Norris on his outing, Young and Pearce on the offense after 18-7 win over Red Sox

After the slow start he has had this year - allowing 20 runs over 10 1/3 innings - today was important for Orioles right-hander Bud Norris.

In the big picture, his outing was probably more significant for the Orioles than their 18-run outburst in an 18-7 win over Boston.

"It feels really good to be honest, just to prove to these guys I'm here to help out," Norris said. "These guys know who I am. We have a good group in this clubhouse. Excited with the year to go, and we're trying to find our stride.

"Just been working really hard. (Ryan) Lavarnway and I had a really good rapport going in. Just wanted to stick with the game plan. Guys made the plays behind me and found some momentum and just kind of kept working with it."

Norris' longest outing among his first three starts was five innings. Today, he pitched six scoreless before giving up Pablo Sandoval's three-run homer in the seventh.

Norris gave up seven hits over 6 2/3 innings and lowered his ERA from 17.42 to 12.18, throwing 107 pitches as he took a big step in the right direction.

"You work so hard all offseason and you work so hard all camp to put yourself in the best shape," Norris said. "Had a couple of rough ones, I wasn't very happy about. To come back here and do it at home and get a series win, excited with that. Want to build on it and keep going."

Was today's blowout win a carry-over from last night's comeback, walk-off win over Boston?

"I think so. Lot of momentum. To have a walk-off win in the tenth last night by D-Lough (David Lough) was great, and (Wei-Yin) Chen pitched real well. Just want to keep this thing going," Norris said.

Delmon Young drove in five runs today, one off his career high, but he didn't necessarily buy the carry-over from last night theory.

"Momentum stops once you go to sleep," he said. "New pitcher, new day. Went from a splitter-junkballer guy to end the game to a lefty starter today. Nothing correlates. Had to go out and play well.

"It always feels good (to have a day like this). About the fifth and sixth inning, we kept the pressure on them. It was one we kind of needed because we've been playing sloppy baseball for about a week or so. Good to get out of the rut. We had been swinging the bats well, just hadn't been playing on the defensive side well. And Bud pitched a strong game."

And Young had an impressive five-RBI day, but, "I'd done it before," he said.

Young was asked about hot-hitting Jimmy Paredes, who added three hits and three RBIs.

"Good. I think every player needs to have zero options left when you go into spring training. Because every player, (Zach) Britton and everyone has been lights-out in their out-of-options year," Young said.

Steve Pearce began today batting .167, and with just three hits in his last 25 at-bats. He went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs.

"Felt good to get a couple of knocks, definitely," Pearce said. "Now want to build on it and carry it over to the next series. This was huge for us. We know we have a good offense that can score runs."