Orioles fight back for 13-11 13-inning win over Tigers (updated)

DETROIT - The Orioles can't seem to avoid testing the resiliency of their short bullpen. Even if it means running out of arms.

Wade Miley became the latest starter tonight who didn't work into the late innings, coming out after failing to retire a batter in the sixth, and the bullpen fumbled two more leads. A game stretched to 13 innings before the Tigers convinced everyone that they, indeed, have the worst bullpen in baseball.

Chris Davis hit his second home run of the night, a two-run shot off Francisco Rodriguez, and Richard Bleier made it through the bottom half unscathed to give the Orioles a crazy 13-11 win at Comerica Park.

Bleier earned his first major league win as the last available reliever. He worked two innings Sunday afternoon in Kansas City and stranded a runner in the 13th tonight.

Davis has 18 career multi-homer games, the latest allowing the Orioles to end their losing streak at four games and improve to 23-14 overall and 6-1 in extras. He's hit four home runs in his last three games, and his shot in the 13th inning was his first this season with a runner on base.

Donnie Hart gave up three runs in the bottom of the 12th after the Orioles grabbed an 11-8 lead, with Davis hitting a leadoff home run off Blaine Hardy. But Mark Trumbo led off the 13th with a double and Davis launched a pitch deep into the seats in right field.

The Orioles were ahead 7-4 in the seventh before three walks and a grand slam threatened to ruin another night.

Mychal Givens was responsible for the walks after he stranded two runners in the previous inning. Brad Brach replaced him and J.D. Martinez homered for the second time tonight to give the Tigers an 8-7 lead.

Brach stood with his hands on his hips as the bases emptied. He caught the new baseball with his bare hand, swiping at it angrily.

His first appearance since Wednesday's blown save in D.C. brought no relief.

Trumbo homered to the opposite field off left-hander Justin Wilson with two outs in the top of the ninth to tie the game. Davis connected off Hardy and the Orioles added two unearned runs when Welington Castillo reached on an error, Trey Mancini singled, J.J. Hardy beat out a potential double play ball as Castillo scored and Adam Jones lined an RBI single into left field.

Hart inherited three runners from Alec Asher with two outs in the bottom of the 11th and stranded them, but he surrendered RBI singles to Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila in the 12th.

Darren O'Day had retired the side in order in the eighth with two strikeouts and Asher tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Hart replaced him in the 11th and left the bases loaded by retiring Tyler Collins on a fly ball to right field.

Then it got crazy again.

The Orioles parlayed a home run, three doubles, three singles and a walk into a seven-run third inning. They sent 11 batters to the plate and took a 7-1 lead. But what margin is safe anymore?

Hardy led off with his second homer of the season to tie the score, Jones and Manny Machado had back-to-back doubles, Trumbo reached on an infield hit, Davis followed with an RBI double and Castillo lined a two-run single into left field to end starter Matthew Boyd's night.

Left-hander Chad Bell replaced Boyd and was hit by a Mancini liner that went in the books as an RBI single. Hardy followed with his own shot up the middle that Bell knocked down and turned into a force at second as Castillo scored.

Davis barely missed a home run. Castillo didn't miss a beat after coming off the disabled list, producing three singles in the first five innings.

Miley lasted five innings in his previous start in D.C. and matched that total tonight. Chris Tillman lasted only 4 1/3 innings on Saturday in Kansas City and Kevin Gausman was gone after 3 1/3 innings the following day despite being handed a 5-0 lead.

No wonder this team needs a seventh reliever.

Miley threw 109 pitches tonight in five-plus innings and was charged with four runs and eight hits, with four walks, three strikeouts and two home runs.

Thirty pitches came in the first inning, but being his usual scrappy self, Miley allowed only one run and left the bases loaded after Joey Rickard's diving catch in right-center field. He threw 16 pitches in a scoreless second inning, but a leadoff walk to Miguel Cabrera in the third was followed by Victor Martinez's second home run of the season to cut the Orioles' lead to 7-3.

J. D. Martinez lined an opposite-field home run to right field with one out in the third, Mikie Mahtook doubled and Asher began to warm in the visiting bullpen.

Miley was back in the dugout at 71 pitches after a strikeout and ground ball. He needed only 13 pitches to retire the side in order in the fourth and threw 18 in the fifth while stranding a runner after another two-out walk - his seventh full count of the game.

