Showalter on a 5-4 10-inning win

Orioles manager Buck Showalter joked that he had a choice of talking to first baseman Chris Davis or meeting with reporters following tonight's 5-4, 10-inning win over the Astros. He chose the scribes.

Davis, back from his rehab game at Double-A Bowie, would have to wait a few minutes.

The Orioles will wait until Sunday morning to decide whether to activate Davis from the disabled list or have him serve as the designated hitter at Bowie.

"We're not going to make that decision tonight, but I talked to Crow (Terry Crowley) during the rain delay," Showalter said. "He was over there as one of the things he does for us and I talked to Terry about what he thought tonight. And I want to hear what Chris has to say."

Showalter had plenty to absorb at Camden Yards, where the Orioles rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and won it in the 10th on Steve Clevenger's RBI double that scored J.J. Hardy from first base.

"I think everybody was real frustrated there to be so close in the ninth," Showalter said. "Their guy (Collin) McHugh is impressive. You can see why. Their starting pitching has been pretty good the whole year. The guy who's pitching tomorrow (Jarred Cosart), you're going to really like. He's fourth in the league in batting average against. He's really good. So is McHugh. But I thought Adam (Jones) kind of got us off the schneid there.

"There are a lot of things to look back on. David Lough making the play there, would have been another run there. Jonesy made a great throw to the plate on the two-out base hit that kind of gets passed by. Those are the little things you look back. Even though the guy beat it, a great throw. J.J., we let go on a wet field, trying to protect his hamstring a little bit. And I thought Miggy (Miguel Gonzalez) was solid."

Gonzalez allowed two runs in seven innings for the rotation's 12th quality start.

"He's had some good ones. Tonight was one of them," Showalter said. "And pitchers, they see how good the other guy is pitching. He knows there's not going to be much margin for error there."

Tommy Hunter couldn't close it out in the ninth, allowing two runs and three hits for his second blown save.

Asked whether he's concerned about Hunter, Showalter replied, "What we've got to do is try to do a better job of not creating so many save situations. It happened last year and it's something we'd like to get better at. But you're one pitch away from closing out a good game. Our guy came back. They picked each other up. Stevie obviously had a big hit, J.J., Nicky in the middle of that inning. A lot of things to be proud of. Been a long day."

Delmon Young delivered the tying run in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out infield hit after Showalter sent him up to bat for Lough. The Astros had right-hander Anthony Bass on the mound, but Showalter went against conventional thinking and removed the left-handed hitter.

"If the guy had a little different repertoire, I probably would have stayed with David, but he's a hard sinker guy. Everything's pretty hard," Showalter said. "Not that I don't think David can get that done, but I like that matchup. He chopped a ball up the middle. We thought he (Jonathan Villar) was going to spin and throw to third on the wide turn or Nicky might have scored on it. But Delmon did a great job in the offseason. He worked so hard with his body and he ran so well in the spring and tonight he and we got a return for it."