Notes and quotes after O's beat the Nats in series opener

The New York Yankees have won six in a row. The Orioles have won five in a row. After the Orioles' win last night over Washington at Camden Yards, the O's and Yankees have MLB's two best records.

At 21-9 (.700), the Yankees lead the American League East by 1/2-game over the Orioles at 21-10 (.677). The Nationals are tied with Houston for MLB's third-best record at 21-11 (.656).

In winning five straight and seven of their last nine games, the Orioles have put some things together on offense and with their pitching.

Their offense has finally started to put up some numbers. For the first time this year they've had three straight games of 10 or more hits. Over their last five games they've scored 28 runs on a team batting average of .328. They hit three homers in the first inning last night and are 9-1 when they hit two or more in a game in 2017.

Meanwhile, the rotation ERA is 3.26 with five quality starts in the past eight games. That includes early exits by Kevin Gausman due to an ejection and Wade Miley when hit by two line drives. Their team ERA is 3.00 over the last nine games.

Gausman's strong outing against the Nationals may have been the best development last night. He was at 105 pitches through six innings and then went back out and completed the seventh at 116 pitches.

"I expected to go back out there," Gausman said of pitching the seventh. "Buck (Showalter) has been a little different this season. He's letting us go. He expects that we can find a way to get through that last inning, so to have that starter mentality, that is what you want. You want your manager to have confidence in you. You have to do your part of it."

This was his second win and the Orioles had lost his previous four starts.

The Orioles welcomed former catcher Matt Wieters back to Camden Yards and it was a really nice welcome, from a video tribute before the bottom of the first to the standing ovation Wieters got before his first at-bat in the third inning. The fans showed Wieters class and respect. His former teammates spoke highly of him.

O's catcher Caleb Joseph went 4-for-4 last night. He and Wieters are close.

"It doesn't feel good to beat him, if that makes any sense," Joseph said. "It feels good for the Orioles to beat the Nationals. There is a chess game going on out there and he has an advantage because he knows our pitchers so well. It is probably more gratifying for me to get him out than for me to get hits.

"We're good friends and we will be for a long, long time. He's such a tremendous dude. I wish nothing but the best to him ... after these next three games."

Trey Mancini added this: "You can tell the level of respect that everybody on this team has for Matt Wieters. Whether it's someone like me that played with him for 16 days or someone else that was with him from the start. Great person, great teammate. I don't know who wouldn't like him, whoever crosses paths with him."

Mancini's two-run homer in the first off Gio Gonzalez capped the O's four-run first off the lefty. Mancini is 10-for-16 (.625) during a five-game hitting streak with two homers and eight RBIs. He has an RBI in six straight games, with nine total in that span.

For the year, Mancini is batting .313/.338/.687 with four doubles, seven homers, 20 RBIs and an OPS of 1.025. Against right-handed pitchers Mancini is batting .417 with an OPS of 1.548 and four homers in 38 at-bats.

Mancini now has hit 10 career home runs in 26 career games. Only George Scott and Gary Sánchez (11 each) had more homers in their first 26 career games.

For now the time may have come for Mancini to play every day. Give him a two- or three-week stretch of regular at-bats and see where it leads. So far American League pitchers can't often stop or contain him. Someone will lose at-bats but Mancini is doing too much right at the moment. So will Showalter start him tonight against Max Scherzer?

The Orioles have outscored their opponents 28-14 during a five-game winning streak. They are 12-3 at home.

The Nats' Ryan Zimmerman went 0-for-4 last night to snap a 13-game hitting streak. During the streak, he hit .491 (26-for-53) with eight homers and 21 RBIs. He began last night batting .435/.475/.907 for the season with 12 doubles, 13 homers and 34 RBIs.

The Nats' Bryce Harper hit his 10th homer of the season when he connected off Darren O'Day in the eighth inning. Harper is just a .247 career hitter versus O's pitchers and that was his second career homer in 89 plate appearances against Baltimore pitchers.

The Orioles continue to do well against the Nationals. They lead the all-time series 37-24 and are 18-7 since 2012. They are 7-1 in the last eight games between the teams.

Thank you to all the @Orioles fans who gave Matt Wieters a warm welcome back to Baltimore.

Put the "O" in standing ovation. #BeltwaySeries pic.twitter.com/3VNet8TLCD

-- Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 9, 2017