At this juncture of the game, Miley was at 102 pitches and had retired eight of the last nine batters. But James McCann and Jose Iglesias opened the sixth with back-to-back singles and manager Buck Showalter brought in Givens, who retired Ian Kinsler on a fly ball and got a double play grounder from Nick Castellanos.

Givens walked the first two batters in the seventh, threw a wild pitch and issued another walk - plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth tightening the zone.

Brach threw five straight four-seam fastballs to J.D. Martinez, who drove a 3-1 pitch into the seats in right-center field.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first on Ian Kinsler's leadoff double, Cabrera's one-out single and Martinez's ground ball to first. Davis stepped on the bag, checked Kinsler and failed to take Cabrera diving back into the base.

An apparent double play turned into an RBI grounder.

Much later in the night, leads turned to dust and a six-man bullpen was emptied, but the Orioles wouldn't be denied.

More roster moves are coming. The only question is how many and whether the Orioles wait until Wednesday afternoon.

Update: Jonathan Schoop came out of the game with cramping in his right leg, but it's nothing serious. Gabriel Ynoa will throw a bullpen session on Wednesday to further test his hamstring after throwing on flat ground today and running in the outfield.

Davis on win: "It was a lot of fun at the very end. But those games are taxing. They're definitely a lot more enjoyable when you when them, but that's a tough game to start the series with."

Davis on how he's feeling at plate: "Yeah. I just feel like I'm a little calmer, a little bit more comfortable. I have a tendency early in the year to try to be too aggressive and try to make that feeling appear as opposed to just slowing down and understanding that it's a long season. And I just feel like the past few games, I've been a lot calmer and a lot more comfortable at the plate."

Davis on Trumbo home run and his two shots: "Trum's home run was huge. We were getting down to our final outs. I thought Justin Wilson was throwing the ball really well, so for Mark to hit a home run right there and give us a chance, it was huge. I wasn't trying to do anything special. I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and put the barrel on it.

"Actually, the ball I hit off K-Rod, I was just trying to get a ball in the air to the outfield hopefully to score a run. I'm proud of the way the guys battled and hopefully we'll come back tomorrow and get another win."

Davis on the feeling in dugout as relievers struggle: "I think, as an offense, you just want to go back out there and put some more runs on the board. We understand that we're not going to have lights-out, shutdown bullpen every night. And we know some guys have had to throw back-to-back days and they've had to throw a lot of innings. If we can go out there and score as many runs as possible and kind of give them some breathing room, I think it's beneficial for both sides."

Bleier on how he'll remember craziness attached to first win: "Yeah, definitely. Very excited about the opportunity and taking advantage of it definitely."

Bleier on whether he thought game would come to him: "Honestly, not really. Our bullpen is so good, you just figured they were going to lock it down. Things didn't work out that way unfortunately. I'm glad I was able to pick them up."

Bleier on being the guy tonight: "They've been so good all year. People are going to give up runs and stuff. No one is going to not give up runs. It's just happened to be a couple guys in the same night. I'm just glad I was able to get my job done there."

Showalter on whether he was jumble of emotions: "No, just a good win for the Orioles. It's a grind. That's a really good offensive club over there. Donnie got us out of an inning to get us to the next one. Asher did a great job for us. Darren showed that he was healthy. It just depends on how you want to look at the cup, being full or empty.

"There's a lot of good things. Joey made a lot of good plays in right or we wouldn't be sitting here. We needed to score a lot of runs against a good offensive team. I'm sure they're answering the same questions. Just because we scored two more runs than them. ... and we get a chance to do it again tomorrow."

Showalter on Davis: "You can tell he's got a little different feel with his hands right now. He works hard through it. He's been frustrated. I've said it many times, can you imagine having that power at your fingertips and not be able to get to it every swing? Tonight he put some good swings on it. It doesn't matter whether left- or right-handed when he's doing it and he's in a good spot."

Showalter on running out of relievers: "I had another one. I had another one. Ubaldo (Jiménez) was in the bullpen. We could pitch Dylan (Bundy) on regular rest tomorrow. He got an extra day last time, trying to give him an extra day this time. Everyone knew what was going on. But like I said, there's a lot of good things happening tonight. I dwell on that. I'm not gloom and doom stuff. We scored more runs than they did on a tough game, and we get a chance to do it again tomorrow."

Showalter on roster moves coming: "What makes you think they're not already here? We've got one or two we'll make. I haven't talked to Dan (Duquette) yet. He texted me right after the game."