Wieters and Showalter on the trade deadline (O's win 5-1)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Catcher Matt Wieters could more easily ignore the non-waiver trade deadline in past years, his importance to the Orioles or his elbow surgery cementing his status in the organization.

A pending free agent on a team that's lost 15 of its last 20 games, Wieters is now more susceptible to having his name linked to various rumors, including talks with the Braves. All he can do is slip back into ignore mode.

"It's definitelly different, but as a player you can't think about it because right now, the way we're playing, we've got to focus on nothing but playing good baseball and winning baseball," Wieters said before tonight's game against the Rays.

"The trade deadline's always a deadline that comes and goes and you wonder what's going to happen, what's not going to happen. Nobody has answers here, but we know we need to play better baseball. So trade deadline or not, we need to go out there and play a little better."

Wieters wants the Orioles to remain intact rather than start selling off pieces for prospects.

"Yeah, we love this club, we still love all the guys in this clubhouse and we're all in it together," he said. "We don't ever want to see anybody go, so we're going to have to continue to play better. The best way to keep everybody together is to play well."

The Orioles could make changes to their roster by bringing up players from the upper levels of their farm system, including Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Dariel Alvarez and first baseman Christian Walker.

"I'm not going to handicap it," said manager Buck Showalter. "We're always looking for ways to get better from within, but I'm talking about within being the 25 people here. I'm not going to start weighing in on ... These guys are capable of doing what we need done and that's the way I'm going to look at it."

Showalter has tired of being asked whether the Orioles are buyers of sellers, mostly because he detests the labels.

"I know that's very cliched when people start talking about buyers and sellers," he said. "It's really disrespectful to the players, I think. Treats them like pieces of meat, like we're moving around carcasses or something. I don't like that term.

"I know that's become stylish for everybody to say, but these are human beings that helped us do some really good things here - and will again - and I'm not going to start throwing them underneath the bus because we haven't done well lately. I'm just not going to get in that world."

Before taking the field for batting practice, center fielder Adam Jones used humor on Twitter to alert fans that the Orioles haven't slipped into panic mode with this tweet.

"I don't think it's time for the live chicken yet though!!!! Continue the grind. #StayHungry"

Showalter appreciates that his players have remained calm in the eye of the storm. It's an approach he's come to expect.

"I like the way they go about it since the first day of spring," he said. "This is a group I'm very proud of. There's so many influences that they get bombarded with every day that don't really know the walk they're walking. I tell them all the time, they hear from me every day, 'Stay together. You guys are the only ones who really know what you're up against.'

"These guys are good over here, too, and those guys we played were good and the guys we're going to play are good. It's just hard to do. That's what makes it so much more gratifying when you can do it, because you know you've taken everybody's best shot every night."

The first six Orioles haven't done anything tonight with Rays starter Erasmo Ramirez. He retired the side in order on seven pitches in the first inning and 11 in the second.

Evan Longoria doubled off Miguel Gonzalez with two outs in the bottom of the first, but James Loney lined to right field. Loney is 4-for-24 lifetime against Gonzalez, but he's batting cleanup tonight.

Update: Chris Davis, another pending free agent who's the subject of trade rumors, hit his fifth career grand slam in the third inning to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead.

The Orioles loaded the bases on singles by J.J. Hardy, Jonathan Schoop and David Lough. Davis ran the count full and unloaded on a 93 mph fastball from Ramirez.

Davis' last slam was Aug. 29, 2014 against the Twins. The Orioles have three this season, the last by Steve Pearce on May 21 against the Mariners.

Davis now leads the club with 22 home runs this season. He also leads in RBIs with 60.

Ramirez has thrown 52 pitches in three innings, including 34 in the third.

Update II: David Lough hit his first triple of the season leading off the eighth, and he raced home on Logan Forsythe's errant relay throw. Orioles 5, Rays 0

Gonzalez has allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 3.93. He's thrown 93 pitches.

Update III: Gonzalez lost his shutout bid with one out in the eighth on Curt Casali's home run. Orioles 5, Rays 1

Gonzalez: 7 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1 home run. He was replaced by Chaz Roe after 107 pitches, one shy of his season high. His ERA is down to 3.99 in 106 innings. It's 0.93 in four starts vs. the Rays.

Update IV: Game over. The Orioles defeat the Rays 5-1 for their sixth win in their last 21 games.

The Orioles are 40-1 when leading after the seventh.

This is the second time in 14 games that the Orioles have scored more than three runs.