More than three years after being traded away together by the Seattle Mariners in the Erik Bedard deal, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones and starting pitcher Chris Tillman had slightly divergent views on the lasting motivation of that move.
Jones said he didn't care while Tillman wanted to prove something, and, together, they led the Orioles to a 4-2 victory Wednesday night in front of an announced 11,561 at Camden Yards.
"First of all, it was good seeing those guys again, the few that are left," said Tillman, who faced the Mariners for the first time in his career. "But I think that gave me a little extra boost, kind of wanted to stick it up their butts a little bit."
Tillman pitched six effective innings, and Jones provided plenty of offense with a career-high-tying four hits, including a two-run triple in a three-run fifth that was the difference-maker.
"I don't care about playing the Mariners anymore," said Jones, who was the centerpiece of the five-for-one deal that also included pitchers George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler, none of whom are still with the Orioles organization. "The only thing that's cool is to still see Ichiro and some of the boys, my friends that get called up, like Mike Wilson, some of the guys I played with. Besides that, they're another team now."
Perhaps, but his bat continued to heat up with the Mariners in town. In two games, Jones is 7-for-10 with two doubles, a triple and five RBIs. Orioles manager Buck Showalter joked that maybe Jones' recent streak has coincided with his mother visiting from Arizona.
"I was kidding his mom tonight that I'd sure like to see if she'd like to stay a little while longer, like four more months," Showalter said. "But I'd like to think it's a lot more than that. He's certainly been on top of his game lately, and it seems like he's kind of calmed some things down and let the game come to him a little bit and trust his abilities more."
The victory guaranteed the Orioles (16-19) a series win over the struggling Mariners (16-21), who have lost four straight. With a win Thursday, the Orioles could pick up their first sweep since the season-opening series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Whatever the motivation, Tillman did what the Orioles needed him to do: pitch as deep as he could to save a bullpen that threw seven innings Tuesday in a 13-inning win and has logged 23 1/3 innings in its previous five games.
"That was huge. That was in the back of my mind all day, that we have a worn -out bullpen and I wanted to get deep in the game," said Tillman, who has pitched at least six innings only three times in seven 2011 starts. "That was one of my objectives and something they wanted to see out of me. Just go deeper in the ballgame, and I made some good pitches with guys on base to get there."
Tillman (2-3) threw a career-high 112 pitches in six innings, allowing three hits, three walks and one run while hitting a batter and striking out five.
"You probably would have signed up in blood for that number of innings out of a starter with where we were in the bullpen," Showalter said. "He was effective statistically in the in-game and giving us a chance to win."
It wasn't his most efficient outing, but Tillman showed plenty of moxie Wednesday night, battling out of jams and making key pitches. Case in point: a 78 mph changeup to Adam Kennedy for strike three in the sixth to end a potential two-on, two-out rally and allow him to leave the night on an upswing.
Tillman, whose ERA dropped from 7.16 to 6.15, needs to continue to pitch well to keep his tenuous hold on his rotation spot, which might be in jeopardy when Brian Matusz and Alfredo Simon return.
Mariners manager Eric Wedge said he felt that Wednesday's results had a lot to do with his struggling offense, which entered the night with the second-lowest batting average in the American League.
"I was disappointed in our at-bats," Wedge said.
"[Tillman] was up [in the strike zone] for the most part. He did a good job with his changeup tonight. He moved his fastball down a little bit. But he left some pitches up that we didn't do anything with. We sure as hell got to get better offensively."
The Orioles' offense did its damage against reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez, who had allowed two earned runs combined in his past three starts at Camden Yards. On Wednesday, Hernandez (4-3) gave up four runs in five innings, tying for the most he has allowed to the Orioles in one game in his career.
Derrek Lee had a sacrifice fly in the third, and Scott broke a tie at 1 in the fifth with a RBI single before Jones' triple to right.
The Orioles' bullpen yielded one run in three innings -- Michael Saunders hit a solo homer against Jason Berken in the seventh -- to deliver the win to Tillman. Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless eighth in what was the first time he has thrown in consecutive games this season.
Kevin Gregg picked up his seventh save in nine opportunities with a perfect ninth, and the pitching was aided by several strong defensive plays, including two by shortstop J.J. Hardy.
It all occurred while the Mariners watched a player they drafted in the first round (Jones) in 2003 and one they selected in the second round (Tillman) in 2006 take center stage at Camden Yards.
It might not have meant anything for Jones, who is one of the Orioles' established young stars, but for Tillman, it meant another chance to show he belongs in the big leagues.
"Every start is huge, no matter what the opponent is, whether the situation is bad or not," Tillman said. "All of us go out there and try to leave it on the field every day and, personally, every fifth day. It was a big one tonight."
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