Showalter, Jones, Wilson and a 5-1 win

BOSTON - Tyler Wilson consumed innings tonight for the Orioles and the defense behind him offered a sampler platter of defensive excellence.

Nolan Reimold makes a lunging catch in left field and Joey Rickard makes one in right. Chris Davis snares a screaming line drive up the first base line. Paul Janish makes a diving catch to his left to rob another Red Sox batter.

Square up a ball and watch it disappear into the Bermuda Triangle.

Wilson pitched to contact while going a career-high eight innings, and the Orioles took the series and regained sole possession of first place with a 5-1 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Brad Brach worked the ninth, allowing a two-out home run to David Ortiz, and the Orioles improved to 38-27.

Wilson matched his career high with 100 pitches, the last striking out Mookie Betts. The Orioles still don't have a complete game since Miguel Gonzalez's start on Sept. 3, 2015, but they'll take Wilson's performance every single night, especially against this lineup.

"That type of defense seems to be played behind guys that throw the ball over the plate and work quickly," said manager Buck Showalter. "Guys like playing behind him because he attacks. Orel Hershiser told me a long time ago you need one pitch to survive and maybe win, two to win and three to have a chance to have a dominant outing. He was somewhere between two and three.

"He was down today. Those two or three inches at this level are huge. Now, he'll be the first to tell you there were eight or nine balls squared up. Brad needed to pitch tonight. (Wilson) hadn't been eight innings all year and that was his high pitch count. Also, we're trying to develop young pitchers here, too. We've got four or five guys on our pitching staff with less than a year's experience in the big leagues. You try as often as you can to leave on a good note."

Wilson retired 11 in a row before Ortiz doubled to left field with one out in the seventh. Six of his last 12 outs came via strikeouts. In the process, Wilson lowered his ERA from 4.73 to 4.16.

Wilson is the first Orioles pitcher to toss at least eight scoreless innings in Boston since Mike Boddicker on June 30, 1985. He's the first Orioles pitcher with at least eight scoreless against the Red Sox since Bud Norris on June 9, 2014 at Camden Yards.

Showalter predicted earlier that tonight would mark the beginning of a good stretch for Wilson.

"I say that about every pitcher. I do. That's the way you've got to look at it," Showalter said.

"It's the start of something, if you've had a couple bad outings, here's an opportunity. And Tyler's a guy, you give him enough opportunities and he's going to show you why he's been a winning pitcher everywhere he's been in his life."

Don't try to sell Showalter on how winning at Fenway Park against this lineup amps up the confidence level of a young pitcher. He won't worship at the alter of America's Most Beloved Ballpark.

"There's Toronto, New York, Tampa. They don't have a corner on pressure for young pitchers," Showalter said.

"It's tough everywhere. It's not just this place. I know people have a tendency to get caught up in the self-importance of that, but our guys don't look at it that way. It doesn't mean anything the next time out. If you live in that world where this means that's easily going to happen the next time out, Tyler's not one of those guys."

It's nice for Showalter to have the luxury of plucking Reimold, Rickard and Janish off the bench and getting stellar defensive performances. Rickard also had a single, double and walk, Janish singled, walked and lined out, and Reimold singled in his last at-bat.

"I've seen the time that Bobby (Dickerson) and (Wayne) Kirby spent here," Showalter said. "They're here 11, 12 o'clock in the morning, especially the early part of the series, (working) on positioning. There were three outs in the outfield which were pure positioning.

"I see night after night people don't really notice the plays our guys make because they're really good defenders and they're positioned well, and I'd like to find out how many first basemen in this league would score from first base on a ball in the corner in Fenway Park. That's what many people miss how rounded Chris (Davis) is. He takes a lot of pride in playing an all-around game."

Adam Jones is playing at an elite level this month with eight home runs, including four in the last four games. His two-run shot in the third cleared everything above the Green Monster, and he added an RBI double in the fourth.

Jones had little interest in talking about himself afterward.

"I want to give a round of applause to Tyler Wilson," Jones said. "To stifle a lineup like this, he did a really good job throwing strike one. I think today's about him. I don't care about myself. Today's about him. He went out there and in a rubber match of this game, a big series win and threw eight innings, eight strong innings.

"You know, starting pitchers, when they go out there and they pound the zone and they allow our defense to work and our offense to get some rest and to get our turns at-bat ... We have a good, potent offense, so I just give the credit to Wilson today. It's not about me, man. I just go out there and grind it out."

