Showalter and Tillman on tonight's challenges and a 3-2 win

Everyone was in agreement that plate umpire Dan Bellino presented an assortment of unwanted challenges for the Orioles in tonight's game against the Blue Jays. All they could do was push ahead and try to focus on winning their fourth series.

They did it, disposing of the Blue Jays 3-2 before an announced crowd of 17,644 at Camden Yards.

Chris Tillman had a bad first inning. Bellino had a bad game, punctuated by an ejection of catcher Matt Wieters for arguing a strikeout that ended the fifth inning and his night.

Tillman recovered from both, holding the Blue Jays - his biggest tormenters - to two runs over six innings. He allowed both runs and threw 38 pitches in the first.

"It was a good way to finish up," Tillman said. "The first inning was a little rough. First hitter, ground ball. The second hitter I made the pitch I wanted to make and he actually made a really good swing on it. The rest of the inning wasn't good, but we were able to bounce back and navigate our way through the game."

What changed besides Bellino's strike zone with every pitch?

"Nothing really," Tillman said. "I think I just continued to make my pitches. Didn't go our way in the first inning, but that's what happens when you're not throwing strikes. I think I had two walks, a hit batter and a base hit or two and it kind of snowballed there. But like I said, we were able to get back on the horse and navigate our way through the game."

Tillman said he didn't attempt to adjust to the strike zone and change the way he'd normally approach hitters.

"I try not to," he said. "I've seen it so many times where there's nothing you can do. You can only control what you can, or worry about what you can control. Once the ball leaves your hand, you're done except for if you're backing up a base, which hopefully isn't the case. But you try to stay out of that stuff and let the catcher and the coaching staff do their job."

Tillman also didn't let a bad inning influence his emotions.

"Not really," he said. "Every time I throw a pitch I have the same mentality. I'm trying to make a good quality pitch. I've struggled in the first inning throughout my career, I think. Being able to bounce back like that is a big part of it, a big part of my success in the past."

Tillman walked Justin Smoak with the bases loaded, two outs and the count full to plate the second run. One of many calls from Bellino that were disputed.

"He pitched six innings," said manager Buck Showalter. "You can say, boy, there might have been a better outing there but that's why you like Chris. We've had a lot of guys that have had trouble so far - I hope we can solve that - with the first inning and pitch counts and everything, but they minimize the damage.

"It shouldn't be forgotten. That game could have gotten away from us early. In the bottom of the first, I thought that was a big inning for us until we got ball four called a strike. Obviously a tough night, a real frustrating night for me.

"Wally (Dave Wallace) was not here. You have to be careful about the ejection. That was a challenge. It was a frustrating game to manage."

Wieters was tossed for the second time in his career as he began his walk back to the dugout.

"It was about something he said," Showalter said. "That usually gets you ejected. Our point is (Jose) Bautista had two obvious check-swing strikes last night that weren't called. I think, basically, if you ask for help there and he bangs him at third base with the third place umpire, you can semi-live with it. Replays probably didn't go. There's so much inconsistency on that play, and rightfully so. It's hard.

"A lot of guys, there's certain types of check swings that don't get called and it depends on who the umpire is. I wish that there was some way that we could have a quick, flash replay, where you can yes or no or go somewhere else. That's the one that consistently is inconsistent. I think there's a lot of frustration built over the game by the strike zone. I think that was an accumulation over that, too."

A new catcher didn't become a distraction for Tillman. Caleb Joseph picked up where Wieters left off and contributed a single.

"It's tough all of the sudden to have a new guy behind the plate calling pitches, but thankfully Caleb and I've worked together so many times and he came right in and got right in the mix," Tillman said. "A good mix of pitches there from him. He called some pitches I hadn't thrown all game and it was good to see."

The bullpen took care of the rest after Tillman threw his 105th and final pitch. Dylan Bundy, Darren O'Day and Zach Britton combined for three scoreless and hitless innings, with one walk and five strikeouts.

"I wasn't going to use (Mychal) Givens or (Brad) Brach tonight and I knew that Dylan early on had shown the potential to be a piece for us down there," Showalter said.

"To step back and see him contribute to a major league win is pretty special to watch. All the trials he's been through and false expectations just because of a number next to somebody's name. That was pretty good to watch. It's been fun to watch. First time I used him back-to-back. Darren had a big outing, as did Zach."

Bundy fanned Kevin Pillar for his first major league strikeout.

"Really?" Showalter said. "Well, it won't be the last."

The Orioles took two of three from the defending American League East champions, a big deal no matter the month.

"It's a big series win, yeah. A huge series win," Tillman said. "I think all the way through it was good baseball. Played some pretty close games there throughout the series and to come out on top is huge."

Said Showalter: "Obviously they're going to be competing for the division all year. That's a given. It's the only time you don't have to count on somebody else to beat them. They're very tough to beat. These were three tough, hard-fought games, one-run games all of them. Small margin for error."

The go-ahead run scored in the eighth on Manny Machado's bloop double to right field in front of a sliding Bautista, with Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard motoring around the bases after his one-out single and a passed ball.

"Some people say we got fortunate with the hit, but there's also some things we did to set that inning up, too. (Marco) Estrada, our guys grinded the heck out of him. As many pitches as Tilly threw, he was sitting there about 100 at the same stage of the game. Who knows if we got ball four called, it might have been a different first inning for him, too."

Rickard had three more hits and is batting .350. He's reached base in all 14 games. The Orioles are 6-0 when he scores at least one run, and he was determined tonight in the eighth.

"He has good instincts," Showalter said. "A lot of guys go 90 feet and not 180. A lot of times good baserunners read the body language of the guys converging on the ball. You can usually tell if a guy's got a play on it and when they don't. It's easy to take the safe route out and trot to third and nobody would second-guess that.

"I tell the guys all the time, you feel something, you see it, and you have an instinct about it, trust it. Where I'm going to get a little bit upset is if you don't have those instincts, because you're at this level for a reason. And Joey did that."

Chris Davis drew a career-high four walks, giving him 15 in 14 games. He's the first Oriole with four free passes since Wieters on Oct. 3, 2015 against the Yankees.

Davis has posted a .397 on-base percentage.

"If we can keep this baton passing, it would really bode well for us, something we really stress," Showalter said. "Our guys stress to each other in the spring. Of course, we did try to last year. I think when you add a bat here or there, the challenge will be you get in there, not swinging the bat real well and you want to make it happen with one swing. We had how many walks tonight and a hit by pitch? Six? You can probably add one or two more to that.

"Good? I need to leave before I say something."