Quality from Gausman, homer from Castillo in win (updated)

Rather than let another start get away from him tonight, Kevin Gausman needed to fine-tune his damage-control skills. To remember how to shimmy out of a tight spot. To get back into the dugout without draping a towel around his neck, lowering his head and wondering again where it all went wrong.

Gausman loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning and allowed only one run by getting a double play and strikeout. A one-out single in the second didn't hurt him because the Orioles turned another double play. He struck out Kendrys Morales to end the third and strand two runners. Manny Machado made a spectacular backhanded stop along the line and rifled a throw to second base to start another double play to close the fourth.

The Blue Jays collected two more hits in the fifth, raising their total to eight, but Gausman struck out José Bautista and again danced away from danger.

Strong arm, nimble feet.

Gausman didn't get tripped up, but it all went wrong anyway. And then it was all right. Baseball's funny that way. Gausman probably was left shaking his head instead of lowering it.

Bautista hit a three-run homer off Mychal Givens in the seventh inning to give Toronto the lead, but Welington Castillo responded with his own three-run shot in the bottom half and the Orioles defeated the Blue Jays 7-5 before a sellout crowd of 45,416 at Camden Yards.

Castillo has three home runs in the last two games. He crushed an 0-2 pitch from Danny Barnes tonight to cap a rally that started with one-out singles by Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo.

Castillo is 10-for-18 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in four games since coming off the disabled list.

The Orioles improved to 25-16 and won back-to-back games for the first time since May 8-9. Their last 11 games have been decided by two runs or fewer.

Justin Smoak homered off Gausman with one out in the sixth inning to reduce the lead to 4-2 and Devon Travis followed with a double, but the right-hander got a called third strike on Russell Martin and retired Darwin Barney on a popup while Strefan Crichton and Richard Bleier warmed in the bullpen.

Bleier replaced Gausman, who threw 110 pitches while lowering his ERA from 7.19 to 6.65 in 47 1/3 innings. J.J. Hardy's throwing error and a walk put two Jays aboard with one out in the seventh, Givens came into the game and Bautista unloaded.

Castillo's home run allowed Givens to be credited with his second win in two nights and improve his career record to 15-2. Darren O'Day retired the side in order in the eighth inning and Brad Brach did the same in the ninth for his ninth save.

Machado broke a 1-1 tie with a leadoff home run in the third inning, his 10th of the season, and Trumbo hit a two-run shot in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-1.

Gausman scattered a season-high 10 hits over his six innings. He walked only one batter and struck out five, and his fastball was sitting in the 97-98 mph range even in the last inning.

Manager Buck Showalter didn't want Gausman to obsess over past failures. The right-hander still had the club's full support. But there's also a limit. A point where the Orioles might have to go in another direction if the situation doesn't improve.

"It's all about the next start, and it's the start of something good," Showalter said before the game. "You can't dwell too long here. It'll beat you up.

"You don't think any less of a person because they haven't thrown a baseball where they're supposed to. We know what he's capable of. I still talk to him about LSU and their starting pitcher who might be there when we draft. Kevin also knows at some point we're going to go, 'This ain't good enough. Let's go.'

"He knows the job description. But it's got nothing to do with where he was drafted. It's there. Hopefully, he'll come out tonight and he'll get on a roll."

It wasn't a clean outing by any stretch, but Gausman didn't need to offer any apologies.

The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the first, but it obviously could have been so much worse with a bases-loaded jam and no one retired. The Orioles immediately tied the game against Mike Bolsinger in the bottom half on singles by Adam Jones, Machado and Trumbo.

They took the lead in the third, extended it in the fifth, watched it disappear into the left field seats in the seventh and regained it in the same section. A head-shaker, indeed.

Here's a sampling from Showalter:

On Gausman: "I liked the way he finished the sixth inning. Kevin has been frustrated. We all know he's capable of better and that was. I think we commented about (Michael) Fulmer over in Detroit. You've got to figure out a way to finish that inning against some tough hitters. I thought fastball command was a lot better."

On Castillo: "That's one of the things he brought with him was his offensive capabilities. Pretty calm hitter right now. He's not letting guys take him out of the zone much. Barnes, I was looking at his numbers before the series and they're ridiculous. And he has that late-life fastball if you let him get it up. Very much like Koji (Uehara) back when Koji threw 91. I'm just saying that because Castillo, to get through that high fastball, which was that and the changeup he has is really his bread and butter. He's got Whiffle Ball numbers in Double-A and Triple-A behind him. You see why they like him so much."

On whether Gausman can build off his outing: "I hope so. But that's always convenient and this means that and maybe this is going to do this. Times and not, that's how it starts, but there are too many good players up here who don't care how you've been pitching and how you pitched the last time out. First inning was big for him. Got a big double play ball and we let them off the hook a couple situations, but that's more a tribute to the pitches they made. I hope so, but we'll see."

On 15-3 home record: "Usually after a long trip and a challenging one, you're kind of playing on cruise control, or fluid overdrive a little bit with the first game. It's the second game that you really get challenged, and I thought the crowd was big for us tonight. They were into it. I thought instrumental tonight."

On Givens' wins: "I think he'd like to give that one to somebody else, I'm sure, knowing Mychal. A lot of times, it means you're pitching in the sixth and seventh inning a lot, if you kind of go back through the math of how that works. But I think Mychal is more disappointed there. I think Bautista was 0-for-7, 0-for-8 off him coming into that. He was trying to go down and away and had a fastball leak right over and hit his bat. Of course, his bat hit the ball, too. But it's tough to take a lot. You really don't like relief pitchers getting a lot of decisions, but sometimes they do when the score is tied or it's extra innings, which makes it tied too, right?"

On Trumbo: "Mark, he's a professional. He grinds every at-bat. I've seen him have three hits and a couple home runs, and not have a good at-bat and it's like he hasn't gotten a hit in his whole life. He takes a lot of pride in delivering what people expect of him, and that's why he's so easy to trust with the type of commitment we made to him."

On potential roster moves: "I don't think so, but we're in a position to make one if we need to in the morning, if somebody comes in here not feeling as well as we project them to, because it's a short flight and a short drive over from Norfolk. They can probably make it for game time."