Showalter, Tillman and Rickard wrap up a 3-1 win

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter knew that Chris Tillman wanted to stay in tonight's game after issuing a two-out walk to Logan Morrison in the seventh inning. Tillman offered confirmation later, of course. He never wants to come out.

Showalter needed to give relievers Darren O'Day, Brad Brach and Zach Britton some work before a four-game series against the White Sox. Tillman just got in the way.

"He's probably not real happy with the manager right now," Showalter said, smiling, "but I don't blame him."

Tillman lifted the spirits of an entire club with 6 2/3 scoreless innings that included nine strikeouts, tying his career high, in a 3-1 victory over the Rays.

"I always want to stay out there," Tillman said, smiling after being told of Showalter's comment. "We have a couple of guys who haven't thrown for a couple of days, and I get it. I get it. When you're in the moment, of course, I want to be in that game. I never want to come out of the game with runners on base regardless."

Tillman did an outstanding job of mixing his pitches. The slider was especially effective, but it wasn't the only weapon in his holster.

"It was there for me," he said. "I wouldn't say it was my end-all. I think my breaking ball, curveball is a little more important for me right now. It's a pitch I struggled with all last year. It was a pitch I tried to get going all last year. Fortunately, I've been able to get it going this year. I think that's a big pitch for me.

"The slider's been coming along. I have the confidence to throw it, and that's a big part of it.

"I felt good coming in. I kind of had it from the get-go. Being able to carry it over into the game is a big part of it, and we got it going from the get-go. It was good to see."

So was Joey Rickard's three-run homer that broke a scoreless tie in the fifth and awakened the Orioles from their offensive slumber.

Rickard needed a jolt. He was 2-for-22.

"It's a great feeling," he said. "Just given the fact that our pitching's been doing what they've been doing, it's good to finally put a couple runs on them and give them the lead."

Rickard, the first Orioles rookie with two home runs out of the leadoff spot since Pete Stanicek in 1988, was looking for a pitch down from Rays left-hander Matt Moore. He got it.

"He's got a lot of life on the fastball and I didn't want to get to that changeup again, either, so just something down and stay aggressive," Rickard said.

The Orioles are still learning about Rickard. He showed them a little more tonight.

"I think we can take out the Rule 5 description every time we bring up his name, but he gets great support from the atmosphere these guys create and most important, they don't take it too seriously," Showalter said.

"(Jonathan) Schoop goes, 'You think you have problems?' They don't let him dwell around that. And I think looking around and him realizing, whether it's Adam (Jones) or Chris (Davis) or Trumb (Mark Trumbo), we all have some days and at-bats that aren't perfect, but he's grinding it and I think it's a great example for him to see."

The offense had mustered only one run in the last 30 innings, wasting some fine pitching efforts in the process.

"You always want to score runs for your staff," Rickard said. "They've thrown lights-out. But it's baseball. It happens. Runs aren't that easy to score, so it was nice to get this win tonight."

Tillman made the lead hold up, and he watched O'Day get the final out in the seventh by shattering Steven Souza Jr.'s bat.

"Man, I'm glad (Tillman) was on my team tonight," Rickard said. "That was impressive. It was almost automatic. When a guy's going like that, you're very confident defensively. And he was giving us a chance as an offense to get something going."

"Oh, he was good, really good," Showalter said. "He's been good most of the year, ever since spring training. He had a really good offseason. He was crisp, carrying a lot of pitches that Matt (Wieters) and he could use and really had a good rock back and forth with some different speeds and different looks and angles.

"He was good. He was the difference in the game. And as good as Moore was, he had to be good. But we've got some guys who can pitch, too.

"Today, he stayed in his delivery and today he had the curveball and the slider. It reminded me of the outing he had in Seattle a few years back when he had everything there for him."

Tillman left with his pitch count at 101.

"A lot of it had to do with Darren hadn't pitched in five days. Really needed to get him out there," Showalter said. "The White Sox only have one left-handed hitter on their current roster and I really didn't want to go six days without Darren pitching. He's had some success against Souza, and I knew both he and Zach needed to pitch tonight, so they were going to pitch at some point. It worked out. Tilly could have continued, but he was solid."

Tillman was so good, Evan Longoria went 0-for-3 against him.

"I'm always satisfied anytime I keep that guy in check," Tillman said. "He's got my number. He's got it going, too. Luckily, we came out on top tonight."

It's also fortunate for the Orioles that they've got their next 10 games at home.

"It sure beats playing here or Kansas City, but it's no prerequisite for success," Showalter said. "We've played well there so far and three days later people will be asking about something else, but we're facing one of the hotter teams in the American League again and we'll have to sleep fast, get in about 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and do it again tomorrow.

"It was a typical Earl Weaver game tonight. We'll take it and go home."