Given another chance to talk about his hot streak, Jones said, "Just grinding man. Part of it. Just life. You grind through life. You don't face adversity, how do you handle adversity? Some people fold and cry, some people take it head on."

The defense was superb, but Wilson made it easier for them with his tempo.

"Very much so," Jones said. "He's ready to go. He gets on that mound, you see there's 30-40 seconds left in that little shot clock we've got in baseball right now. He's just been pounding the zone. That's the best thing to do for a starting pitcher to attack the zone, attack hitters like this, with strike one. That's how you beat them.

"You look at their lineup, you look at their numbers, they're doing damage across the board and for us to come in here and get a big series win, especially with how they've been the last six to eight weeks, it's a true testament of how we've been playing."

It all starts with starting pitching, and Wilson made quite a recovery from two straight sub-par outings.

"Attacking the zone," he said. "I felt like I did a good job of throwing my off-speed stuff for strikes, which I haven't done early in games the last couple times, which didn't really give me a chance to get guys off the fastball, especially the last couple of starts. If they're going to key-hole you to a pitch and you can't throw the other ones for strikes or command them the way that you need to from the first inning on, ballclubs in the AL East are going to make you pay for that. That's what happened the last couple times out.

"It's a combination of just working every day like everybody else is out there, the guys playing great defense and just kind of riding that momentum. When the team's playing well, the defense is playing well and the guys are swinging the bats, it makes it a lot easier for me to just go out there and throw strikes, pitch to contact to get them back in and let them do what they're doing."

Wilson always appreciates the defense behind him. Tonight, he owes everyone a meal.

"Oh man. That was a highlight reel," he said, a big smile on his face. "Those guys played awesome. They play awesome all year long, but when they can put a few plays in succession, it really kind of sparkles a little bit. Guys are diving for foul balls. Paul dove for that ball down the line. He's not going to leave it to chance for the umpire to make the call. He's going after it. Nolan made a great play to start the game and really set the tone. There were plays all around.

"It really emphasizes me to go out and attack hitters, pitch to contact and let those guys play behind me."

It was an important start for the Orioles, of course, but also for a rookie pitcher not promised a succession of starts.

"I think every start is important," he said. "I go out there with the goal to try and give our team a chance to win every time. I haven't done a great job of that the last couple of times out, so everybody's out here working really hard to try and make sure they do their part and fulfill their role because there's an opportunity to do some great things.

"I felt good out there and it's a byproduct of having guys who are all pulling on the same side of the rope out there. Everybody's playing hard no matter what the situation. To come back from the game last night ...

"We had a chance to win that game after going down early. That's the identity, the way that we fight every time out there. It starts with the position players. It starts with the starting pitcher, a combination of everything. I just feel fortunate to be a part of that team win tonight."

Wilson wanted the ninth, but he understood why it wasn't given to him.

"I think every starting pitcher would say that they wanted the ninth inning there, but that's not my decision," he said. "I trust Buck with everything and know that he's putting everybody in the best position to succeed. What better guy to turn it over to? Any number of guys down there in the bullpen. It's an easy decision for me to just sit there and let the bullpen take over the game when they've done as well as they have."

The Orioles hold a one-game lead over the Red Sox, but Showalter isn't buying the idea that it's a two-team race. Not with the Blue Jays lurking and the usual respect for the Yankees and Rays.

"Not at all," he said. "It's a given they're going to be there. It's a given that the other three teams are going to be there. We're just focused on ourselves.

"I know how everybody tries to find out about things before they happen. We're trying to stay in the moment of every game. It's an opportunity to get one game closer to getting a chance to play late in the year. Nobody knows. Everybody's two or three injuries from the whole season changing. You grind it while you can, and you ask your club every three innings how J.J. Hardy's doing. That's where you are."

Showalter was checking with Hardy tonight to gauge whether the shortstop's ready to come off the disabled list after playing nine innings at Double-A Bowie.

Jones is on the same page as Showalter regarding the race.

"It's not about us and them," he said. "I think this division, how good and how deep the pitching is and the offense, we'll see. I always say look at the record after the All-Star break and we'll see. But if you look at the scoreboard, the Rays are only seven games behind us in the win column.

"Like I said, you know how finicky this division is. It can go one extreme to the next. One team can get hot, one team can get cold and especially when you get a cold team playing in the division, the winds seem to change hands a little different. So just grind it out, see where we are Sept. 1. We'll look up and see where we lie. If Camden's packed, we know where we lie. If Camden's not, we know where we lie there, also."