Showalter on Tillman, Trumbo, Davis and a 4-1 win

Much of the winter chatter regarding the Orioles rotation centered on the importance of bounceback seasons from Chris Tillman and Miguel Gonzalez. Few phrases gained more traction.

Gonzo is gone, having been released and now pitching at Triple-A Charlotte. Tillman, meanwhile, has lowered his ERA to 2.81 in 32 innings.

He's got that ace look again.

Tillman turned in his third consecutive quality start tonight, working around lapses in control to hold the Yankees to one run over seven innings in a 4-1 win before 16,083 at Camden Yards.

Tillman and Ubaldo Jimenez are the only Orioles pitchers to complete seven innings this season.

"Since the first day of spring training, it's been - I don't know if 'encouraging' is the word - just kind of a reminder of how good he's capable of being and how good he's been for us," said manager Buck Showalter, whose club improved to 15-10 on another cold night in Baltimore.

"It's not like this guy didn't pitch some good games last year. It's just the level that he has shown us he's capable of. I didn't think he had real good command of his fastball tonight, either, but I thought he and Matt (Wieters) really worked good. And as happens with Chris a lot of times, his best inning might have been his last inning."

Tillman issued four walks, putting the leadoff hitter on base in three innings, but he also struck out the side in the seventh. He's fanned nine batters in back-to-back starts while tying his career high.

"I think he's carrying a little more stuff," Showalter said. "Curveball, slider, changeup, all three were there for him and Matt was aware of it. Sometimes he'll go an inning or two without certain things, like command of the fastball, and then all of sudden it will lock back in.

"It has something to do with the delivery and is also why he's hard to hit sometimes, because he does have a lot of deception in his delivery. But sometimes it gets a little out of whack before he can be his own pitching coach and get back into it."

Tillman has allowed three runs in his last three starts covering 19 2/3 innings.

"I think it's the ability to pitch when he's not carrying certain parts of his game, which is a tribute to him. And it's kind of a common denominator of a lot of good pitchers," Showalter said. "But the crispness of his pitches has been so consistent since early in the spring. Knowing Chris like we do, the evolution of spring training and how it usually works, he came in carrying stuff from the get-go."

Mark Trumbo produced his second multi-homer game of the season and the ninth of his career. He took over the team lead with eight home runs.

Is Trumbo benefitting from being surrounded by good hitters and not having to carry the lineup?

"I think all are sometimes where they don't feel like they've got the weight of the world on their shoulders," Showalter said. "But this is not like his first time in the big leagues. He's got a pretty good track record of what he's doing now in April and now May.

"I think he's a guy, regardless, I could tell about halfway through the spring it was going to be a pretty good fit in a lot of areas other than what he would bring statistically. He seems to really fit in quickly and I felt that way whether he was hitting like he is or not. He's been a real good fit for how we have to do it."

Chris Davis had another outstanding game at first base, including a nice grab of a shot up the line and another stretch to dig a ball out of the dirt. He also fielded a grounder from Carlos Beltran in the fourth inning and made a strong throw to second base to force Brian McCann after a leadoff walk, a difficult play made routine.

"One thing I do want to mention, I was thinking about it during the game, Chris Davis is playing defense at first base like, nobody is playing better than him," Showalter said. "I mean, the plays he's made at first base. He's always worked hard, but there was a real, you know, passion this spring about being a complete player.

"Chris has played first base as good as anybody will want to see it played. If he's not the leading candidate for a Gold Glove, then I'm missing something. There are so many first basemen that can catch the ball and can catch the short hop, but the ability to throw is what separates first basemen. There may be three in each league that are fearless throwers with arm strength and that's a separator Chris. It's important to our guys to be well-rounded and to be able to play other positions."

Darren O'Day recorded his second save tonight and the Orioles are 11-1 when he pitches.

Manny Machado is batting .450/.522/.750 (9-for-20) in his last five games. He's posted four multi-hit games.