Wrapping up a 2-2 tie

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles were being no-hit tonight until Chris Dickerson singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. They were being shut out until Sean Coyle, back over from minor league camp, drilled a two-run homer off Michael Mariot.

A 2-0 deficit became a 2-2 tie, and that's how it ended. The Orioles (10-8-2) sent minor league pitcher Stefan Crichton back out to the mound for the top of the 10th, but the Phillies walked off the field, confusing their opponent, the umpires, fans and the media.

The Orioles signed Coyle, 25, from the Red Sox organization over the winter. The former third-round pick hit 16 home runs at Double-A Portland in 2014, but he's been hurt the past two seasons.

Coyle is 3-for-8 with a double, two home runs, five RBIs and two walks in Grapefruit League games.

"It's been awesome just being over on this side, getting to know these guys and getting to know the big league staff, getting some opportunities and getting in some games and show what I can do," he said. "I worked hard this offseason, so it's really cool to get an opportunity.

"It's still early yet, but I put a lot of work in and this is probably the best I've felt physically in my career so far."

The Orioles noticed that they were being no-hit. The scoreboard is visible in spring training, too.

"Yeah, definitely," Coyle said. "We're out here, whether it's an exhibition, whether it's a game on the back fields over there on the minor league side, I think the way guys approach it is it's a competition, so we're all competitors here. We see that we're getting no-hit, that stings, whether you're in a packed stadium or whether you don't have anybody watching and it's an intrasquad game."

Coyle, who's listed at 5-foot-8, has caught the eye of manager Buck Showalter.

"Coyle's had some really good at-bats down here," Showalter said. "I was talking to him walking up to the right field corner in Port Charlotte and I said, 'Where have you been the last two years?' He hit .180 and .170 the last two years. The year before he had a big year and hit 16 home runs. He's been hurt the last two years, shoulder issues and stuff. He said it's the first time he's been healthy in a long time.

"He's a guy they drafted pretty high, thought he was going to be (Dustin) Pedroia. Pedroia's gotten a lot of short, scrappy guys drafted."

Chris Lee tossed three scoreless inning, but he had trouble locating the plate consistently and threw 66 pitches.

"OK. It's three zeros on the board," Showalter said.

"There's a process. Probably next time here if he started he'd be better. There would be a process and that process would start over again if he was in Baltimore. Just can't jump from A to Z. But he's got a good arm, good stuff. He pitched through it.

"Chris was OK. I think sometimes, his ball moves so much he tries to almost locate a little too much instead of attacking the center of the plate and letting the natural life take over. Those things will come. But he brings some things. He's left-handed, he holds runners, he works fast, he's a strike-thrower through his career."

Lee gave up a leadoff single to Cesar Hernandez on a ball that looked like an extra-base hit off the bat, but Craig Gentry raced into right-center field and made a sliding stop to hold the runner.

"That's one of those things analytics will never capture," Showalter said. "If you want to look back the play in the first inning won a ballgame. People talk about infielders diving for balls and knocking them down with a man on second, even though he can't make a play at first. That's one of those examples of a play that an athletic guy dives and keeps that ball from getting in the gap. If he doesn't, they score a bunch of runs."

The Orioles don't have any updates tonight on Rule 5 pick Anthony Santander, who underwent an MRI arthrogram on his right elbow.

Reliever Logan Ondrusek no longer has a locker in the clubhouse. The Orioles will provide an update in the morning.

Dr. James Andrews will examine Ondrusek's elbow on Monday.