Zach Britton's take on Mike Wright and that diving play for last out

Orioles relief pitcher Zach Britton knows a little something about being a young and promising starting pitcher. He was one once and now is the Orioles' All-Star closer.

After he got the final three outs last night as the O's beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3, I asked him if he has seen right-hander Mike Wright make progress in recent starts and in what ways.

"I think the biggest thing with him and (Tyler) Wilson, too, you are watching now a more mature pitcher," Britton said. "When they get in jams, they are working their way out of it and they're not pressing. That is what it takes to be a consistent big league starter that will go deep into games. You have to work your way out of jams and learn how to navigate that."

Wright gave the Orioles their sixth quality start of this season last night. He went six innings, allowing five hits and two runs in a no-decision.

The Orioles pitching has allowed just five runs in this series and only 11 runs over the last five games. In that time, the team ERA has dropped from 3.81 to 3.47. Don't look now, but the Orioles are currently fifth in the American League in team ERA.

Over that five-game stretch, O's starting pitchers have allowed eight earned runs over 28 1/3 innings for an ERA of 2.54. The rotation has produced three quality starts over the last four games.

Britton needed just 11 pitches to record his sixth save in six chances last night. The last out was eventful, however. Avisail Garcia hit a slow roller up the first base line. Britton ran to the ball, fielded it and then dove to tag Garcia out to end the game.

"I think at this point I'm used to those infield hits," Britton said of that last play. "I was happy CD (Chris Davis) didn't take me out, that was my biggest worry. But you know, we worked on some plays like that in spring training. Not full-out dive. But with all the ground balls (hit against me), you have to be ready for anything."

The White Sox came to town with a 16-6 record and six-game win streak. They led the AL in ERA at 2.24 coming into the series, but O's hitters have scored 16 runs on 23 hits in winning the first two games of the four-game series.

"We got the first two," catcher Matt Wieters said. "It's nice to get them, but that's over now. It is a good club and they put some good at-bats up there. Yeah, want to win these games."

In the four games before this series started, the Orioles scored just five total runs. Now they have put up 10 and six the last two nights against the ChiSox staff. The Orioles have outscored their opponents 19-6 during a three-game win streak that has their record at 14-8.

The Orioles have the best home record in the majors at 9-1 with a team ERA of 2.18 at Camden Yards. They have outscored their opponents 48-24 at home.

On the farm: Washington Nationals pitching prospect Lucas Giolito is ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the sport by Baseball America and is the No. 2 pitching prospect in the game. He has faced the Orioles' Double-A Bowie in his last two starts and Bowie is 2-0 in those games.

They have not exactly torn it up against the 21-year-old right-hander, who is 0-1 with an ERA of 2.87 for Harrisburg. But Giolito has pitched eight innings in the two games against Bowie allowing 11 hits and five runs (four earned).

Giolito got a no-decision last night as Bowie won 4-3. Corban Joseph had two hits to run his hitting streak to 13 games. Drew Dosch added two hits for the Baysox, who are now 10-11.

The younger brother of the Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph, Corban is batting .369 on the year to lead the Eastern League in hitting. Over the last five games of his hitting streak, he is batting .600 at 12-for-20.

Single-A Delmarva catcher Yermin Mercedes is batting .414 to lead the South Atlantic League in batting. The 23-year-old Mercedes went 0-for-7 to start his season and is batting .471 since then. He has 12 extra-base hits over 15 games with seven doubles, four triples and a homer. That has produced a .724 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.150.