Looking back at the biggest win of the year

For the Orioles, that was one important win.

In baseball, we don't often see teams go on a tear after a big win because the opposing pitcher has something to say about that. So we will see if this game has any carryover effect.

But last night's result for the Orioles sure beats seeing a losing streak stretch to six games and falling to four games under .500. They were not four under at any point last year. They would have been this morning, except they scored twice in the last of the 10th to beat Boston 5-4.

David Lough ended the game with a walk-off homer off Koji Uehara, but Jimmy Paredes had the best game of any Oriole at the plate.

He had a career-high four hits and homered for the second night in a row. In this series, Paredes is 5-for-10 with a double, two homers, three runs and four RBIs.

Adam Jones was asked about Paredes.

"Man, he is doing a really good job right now of just getting good pitches to hit. I think that is the biggest thing," Jones said. "He is getting good pitches to hit and just trying to put a solid swing on it.

"He swings hard, which is lovely to see hitting right in front of me. I love it. He's just putting together some really good at-bats. If you look at it, he's laying off close pitches and just getting a good pitch and not missing them right now."

In seven games this year, Paredes is batting .400 with three doubles, three homers and six RBIs. He is slugging .800 with an OPS of 1.219.

Lough has had a tough few weeks. He ended spring training on the disabled list with a left hamstring strain and was activated April 13. He was 1-for-8 this season until he hit the first walk-off homer of his career.

"Yeah, I mean, it's a grind," Lough said. "There are ups and downs. You are going to be a low end and a high end. It's about just keep pushing through. I'm out there every day doing early work, out there trying to work on my game to be a better player. I think we know how to take adversity. This was a good team win tonight."

This was the Orioles' first extra-inning game of the season, while the Red Sox played their second after winning a 19-inning game on April 10 at New York. The Orioles went 14-6 in extra-inning games last year and 8-4 at home.

Wei-Yin Chen gave the Orioles just their fifth quality start last night - and longest outing of the year - when he went eight innings, allowing four hits and two runs. During the five-game losing streak, O's starters had pitched to an ERA of 9.82, so Chen's outing was much needed last night. It ended a run of nine consecutive games without a quality start since Miguel Gonzalez gave up one run over seven innings April 14 against New York.

It was big for the Orioles to pull that one out last night. Now we begin to see if one remarkable comeback has any lasting impact.

On the radio: I'll be on 105.7 The Fan today live from Camden Yards taking listener calls between noon-12:30 p.m. and then hosting "Orioles Baseball Tonight" at 12:30. Hope you can tune in.