Orioles claim another series opener with 7-3 win (with quotes)

The Orioles have become masters at winning the first game of a series. Now, they need to be strong finishers.

Don't put your foot on a team's throat and then help it up.

Adam Jones homered twice tonight and tied his career high with four hits, Jonathan Schoop provided a cushion with a three-run shot, Wade Miley registered his second quality start in his last 15 outings and the Orioles defeated the Athletics 7-3 before an announced crowd of 16,020 at Camden Yards.

Miley held the Athletics to two runs in six-plus innings and Welington Castillo homered in the eighth to provide a little insurance, as the Orioles improved to 61-64 to avoid falling five games below .500 for the first time since July 29. No starter had gone more than 5 1/3 innings in the last five games.

Zach Britton notched his 11th save and his first since Aug. 10 by stranding two runners with two outs in the ninth.

The Orioles won the first game in Anaheim and lost the next two, won the first game in Oakland and split the four-game series, won the first game in Seattle and lost the next two and won the first game against the Angels at Camden Yards and lost the next two.

Don't bury your opponent and then pay for the dry cleaning.

Ubaldo Jiménez takes the mound tomorrow with a chance to give the Orioles their first series win since July 31-Aug. 2 against the Royals. Or Dylan Bundy can accept the responsibility Wednesday afternoon.

Jones led off the fourth inning with a home run to break a 1-1 tie, and he followed Schoop's three-run homer off starter Chris Smith in the fifth with a solo shot off reliever Ryan Dull. He also singled twice for his 21st career four-hit game.

The Orioles have gone back-to-back 10 times this season and Schoop's been involved in six. Jones has two multi-homer games this year and 12 in his career.

Schoop leads the club with 27 home runs and 91 RBIs and should be a unanimous choice for Most Valuable Oriole.

Smith has one major league win and it came in relief with the Red Sox in 2008. He fell short again tonight.

Mark Trumbo, batting seventh for the first time with the Orioles, lifted a sacrifice fly in the second inning to tie the game and singled in the fourth.

Seth Smith led off the fifth with a walk from the ninth spot in the order. Manny Machado reached with one out on third baseman Matt Chapman's error and Schoop lined a knuckle-curve into the home bullpen.

The Orioles fell behind 1-0 in the second inning on Chapman's RBI double to right field. Chad Pinder also tried to score and was out at the plate, with Schoop taking Seth Smith's throw, checking second base and appearing to be startled by Pindor's mad dash.

Castillo made a nice lunging tag to get Pindor.

The Athletics loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Rajai Davis grounded to Schoop, who raced to the bag and made the throw to complete the double play.

Jed Lowrie homered off Miley in the sixth to reduce the lead to 6-2.

Miley has allowed two runs or fewer in four of his last five starts. He was done after a leadoff walk in the seventh, and Darren O'Day kept the margin intact with a fly ball and double play.

Boog Powell - the one who doesn't grill during games - hit his first career home run leading off the eighth after Brad Brach replaced O'Day. Matt Olson singled with one out, but Craig Gentry threw him out going for the double.

Britton stopped warming after Castillo's home run, but he was up again after Schoop committed a throwing error to open the ninth and Alec Asher issued a two-out walk.

Note: J.J. Hardy went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts at Triple-A Norfolk.

Manager Buck Showalter on Miley: "Good. He had an extra day or so of rest. Sometimes, when you face a team second time, it's kind of nice to know they know what he's going to feature and still be able to be ... He had a couple of big double play balls. Darren had a big inning for us to keep it going. I was hoping to get Ash, in a perfect world, a little work today. He had five days off, so that worked out OK."

On whether Jones set tone: "Obviously, yeah, to get the lead there. Adam's done that a lot and it never goes unnoticed or unappreciated or assumed, more importantly. Jon obviously had a big blow there, but can't tell you how hard it is, as hard as Adam plays as long as he plays, and then mid-to-late August you're still able to do that. That's one of the things that separates Adam."

On Jones quietly putting up some of his best numbers: "It's very quietly because he's spoiled us with such a high level of intensity every night. He takes on responsibilities. This is a guy who gets a lot of cache because he knows what it takes to play and win and he's been a big part of things, obviously. It may be kind of quietly sneaking up there, but so are a lot of other guys. But when you look at what we depend on Adam to bring, it's remarkable that he's been able to maintain the level of consistency since the club made a commitment to him."

On Schoop: "They had 90 (RBIs) on the board. I thought he had 91, not that I'm watching it. Jon knew the things he had to do to graduate to another level. It's been a lot of fun watching him. You move him up a little bit and then he kind of changes his approach. You knew he wasn't quite ready for it, but he's handled the three-hole really well. He's been fun to watch. He's a guy that is so easy to pull for because he's so serious about the right things."

On where Mancini was hit by pitch: "I'm not sure. It made a sound where I was hoping it wasn't somewhere else. I'm not sure if he's equipped that way when he's in the outfield. Some of us wear that equipment all of the time. But I think that it hit him in the bread basket. That's the way it was explained to me. From the sound of it, I didn't know if it hit the belt buckle. It was a different sound. He seems to be OK."