Showalter on Kim's injury and a 4-2 win

The Orioles go into the All-Star break with a 51-36 record, a two-game lead in the American League East and the hope that outfielder Hyun Soo Kim's right hamstring strain isn't serious.

Kim sustained the injury about halfway up the first base line as he grounded out in the bottom of the first inning. Joey Rickard replaced him in left field.

"Strained right hamstring and we'll see," said manager Buck Showalter following a 4-2 win over the Angels before 32,963 at Camden Yards. "Through the interpreter (Danny Lee) he was talking that he did this the last two days before the All-Star break in Korea. Said a couple days later he was fine, so we'll see.

"I said the morale of that story is don't play him the day before the All-Star break. I wish I had known about it.

"He's got 4 ½ days. We'll see. It's kind of good he's had some history with it, so he has an idea, but we'll see."

Showalter assumed that Kim hurt the hamstring going to first base. Head athletic trainer Richie Bancells told Showalter that something was wrong.

"I'm trying to find out," Showalter said. "He was halfway down the line. I thought, initially, usually those things happen coming out of the box early in the game when there's some moisture in the dirt, but I think he was halfway down the line.

"I was actually looking at the play at second. Richie's the one who had to tell me. I didn't even know because in today's game, you're looking at the legality of slides because you've got to be on top of it."

Chris Tillman improved to 12-2 with a 3.41 ERA in 19 starts. He's posted 11 quality starts and is now 8-0 with a 3.23 ERA in 12 home outings.

"Good, good," Showalter said. "What did he end up with, five walks? They were all early and after that ... I think he was running a little bit on empty at the end and it's fortunate we made some good defensive plays behind him.

"I know he doesn't like the five walks. I was surprised his pitch count was as low as it was with the five walks, but Chris is 12-2 now? Pretty good. What have you done for me lately? Duplicate it.

"It's been fun to watch him just mature and become the professional that he is. It's been fun to watch. It's also been fun to have him on our side."

Showalter was asked if he's more impressed by Tillman's 12 wins or being 10 games above .500.

"I have to think about it," Showalter replied. "Probably neither surprises me. Not with Chris. He's been pitching that well. If he didn't have a couple hiccups there he'd have been flying out to San Diego, too. I'm kind of glad he isn't. We're going to give him an extra day coming out of the break. He and Yovani (Gallardo) and also (Kevin) Gausman. We've got 75 games left. Gausman will pitch the first game in New York (on July 18).

"I know there's one thing Chris wants to really go to and that's the last game of the World Series. That's what he's interested in."

Zach Britton recorded his 27th save and the 100th of his career. He's tied Stu Miller for fourth place on the club's all-time list.

Britton lowered his ERA to 0.72 in 37 2/3 innings. Brad Brach gave up an unearned run in the eighth following Mark Trumbo's two-base error, and lowered his ERA to 0.91 in 49 1/3 innings.

"Not only resiliency, but they just don't ... somebody gets a hit off them, a swinging bunt or walks a guy, OK next guy, let's go," Showalter said. "There's a real professional competitive approach about it. I talk to pitchers all the time about your presentation to hitters and they present a very confident front to guys. It's been fun to watch guys like Brad and Zach and Jonathan and Manny. You see them kind of take their experiences and play up to their abilities."

The Orioles optioned reliever Jason Garcia to Double-A Bowie after the game. He spent two days with the club and didn't get a chance to pitch.

Chris Davis' two-run homer in the fourth inning gave him 183 to surpass Ken Singleton for eighth place on the Orioles' all-time list. Brady Anderson is seventh with 209.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy hit his first home run since April 12 in Boston. He needs three more for 100 as an Oriole.

Hardy is batting .407/.429/.667 (11-for-27) during his seven-game hitting streak.

Jonathan Schoop extended his hitting streak to nine games. He's batting .351/.400/.486 (13-for-37) in that span. He's hitting .414/.457/.655 with nine doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and 23 runs scored in his last 21 games.

Pedro Alvarez tied his season high with three hits today. He's batting .340/.370/.620 (17-for-50) in his last 14 games, with two doubles, four home runs, 10 RBIs and 10 runs scored.

Trumbo is batting .345/.397/.759 (20-for-58) in his last 14 games, with three doubles, seven home runs, 16 RBIs, five walks and 14 runs scored.

Adam Jones is batting .308/.341/.436 (12-for-39) in his last eight games, with a double, home run, three RBIs and five runs scored. He's hitting .341/.381/.516 (31-for-91) in his last 20 games.

Here's more from Showalter:

On the first half:
"We're just trying to do everything to make sure we're as good as we're capable of being. You want to seek your level. I just talked to them before we split up for four days. Make good decisions the next four days. Remember the pact we made with each other when we left Sarasota. Nobody's counting, bring what you bring.

"Our guys don't dwell on conventionality. This has got to be done on the team to do this, you've got to walk 80 times to do this. Starters have to go 7 innings every night. Who says you do? We don't always follow a script. There are some constants we want to do if we want to get where we want to go.

"We've got another level. We always think we've got another level. Help is right here in this group. We're not coveting other people's players. They don't want to hear me talk about what somebody is doing in Norfolk or Bowie. They don't want to hear about some guy that we're interested (in). I don't want them to hear the manager talk about that. Every answer we need to have is in here.

"It's obvious what's ahead of us. A lot of challenges. But we have a chance to play meaningful games every day. They were in April, OK? So, they've earned that and they want it. They want to be in that cooker. That's the difference between them and a lot of people. They want to play. They want to be in the arena, not watching outside in. Everybody would like to be in it, but they don't have the ability that they have. They want that. Have to cross a lot of roads to get there, though. A lot of roads."

On being 33-14 at home, but only 18-22 on the road:
"Somebody said it's akin to it's always something. If we win more games than anybody in our division, whether it's home or away ... It's hard to win on the road. The American League East is tough.

"I'm glad Toronto and all our teams are still engaged. They're going to play each other a lot. It's not going to be just us that's going to have to beat people in our division. It's always going to be something. There's never been a perfect team or a perfect season or any team that thinks they have had one at the end of the year."