (Manny) Machado, CD (Chris Davis), (Nick) Markakis and (Nate) McLouth who were getting on in front of me. I share it with my team.
"The 30 home run aspect is more of me but the 100 RBIs, that is a testament to the guys getting on base and trying to score every time the ball is put in play."
Coming off a 3-6 road trip, to say the least the Orioles needed this victory.
"We need wins. That is all it's about at this point. It doesn't matter how it comes. It's September and the only thing that matters is wins," Jones said.
J.J. Hardy was asked about his own home run milestone. He hit his 25th and it made Hardy the fourth active player and ninth since 1901 to record three or more seasons of 25 homers as a shortstop. He joins Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada and Troy Tulowitzki among active players.
"For me, it's not a time to think about the personal stuff," Hardy said. "After the season I might reflect on it, but right now we need to win and if it helps win games, then it's great.
"This was huge tonight. What do we have 23, 24 left? They will all be as big as tonight. We need to get on a streak and this was a good start to this homestand."
Miguel Gonzalez talked about the difference from his last start to tonight. He gave up seven runs over four innings Friday at New York and tonight, just one run and four hits over seven in the win.
"For the most part keeping the ball down and throwing a few more sinkers and my split-finger was a lot better than my other outings and that was important. Things got rushed a little bit in New York and didn't do what I've been doing the whole year.
"It was a long time since I got a win (July 30). Being able to get that ninth win, get my confidence back and go out there and be myself like I had been doing."
Tonight's outing tied his longest of the second half and Gonzalez entered with an ERA of 5.77 since the All-Star break.
"That win was important for us. Every win is big. I'm happy we got those three runs. Jonesy, (Brian) Roberts and J.J. That was important for me and also that third inning (getting out of a jam). I told myself to try and not do too much there. It was fun to get that double play. You just have to trust your stuff," Gonzalez said.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.masnsports.com/