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INSIDE: Arrieta, a Rangers fan growing up, excited for 'homecoming' PG5
— This night wasn't supposed to be about Chris Tillman.
Making his return from a three-start demotion to Triple-A Norfolk, Tillman was supposed to be a footnote Saturday, the unlucky kid who had to oppose Cliff Lee in the lefty ace's first start as a Texas Ranger after being traded by Seattle on Friday.
Midway through the Orioles' 6-1 victory against the Rangers — their third straight in Texas –— it became clear that the spotlight had shifted 180 degrees.
While Lee struggled in his new digs, yielding a season-high three homers and five runs in nine innings, Tillman was nearly perfect in his first big league outing since June 14.
Tillman (1-3) retired nine straight before allowing a leadoff walk in the fourth to Elvis Andrus. He then set down 10 more before Ian Kinsler singled through the left side of the infield with one out in the seventh.
It broke up the potential no-hitter for the 21-year-old Tillman, who already has one this season, on April 28 for Norfolk against Gwinnett, the first by an Orioles Triple-A farmhand since 1974.
"It's great. First of all, good to be back and with an outing like that. When I went down last time, I felt like I had the feeling from my team that I didn't belong. I wanted to come up here and make a statement and prove to them I did," Tillman said.
Tillman's bid for history fell short, but he still outpitched Lee and still kept the powerful Rangers off the bases for eight innings.
Tillman lost the shutout in the eighth when David Murphy hit a sinking liner in front of center fielder Adam Jones, who sprinted toward the ball, pulled up momentarily and saw it bounce in front of him and roll into deep center.
Murphy chugged around to third base for a single and a two-base error charged to Jones. Murphy then scored when Tillman threw a wild pitch high over the head of catcher Craig Tatum, cutting the lead to 5-1.
Tillman retired the next batter and was pulled after throwing 109 pitches, 68 of which were strikes. Reliever Will Ohman entered and got both batters he faced to ground out, which made the run scored against Tillman unearned.
Overall, Tillman allowed two hits, one unearned run and one walk while striking out three in 71/3 innings.
"You look at the scoreboard to see what inning you are in and you see the situation and you don't want to mention that to anybody," interim manager Juan Samuel said. "But, for me, I am just happy for him. As we all know he has been up and down so much and to finally see him come here and have this kind of game is something he needs to build on and hopefully he can continue this."
Tillman did not do bad for a guy who was 0-3 with an 8.40 ERA in his previous four big league starts this season. And not bad for a 21-year-old who wasn't supposed to be back in the majors this soon but got the call Saturday because Kevin Millwood went on the disabled this week with a forearm strain.
"I thought he belonged here the whole time," said catcher Craig Tatum, " I just think he had to trust his stuff. He had the fastball working."
The announced crowd of 41,093, which included a Rangers Ballpark walk-up record of 14,300 fans, was there primarily to see Lee, who was acquired by the Rangers onFriday along with injured reliever Mark Lowe and cash for first baseman Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers.
Lee's Rangers debut was an inauspicious one. His first pitch was lined to right by Orioles' leadoff hitter Corey Patterson for a double. Miguel Tejada singled on the next pitch to score Patterson.
Two pitches and Lee, who was 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA for the Mariners, was down 1-0.
Lee then retired nine straight before Nick Markakis hit his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot that just stayed left of the right-field foul pole.
In the fifth, Lee surrendered another homer, this time to shortstop Cesar Izturis, who hadn't gone deep this year. Izturis' last homer was on Aug. 4, 2009.
The Orioles got to Lee a third time in the sixth when Adam Jones hit a 404-foot bomb to center for his 14th home run of the year.
"We went up there and swung the bats against [Lee]. He battled, he dealt, he still threw a very good game, we were just able to sneak across a couple," said outfielder Adam Jones.
It was the first time Lee had surrendered three homers this season — and all came on 1-1 pitches. The Orioles tacked on another run in the ninth when Jones scored on a double-play ball.
Lee threw a complete game, his sixth of the season. But it wasn't exactly what the Rangers' fans were expecting.
He was tagged for six earned runs — his second -most of the season — and nine hits by the team with the worst record in baseball.
The Orioles (28-59) have now won three straight here against the American League West-leading Rangers (50-37). The first two were improbable comebacks in the late innings.
But Saturday's win may have been the most unlikely of all in the way it unfolded.
From the first inning, one pitcher was in complete control and the other couldn't hold down a powerful offense.
The much ballyhooed Lee, however, was the one who walked off the mound disappointed.
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