Mancini cleaning up, Showalter reflecting (O's down 2-0)

Trey Mancini continues to bat cleanup for the Orioles while Mark Trumbo is on the disabled list and the opponents keep starting left-handers.

Mancini is nestled between Jonathan Schoop and Chris Davis as the Orioles begin their four-game series against the Tigers, who are sending Matthew Boyd to the mound.

With an infield hit and double last night, Mancini raised his season average to .302 with a .351 on-base percentage and .524 slugging percentage. He's collected seven hits in his last 18 at-bats with two doubles and a home run.

In four games batting cleanup, Mancini has gone 5-for-13 with a double, RBI and four runs scored.

The rookie has adapted to major league pitching and playing the outfield. Hitting fourth for the Orioles is just the latest twist.

Mancini ranks second on the club in average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and RBIs (57). He's first in triples (two) and tied for fourth in home runs (17).

"I thought Trey, the last road trip was the first time, not tired, but it's like some of the newness had really been worn off and it was a grind," said manager Buck Showalter. "He's played a lot of outfield and that's a lot of running around. First base is a challenge, too, but it's a lot closer to the dugout.

"He's handled it well. It's like Jon graduated where he can handle that next spot. Trey's capable of hitting in a lot of places in the order. With he and Jon being pretty hot hitters, we'd like to separate them where you didn't have a lull in some places, but kind of where we are with Trum's injury and some other things, it's tough to do that."

Tonight marks the seventh anniversary of Showalter's first game as Orioles manager, a 6-3 win over the Angels at Camden Yards.

Showalter mocked the story angle when asked about it during his pregame session with the media.

"Tell me how that's newsworthy? OK, that's not my job," he said.

"That's a reflective, sitting on a swing somewhere."

Showalter was the third manager in 2010. Juan Samuel replaced Dave Trembley on an interim basis on June 4 and the Orioles were barreling toward their 13th consecutive losing season with a 32-73 record as Showalter entered the dugout, his new team 34 games behind the first-place Yankees.

The Orioles went 34-23 to close out the 2010 season, the second-best record in the American League.

"One of the things that people mistake and I tell guys when they go into a place, they make the mistake of thinking everything there is bad because they've lost X number of games. And that's a mistake," Showalter said.

"There were a lot of good things going on here. I had great timing, the stuff that Andy (MacPhail) and those guys had done. It's like I talk all the time. Show me a good situation and I'll show you some people who took some bullets to get it right before you got there and you've got to be very respectful of that. Many times, John Russell in Pittsburgh or Dave Trembley here and those before him, they went through some tough times to get to the end game. I think it's always important to kind of keep your mouth shut and sit back and take things in and you'll realize where some of the challenges were and figure out what you can do to get better from within and then see what you need outside to come in."

Showalter held a closed-door meeting on his first day, with accountability the primary theme. Right fielder Nick Markakis admitted later that it may have been lacking under the previous regimes.

"I think the biggest thing you had to define is who are you, who are you going to be and how are you going to go about it, and not confuse the fans and the people that care so much about the Orioles," Showalter said. "And not talking about it. Just show them. They get enough talk.

"We live in a show-me world. Talk is OK for a while, but realize that you're not saying anything that a thousand other people have said. But we're better - we better be - than we were then. It was a long time ago, wasn't it?

"I remember walking up that runway, the uniform. And once you get into the sunlight, it's like you're back in that element a little bit. The grass, dirt."

The Orioles made the playoffs as a wild card in 2012, won the division in 2014 and qualified as a wild card again last season. Showalter has won 600 games with the Orioles and his 1,482 career victories place him 24th on the all-time list, moving ahead of Hall of Famer Earl Weaver.

The first win with the Orioles took only 2 hours, 23 minutes to complete. Jeremy Guthrie allowed three runs in seven innings, Mike Gonzalez got the hold and Alfredo Simon struck out the only batter he faced to end it.

Luke Scott doubled and homered. Matt Wieters went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Felix Pie was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Josh Bell drove in his first two runs.

Update: The start of tonight's game was delayed 43 minutes. Chris Tillman allowed home runs to Ian Kinsler and Justin Upton to fall behind 2-0 in the first inning before play was halted due to more rain.

Tillman threw 18 pitches in two-thirds of an inning.

Tillman has surrendered 19 runs in the first inning this season, including seven homers.