masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A day after surrendering eight runs, failing to execute pitches and turn a double play, and losing a game that further jeopardized their season, the Orioles defeated the Rays 2-1 while getting a quality start and key outs from their bullpen and playing flawlessly in the field.
They pitched well, they fielded well, they got a timely hit from Adam Jones in the sixth inning to break a tie and they put away the Rays in 2 hours, 29 minutes. They were crisp.
“That’s like a…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A day after surrendering eight runs, failing to execute pitches and turn a double play, and losing a game that further jeopardized their season, the Orioles defeated the Rays 2-1 while getting a quality start and key outs from their bullpen and playing flawlessly in the field.

They pitched well, they fielded well, they got a timely hit from Adam Jones in the sixth inning to break a tie and they put away the Rays in 2 hours, 29 minutes. They were crisp.

“That’s like a unicorn in September,” said reliever Darren O’Day, who worked a scoreless eighth before closer Zach Britton recorded his 34th save. “You don’t see many of them, just the way the rosters are set up. It’s nice. People can watch the (Sister Hazel) concert and go home and get some sleep and get ready for another game tomorrow.”

(The concert is blaring as I type this entry. You try transcribing interviews in this setting. And you try keeping a straight face after manager Buck Showalter referred to the band as “Witch Hazel.”)

The Orioles have won eight of their last 11 games. Wei-Yin Chen recorded his 19th quality start in 29 outings, holding the Rays to one run over seven innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.

“Of course, I am happy I can have that number,but still we’ve got a couple games left in the season and I hope I can push that number up,” Chen said through his interpreter.

“This year, my main goal for myself is to pitch more innings compared to last year, so I didn’t try to change anything. I just tried to keep the same and hope I can pitch more innings this year.”

The Orioles have 14 games left in the regular season. Chen may only have a few starts left before leaving the organization. He’s a pending free agent represented by Scott Boras. His time as an Oriole may be melting away.

“That doesn’t really change anything for me because we are still in the season, and every time I go out, there I just want to pitch a good game, and so I don’t want to think about that during the season,” said Chen, who won his 10th game today and has reached double digits in three of his four seasons with the Orioles.

“I think that my agency, Scott Boras, they will do everything for me after the season, so I don’t want to worry about that.”

Chen had some worries in the seventh after back-to-back singles to open the inning, but he retired the next three batters, striking out pinch-hitter Joey Butler on 93 mph fastball on his 101st pitch of the game.

“I’m just trying not to overthink there,” Chen said. “Whatever (Matt) Wieters calls and how he set up the mitt, and I just focused on making that pitch, because sometimes when I overthink I tend to miss my spot. And so I’m happy I could make that pitch and get out of that jam today.”

Schoop-Tag-Mahtook-Sidebar.jpgThe eighth inning was a strange one. Pinch-runner Mikie Mahtook, who had five hits last night, appeared to steal second base with one out. However, Evan Longoria was called out for batter’s interference by home plate umpire Dale Scott, sending Mahtook back to first. Mahtook tried again with Logan Forsythe at the plate and Wieters threw him out.

“Longoria took a swing and he hit me with the backswing first. I think the umpire (Dale Scott) saw that,” Wieters said. “(Mahtook) also crossed the plate and that’s what he called, so that means Longoria is out and the runner has to go back to first. I knew he got me with the backswing, so I thought worst-case he would have to go back to first and Longoria would still be hitting.

“After that, I thought he would probably take a shot the next time, so Darren gave me a good pitch to throw on and Schoopy (Jonathan Schoop) made a great tag. Any time you have a one-run lead late, any out is a big out, so it’s nice to be able to get through that part of the lineup and turn it over to Zach in the ninth.”

The Orioles figured that Mahtook would run again, though Wieters made an excellent throw on the first attempt.

“I thought if he was going to be aggressive with one of their best hitters up, he was probably going to try to take off again with Forysthe,” Wieters said. “Darren has a pitch he likes to throw up and he gave me a good pitch to throw on.”

