Orioles find recipe for first second-half win (with Showalter quotes)

This is how it looks when a starting pitcher is largely effective and the offense perks up at the exact right moment.

This is how a team tumbling out of control finally regains its footing.

Chris Tillman offered up a rare quality start for the Orioles tonight and Seth Smith's home run in the seventh inning broke a tie and sparked a 3-1 victory over the Rangers in the series opener at Camden Yards.

No longer winless in the second half, the Orioles improved to 43-49 overall and 26-19 at home.

The Orioles tied the game 1-1 in the sixth on Jonathan Schoop's sacrifice fly that scored Adam Jones. Smith cleared the center field fence against Andrew Cashner with two outs in the seventh, his 10th homer of the season, and the Orioles tacked on another run on Welington Castillo's double and Rubén Tejada's RBI single.

Richard Bleier worked a scoreless top of the seventh to earn the win and lower his ERA to 1.34. Mychal Givens retired the side in order in the eighth and Brad Brach stranded two runners to notch his 16th save in 20 chances and his first since June 29 in Toronto.

Smith has seven hits, including two home runs, in his last four starts.

The Orioles never led while being swept by the Cubs in a three-game series. It took until the seventh inning tonight to end the streak.

Tillman, on the mound for the first time since June 30, matched his season high with six innings while holding the Rangers to one run and two hits. He hadn't completed the sixth inning since June 4 against the Red Sox, and he also went six on May 19 against the Blue Jays.

Tonight marked his third quality start in 12 outings. He remains tied with Sidney Ponson for 12th place on the club's all-time win list with 73.

Tillman tossed a scoreless first inning, issuing a two-out, four-pitch walk to Nomar Mazara and getting away unscathed. It was a significant achievement considering that he came into the game with a 12.27 ERA in the first, with an inning-high 20 hits, 10 walks and five home runs. Opponents were batting .408/.508/.755.

Tillman's career 5.46 ERA in the first was the highest for any inning.

A two-out walk to Drew Robinson in the second inning was more problematic. Jonathan Lucroy followed with an RBI double - he was thrown out going for the triple - and the Rangers had a 1-0 lead.

Tillman also issued a two-out walk to Shin-Soo Choo in the fifth, but Elvis Andrus grounded out to Manny Machado.

The offense seemed to be in a hurry, like it had a bus to catch. Double plays wrecked scoring opportunities in the third and fourth innings after leadoff singles by Castillo and Machado.

Trey Mancini singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Smith struck out and Castillo bounced out.

Cashner's pitch count stood at only 57, compared to Tillman's 84 through the fifth.

Tillman needed only 11 pitches to retire the side in order in the sixth, his first clean inning, and the Orioles finally broke through in the bottom half on Schoop's fly ball that followed a one-out walk to Jones and Machado's single.

A lead finally came to the Orioles in the seventh. They scored three runs or fewer in their 46th game, but it ended in a much-needed victory.

Manager Buck Showalter on Tillman: "I'm sure he's a little disappointed with four walks. Think we had six or seven guys we let on base that didn't earn it. But velocity was good. Think he had more pitches working for him in the repertoire, a sharper slider. Obviously, had a lot of rest.

"That's tough, managing that. Almost took him out after five, really wanted to come out with some positive feelings about it. We were going to go hitter to hitter in the sixth. You don't go normal with him after that much time off. But hopefully he and the rest of the staff can build on that. That's the type of outing we are going to need."

On whether Tillman can build on this outing: "That would be the cliché. Houston will have something to say about that. It's better than the alternative. I got it. But we'll see. The other team will tell you how much it matters."

On whether this game was a reminder of the importance of quality starts: "A reminder to who? We know that. We talk about it every day in the locker room. It's not just one thing. The bullpen has to do some things. Richard [Bleier] very quietly has been doing some things for us and setting up some match ups that are more in our favor behind him. So there's a lot of pieces, but we know that's been a challenge for us comparatively speaking to the rest of the league and we know that's got to get better."

On the offense coming to life: "Cashner came in as a real hot pitcher, he was coming off a real good outing. We've been facing a lot of good pitching, I'll tell you that. But we did last year and the year before and the year before. It's the big leagues. These are good pitchers up here and we needed a quality outing to beat him.

"He was solid. We knew what he was going to do. It was one of those things, he did exactly what we thought he was going to do in the advance meeting. You pitch as well as he pitched last time out, you're going to follow that same M.O."

On Bleier: "We've been able to put him in good situations. The thing about Rocky is that he's able to defend himself against right-hand hitters. I think he's found a good role where he can be stretched out. He's got good recuperative skills. That was good to see."

On using Brach instead of Britton: "At some point Zach's going to get more into that mix, obviously. If Brad hadn't had two days off and hadn't pitched just once since the break ... Brad needed to get back out there. He was strong, almost too strong. I came into the game hoping this would be a good opportunity to pitch him back-to-back with the long layover from the day game to the night game. He's done that down below. It's not like he's never done it. But Zach is close to doing what he's done for us in the past."