Wrapping up a 4-0 win

One night after the mayhem came the calm.

No knockouts, only a shutout, with Chris Tillman and Brad Brach doing the honors in a 4-0 win over the Royals that completed a three-game sweep and put the Orioles a season-high 12 games above .500.

Ryan Flaherty followed up last night's Eutaw Street home run with a tie-breaking two-run double in the fifth. He's batting .308/406/.500 (8-for-26) with two doubles, a home run, seven RBIs and seven runs scored over his last 10 games since May 29.

"It's awesome," Brach said. "Flash can get going, it's big, especially with J.J. (Hardy) being hurt. He's going to play a lot. It's great to get him going and get some RBIs and big hits like he's been doing."

With "utility infielder" typed across his business cards, Flaherty doesn't get a whole of notice for his offensive exploits.

"You hear 'versatility' enough, so if you can do something offensively, it's nice," he said.

"I've been working with coach (Scott) Coolbaugh on a couple of things, but it's nice to contribute and nice to help the team win the game."

The double sailed over the head of Royals right fielder Paulo Orlando and bounced off the out-of-town scoreboard in right. He cleared it a night earlier and hit an awning on the warehouse on one bounce, the ball traveling an estimated 446 feet.

"I know the answer," Flaherty said when asked to recite the distance. "I'm not going to say."

"It's nice to contribute," he added. "I think the lineup, it seems like it's the same guys every night. (Mark) Trumbo, (Matt) Wieters, (Chris) Davis, (Manny) Machado, (Adam) Jones. It's nice to change it up and have some other guys pitch in."

No one did more for the cause than Tillman, who blanked the Royals over 7 1/3 innings, didn't issue a walk and tied his career high with nine strikeouts.

That's one way to restore order to the series.

"I liked it because it helped the Orioles win. That was a big part of it," said manager Buck Showalter.

"I felt early on, he was carrying some good stuff. Had some deep counts in the seventh and eighth. I thought he had a chance to finish the game with the assortment of pitches he had going for him tonight. Good late-life fastball, too.

"They kept grinding in there. Brad did another key job. We didn't do a whole lot, but we did what we needed to. That's the type of thing you need to do when you get pitching like that on a given night."

And when Flaherty continues to step out of character and into the spotlight.

"Ryan knows how much we value what he brings as far as the club needs," Showalter said. "With J.J. out and some other things headed our way. I think Ryan revels in that opportunity to contribute. A lot of people forget this guy played third base in the playoffs and did a real good job. He's easy to pull for.

"That's a big hit, obviously. To drive the ball over that guy's head, you've got to get on it pretty good. (Hyun Soo) Kim had a big two-out hit.

"Ryan always seems to revel in being able to deliver something in a time of need for us when we have some people hurt and some other things."

Showalter wasn't prepared to label Tillman's start as the best of the season. It did, however, improve his record to 8-1 with a 3.01 ERA.

"He's had a couple good ones," Showalter said. "This was one of them, without a doubt, but I'm not going to throw that moniker on it. Like I said in the spring, he's in a good place. Healthy and holding his stuff late in the game."

Something he didn't do nearly as often last year while going 11-11 with a 4.99 ERA in 31 starts.

"You can make a heck of a living going 11-11 in the big leagues, but Chris wants to be better than that because he knows he's capable of it and wants to bring what the club needs," Showalter said.

"I also think it's just part of the process. You get a lot of guys his age just kind of understanding what they have to do to be successful. And that's not only during the season, but during the offseason. It's a certain maturity factor. It's tunnel vision toward that day you pitch. Everything you do is leading into that. That's where he is now. He relishes the day he gets to do his thing."

Tillman credited fastball command tonight for his impressive results.

"I think fastball command from the get-go was pretty spot-on," Tillman said. "I felt pretty good in the bullpen coming in and I was able to carry it over."

The quick early pace worked in his favor, as expected. It also did with Royals starter Edinson Volquez until a four-run fifth inning.

"I think so," Tillman said. "Any time you're able to find it, or get in a groove and stay in it, because of quick innings, I think the pitcher kind of benefits from it on both sides. Our guys started waiting him out and they did a good job. That's a good pitcher."

Tillman said he didn't necessarily have his best stuff of the season, though it may have appeared that way.

"Fastball command was as good as it's been, but I think ... it was good," he said. "I can't say yes or no, but it was good."

Davis didn't play following last night's brawl, but he could return to the lineup Thursday night in Toronto.

"I don't know," Showalter said. "If he feels exactly like he did today, I probably wouldn't. I'm expecting him to be ready to go tomorrow if he shows the improvement he's capable of. I hadn't really given it a lot of thought. I'd like to give a lot of guys a day here and there. That was more it than the other.

"At this point, I haven't got any reason to think he shouldn't be close to available to us tomorrow or the next day."

In the meantime, the Orioles will enjoy the focus returning to baseball.

"There's a lot of things going on, emotions, but once you get into the game, it's about the competition and trying to win," Showalter said. "Sometimes, the greatest emotions show themselves in silence, so to speak. If your actions speak pretty loud, you don't have to talk a lot about it."

Said Brach: "I think it was water under the bridge as soon as we left here last night. Guys came here ready to play, and obviously it didn't affect Chris and didn't affect the offense. We scored the runs that we needed to and it was a great win to finish up the homestand."

Said Tillman: "We wanted to come out today and win a series and I think we did a good job of getting back to what we do. And we played a pretty solid game throughout."

Brach will take his opportunities to close whenever they come. Tonight produced his second save.

"Yeah, it's awesome," he said. "Your adrenaline gets going and it's the most exciting part of the game is the final out, so being out there, especially in a tight situation like that, it's great."

Great also describes Brach's season. His scoreless streak is up to 10 games and 12 1/3 innings and he's recorded 37 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings while lowering his ERA to 0.84.

Brach agreed that it's the best stretch of his career "and I'm hoping that it can continue," he said. "I've just got to continue pitching well and one pitch at a time."

Brach replaced Tillman with two on and one out in the eighth and preserved the 4-0 lead.

"When you come in a game with guys on base, I don't want to let in runs," he said. "I take a lot of pride in not letting runs come in or anybody's runs, but especially when he has an outing like that, you want to just get the two outs and get in the dugout."

Brach stranded his own runner in the ninth and the Orioles swept the Royals in Baltimore for the first time in five years.

"It's good," Tillman said. "We try to come in and sweep everyone we play, whether we're at home or not. That's only the nature of the game, you try to go out and win every single game. It doesn't work out that way sometimes. But I think we played good quality baseball in this series and it's good to see."

Not for everyone.

"Tillman was pretty darn good tonight, I'm going to tell you that," said Royals manager Ned Yost. "Guys were having trouble picking up his fastball. Brach was really, really good. You kind get the same feeling that other teams have against us. You better have the lead by the fifth or sixth inning. If you don't, you're pretty much going to get shut down.

"Tillman did a great job of locating pitches, really used his fastball well and we had a hard time picking it up."

The Orioles have won seven of their last eight games. Are they getting overlooked nationally?

"It's June," Flaherty said. "I don't think it totally matters right now. It's kind of the way we like it. We flew under the radar every year. That's kind of how we've done it. We've just go along a take it one night at a time."