Said O’Day: “Yeah, I think in that situation they’re trying to get to second base any way possible. We had an idea he was running. I had a good time to the plate and Matt had a good high fastball to throw.

“It was an interesting inning for sure. I don’t know exactly the terminology of the rule, but kudos to Dale for making that call. Obviously, I’m in favor of it. It helped me out in a tough situation. What I really took away from it is Wieters made two unbelievable throws. If you see my, I actually fist-pumped. I thought he was out on the first one. That’s how good the throw was. And there aren’t many better taggers than Schoop.

“Yeah, it helped me out when I didn’t have my best stuff today.”

The Orioles can win their fourth consecutive series with a victory on Sunday. They don’t have much choice after entering today’s game still trailing by 4 1/2 games for the second wild card.

“Yeah, we’re realistic,” O’Day said. “We need to win every one of them. We knew we were a better team than what we were showing there for a while. We’re playing better baseball. We’re going to play close games, especially with these guys, and you’ve got to win those close games to win the series.”

Said Wieters: “Keep playing, see what happens. We’re at the point now, we can’t control what happens in front of us. We’ve just got to try to win games and hopefully get some help.”

The game ended with Schoop ranging up the middle to backhand Tim Beckham’s bouncer and making a tremendous throw, with Chris Davis keeping his foot on the bag.

“It feels really good,” Schoop said. “That play finishes the game and gets us the win. It feels really, really good.

“We played a really good game. Now, we need to just keep it up and try to win as many games as we can and try to make a push.”

So he’s saying there’s a chance?

“Of course,” Schoop said. “That’s why we’re here, to play and try to get into the playoffs. We’re four games back or five and we need to keep pushing and try to win as many games as we can and make a push for it.”

Here’s more from the clubhouse:

Wieters on Chen: “Real good. He left a couple balls up in the first inning with his fastball and after that I think he located every fastball he threw. He had a little extra miles per hour on his fastball today that helped him get some extra outs. He had good stuff all day. Wei-Yin is a guy, you put him on the mound in tough situations, he’s going to bear down and give you his best stuff.”

Wieters on Britton: “Real sharp. I think he threw one ball up and everything else after that was sinkers down.”

Showalter on Chen: “Good, good, especially his last hitter. Reached back and had a little extra on the last hitter. This time of year, they’re going to be bringing another pinch-hitter out if you make a change. You’re always careful about breaking up the karma of a game. When he got through the first inning, I think he kind of bowed his neck a little bit and he had an extra day’s rest, which he’ll probably have the next time, too. We always get a pretty good return for that.”

More Showalter on Chen: “He’s been very consistent and very athletic. Like I said, this was impressive. Everybody knows what he’s going to do. He’s going to throw 70 percent fastballs and attack you with it. Everybody knows him and he knows them and Matt was really good behind the plate tonight.”

Showalter on importance of batter’s interference: “It’s always big. You get one of their better hitters and you get a chance there. We would have probably challenged the call had they not called interference. It was pretty close. That play Jon made at the end of the game, are you kidding me? Thank God our first baseman is tall. That’s one where the players walk by when it’s over and say, ‘Wow.’ It’s hard to get their attention with all the things they see.”

Showalter on catching some breaks today: “Baseball gods were good. It seems like the chalk is flying a different way. We try not to talk about it, but we got an interference call with a really good hitter up there. Their leadoff hitter (Forsythe) in the ninth missed chalk by a couple of inches. We were fortunate. We had some things go our way. J.J. (Hardy) made a great play on a line drive that they hit real firmly.”

Showalter on a crisp game: “Everybody gets to see the kickoff of the Alabama game and that’s what’s important. There’s another one, TCU-SMU. My kids aren’t talking tonight. But it’s good. We’re hanging in there. We’re trying to do what we can do to get back into this thing. I know we’re not figuring into a lot of people’s mindsets, but that clubhouse isn’t (giving up).”