Tillman wins in season debut as O's shut out White Sox (with quotes)

Chris Tillman's debut with the Orioles today after a prolonged stint on the disabled list included walks to the first two batters he faced and only one strike among his first 10 pitches.

Let the guy settle in before judging him.

Tillman escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and blanked the White Sox through the fifth, and the Orioles completed their sweep with a 4-0 victory before an announced crowd of 31,806 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (20-10) have their third four-game winning streak of the season and move into a first-place tie with the Yankees, who play the Cubs later tonight.

Tillman allowed three hits, walked three and struck out four. He walked Melky Cabrera on four pitches to start the game, all of them 90 mph fastballs, and Leury García on five. Avisaíl Garcia reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases with one out, but Todd Frazier lined to short and Cody Asche popped up.

Twenty-three pitches and Tillman was back in the dugout.

Tillman retired 14 of the last 18 batters and came out of the game at 93 pitches, 52 for strikes. He retired the side in order once, in his final inning.

Funny how Tillman served up four home runs in five innings to the White Sox's Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte in his final rehab start, but he shut out the major league team today through five innings.

Tillman has 73 wins with the Orioles, tying him with Sidney Ponson for 12th on the all-time list.

Alec Asher covered the next 3 1/3 innings, with Brad Brach replacing him after back-to-back one-out singles in the ninth. Brach recorded his seventh save and the Orioles had their third shutout of the season.

The Orioles also loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, but they produced two runs against left-hander José Quintana.

Adam Jones and Manny Machado walked and Mark Trumbo reached on an infield hit after an initial out call was reversed upon challenge. Chris Davis lined to right field to score Jones and Trey Mancini singled to score Machado.

The Orioles sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning, ran Quintana's pitch count to 60 and took a 4-0 lead. Francisco Peña singled, Joey Rickard looped a single to left field and Jones looped an RBI single down the right field line one pitch after fouling a ball off his left shin and collapsing in the dirt.

Machado grounded a single into left field to score Rickard, giving him 21 RBIs this season to lead the club.

Peña had two hits today in his first start since the Orioles recalled him and placed Welington Castillo on the disabled list. However, he exited the game in the top of the eighth with an apparent right thumb injury sustained while Asher warmed up.

Something weird happens to this team just about every day. It's no longer magic.

Perhaps it was just a cramp. Manager Buck Showalter will provide an explanation in a few minutes.

Mancini went 3-for-4 and is 8-for-13 with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs in his last four games. Rickard also had three hits and stole two bases.

Tillman's next turn in the rotation comes Friday night in Kansas City.

Here's a sampling from Showalter:

On Peña: "Just cramped up. I thought he had taken a ball off the thumb or something. His whole arm. I've never seen that. Richie says he's seen it before. He was cramping. It wouldn't go away. Really most of his body, but down his thumb and forearm. Richie thinks it usually manages over 24 hours, but we'll see."

On Tillman: "It was a real testament to his pitchability, searching for something he could survive with early where he could get in step a little bit. Chris has got a lot of weapons. I remember when we first had him it was really a 2 1/2-pitch mix. Now, it's a cutter/slider and he went to that some later on. He went to that some later on. Changeup, he found a feel for that. He'll tell you I don't think he really felt good about the command of his fastball for most of his outing, but he and Frankie found a way to survive."

More on Tillman: "That's hurdle to get over today. He threw 91, I think, last time out and I didn't want to take him much past 90 today, so it worked out. We were fortunate to have Alec today. We'll see how his workday is, but hopefully today was a good step for us. Nice to have him back."

On Asher: "This was perfect for him. He had four days off and this was his day to start. We knew going into it that we had some length with him and Logan, so he was out there for the duration. I was not going to use Mychal (Givens) or Darren (O'Day) today. Brad had a day of rest. I was trying not to use Donnie Hart, so basically we had him and Logan (Verrett) and Brad."

On whether Asher will be optioned: "He's certainly deserving of staying. We'll figure out if there's a way we can do that. We have a really good offensive team (Nationals) coming in here and going to their place, so we have to make sure we keep our powder dry. He certainly did his part today. He's played a hand in some wins for us."

On sweeping White Sox: "We were fortunate, though. We had some flares fall in. Some things that seem to have been not happening, and we took advantage of them. I really like Quintana. He just had one of those days where it seems like everything we put a bat on seemed to find a spot in certain situations early. We didn't do a whole lot after the first couple innings, but the pitching made it stand up."