Orioles hope to build on win over Tigers (Apr 27, 2018)

BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles are starting to get more consistent starting pitching. Now, their bats seem to be awakening also.

The Orioles totaled 11 runs and 24 hits in their past two games, losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday before beating the Detroit Tigers 6-0 on Friday. They got a strong start from Chris Tillman against the Tigers and hope to see more of the same from Andrew Cashner on Saturday at Camden Yards.

Baltimore (7-19) halted a five-game losing streak with the Friday win and Tillman posted his first victory since May 7, 2017. He had gone 22 straight starts without a win.

The Orioles needed a good effort from Tillman one night after ace Dylan Bundy was pounded by the Rays in a 9-5 loss. Tillman gave up just one hit in seven innings.

"It was fun to watch," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He was solid."

The Orioles are hoping Cashner can be solid Saturday. He has pitched well most of the time this season (1-3, 3.60 ERA) and is helping a starting rotation that's slowly improving.

Cashner (1-1, 1.80 career ERA versus the Tigers) is giving the Orioles the kind of consistency they hoped for when signing him during spring training. He'll be going against Francisco Liriano, who is off to a solid start (2-1, 3.13) this season.

Liriano is 3-5 with a 4.10 ERA against Baltimore during his career.

The Orioles got two homers from Pedro Alvarez in Friday's win and one from Manny Machado. Those 24 hits in two games could be a sign of an offense waking up as the Orioles are next-to-last in the majors with a .223 team batting average.

Injuries have badly hurt the Orioles so far this season. Mark Trumbo has not played in a game and Jonathan Schoop, along with Colby Rasmus, remain on the disabled list with him.

Now, Tim Beckham will be out for six to seven weeks after having core surgery Thursday in Philadelphia.

"I'm just going to go about my rehab 100 percent," he told MLB.com. "I've been through worse. Just want to stay in the right place mentally and be ready to help the team win ballgames when I come back."

The Tigers want to start winning also, but they'll need to find some offense first. They've been blanked in the past two games and have not scored a run in 22 straight innings.

Detroit (10-14) had a few scoring chances Friday but could not come through. The Tigers finished with only two hits after banging out eight in a 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Manager Ron Gardenhire said after Friday's game that efforts like those will not help their cause too much.

"We didn't score, so you're not going to win like that," he said.

The Tigers got a good six-inning effort from starter Mike Fiers on Friday after Michael Fulmer threw six shutout innings in the loss at Pittsburgh. He got a no-decision in that game because of the lack of offensive production.