Showalter after win: "They won't dwell on it long"

Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed that Mike Wright will start Monday night against the Royals at Camden Yards.

Showalter used T.J. McFarland out of the bullpen today, and the left-hander earned the win in a 3-1 victory over the Yankees before 28,807 at Camden Yards.

Matt Wieters sat through the first seven innings today. He sat through a 1 hour, 37 minute rain delay. Sent to the plate in the eighth as a pinch-hitter for Ryan Flaherty, he fell behind 0-2 on two Aroldis Chapman 99 mph fastballs and stroked a two-run single into center field on a 101 mph heater.

The Orioles no longer trailed 1-0, and they received a big insurance run when Francisco Pena raced home on Jacoby Ellsbury's throwing error.

Zach Britton recorded his 17th save and the Orioles took the series 2-1 and moved ahead of the Red Sox by percentage points for first place in the American League East.

"A very appropriate game like that on Monica Barlow's birthday. In a lot of ways," Showalter said, another reminder that the former Orioles PR director isn't far from his thoughts, especially on this day.

"Sometimes, you kind of wait 'til the last second to throw something at somebody that's going to be challenging. Actually, I thought about Matt playing first and Chris (Davis) playing third, but then Frankie hasn't caught Zach and we kind of decided to go there. But Matt knew about it and he had a long time to think about it.

"Big at-bat by Francisco. I thought one of the bigger plays of the game was him going first to third on the single to center that set up him scoring that third run that gave us some cushion. I think out of all the games we've played this year, we didn't square a ball up until the seventh or eighth inning. CC Sabathia was really good. We were just fortunate."

Sabathia came out after five innings and 111 pitches - 29 of them thrown to Joey Rickard in three at-bats.

"I think Joey had a lot to do with him being done after five," Showalter said. "He had like close to 30 pitches seen in his at-bats. That's about a third of the pitches he threw today. A little less than that. So sometimes a guy doesn't get a whole bunch of hits, but ...

"Really, can you all think of a ball we hit hard up until when? What's the first one you consider hard? Francisco? But I think Mac's effort shouldn't go unnoticed. Mac was good. And Gaus (Kevin Gausman) was good."

McFarland threw two scoreless innings after Gausman held the Yankees to one run over six innings. He threw 21 pitches in the first inning and was up to 80 by the fourth. He exited at 104.

Is efficiency an area where Gausman needs to show improvement, along with his consistency?

"That's easy for me to say and you to say, but it's not easy," Showalter said. "You've got to do some things. You've got to move the ball in, you've got to move the ball away. They've got two or three players that are going to the Hall of Fame. You just can't sit there. It's tough. It's a tough lineup to go through, especially with (Brian) McCann back out there.

"I would have said that win, lose or draw. A guy gave us six innings of one-run ball. Take that every night, but ... If he wasn't attacking them the way he was, he may not have made it six innings. He can go six innings and give up six runs and have 80 pitches. I'll take that and the finished product."

Perhaps the delay came at an opportune time, with runners on first and second and one out in the eighth. Dellin Betances was finished and Chapman - 9-for-9 in save opportunities - was headed to the mound when the grounds crew began unrolling the tarp.

"It's easy to say after the finish, the way it ended, but I think there was a possibility of that happening regardless," Showalter said. "It's tough. You've got Betances, you've got (Andrew) Miller, you've got him. Sometimes, the guy that wins the game is the guy with a 90 mph good sinker. That's the beauty of baseball. It's not always the biggest, strongest, fastest, most expensive guy."

The Royals come to town next for a three-game series, but the Orioles have a little more time to savor a series win over a division rival. A team that had been 25-0 when leading after the seventh inning.

"Regardless of who it's against, it's in your division," Showalter said. "I was hoping these guys would get home and have dinner with their families and do whatever people still do while it's still daylight. Try to act normal. What I'm saying is it will be forgotten pretty quickly. They should take some pride in the finished product today, but Kansas City, who had a real good year last year, we've got to be ready. They won't dwell on it long.

"We tried real hard here to get to the point where beating certain teams isn't what you make it out to be. You've got to beat them because it's an opportunity and they count. Not because of who they are and how many fans they have in the stands. Our tickets are a lot more affordable."

McFarland earned his first win since Game 2 of an Oct. 3, 2015 doubleheader against the Yankees. Britton extended his scoreless streak to 13 games and 14 1/3 innings, with 15 strikeouts since May 5.

Flaherty had a pinch-hit single and is 6-for-19 in his last seven games.

Wieters is batting .369/.382/.585 (24-for-65) with 16 RBIs in his last 18 games.