One of the best wins of the young season

Tuesday's 5-3 win was impressive for a couple of reasons.

Zach Britton didn't have his good stuff but still turned in a quality start. And the Orioles couldn't solve rookie lefty Danny Duffy, but didn't give up after five futile innings.

The main reason this was a win to remember for the Orioles was whom it came against.

True, Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria isn't as automatic as he has been in past years. He was seven of nine in converting saves this season and came into the night with a 3.86 ERA and an un-Soria-like 27 base runners in 18 2/3 innings.

Still, there is history here. Soria had been perfect against the Orioles in his career. He was 7-for-7 in save opportunities. He hadn't allowed a run in 11 1/3 innings over 12 games versus the Orioles. In that time, he had yielded just six hits and three walks while striking out 12.

On Tuesday, he allowed three hits and three runs while facing just five batters. Consecutive doubles by J.J. Hardy and pinch-hitter Felix Pie tied the game, and Adam Jones' two-run homer with two outs and two strikes gave the Orioles the victory. He hit an 0-2 cutter to deep center field – a 418-foot missile.

"Off the bat, I knew it was over [the center fielder's] head. But then once I saw him turn, I was about halfway to first, I'm like, 'Yeah,'" Jones said. "I'm not strong enough to always know when it goes out to center field."

The Orioles have gotten to New York's Mariano Rivera twice this year and now once against Soria -- perhaps the two best closers in the American League.

"We hate closers in here," Jones said. "We want to give all the closers L's. We were able to do it. We've gotten to a few closers here this year. That's what it comes down to. They're trying to close us out, and we ain't letting them go."

Jones was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts previously against Soria. The Orioles, as a team, were 6-for-40.

Until Tuesday.

"The thing about baseball is, if you go in that clubhouse and you ask them how many runs we've scored against Soria, I don't know how many of them would really know that, and I'm not going to remind them. What are they going to change?" manager Buck Showalter said. "That's why everything looks one way on paper and you play it. I can't tell you how many times I thought we had something wired in our favor and you go back to the hotel or house or locker room and you say, 'Jeez, that wasn't the way it was supposed to be.' So you keep pounding, and you realize that's not always the case. Tonight's one of those nights."

Here's what Soria had to say: "That pitch was up and away, and he hit it well. I tried to throw a fastball away, and he hit it well. In this park, if you hit the ball well, it's going to go out."

All that said, we're not going to act like this was a perfect game for the Orioles. They were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position heading into the ninth. And their biggest chance was wiped out when Robert Andino inexplicably bunted on the first pitch after Duffy had walked two consecutive batters and couldn't find the plate with a compass and a GPS to start the inning. A bunt made sense, but not until Duffy threw the ball over the plate.

Andino popped up the high pitch, and the Royals turned it into a double play and cruised into the sixth.

But, all in all, it was one of the Orioles' better wins of the young season.