BALTIMORE _ With Wednesday's 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles picked up their fifth straight win and continued their miniature resurgence that coincided with the acquisition of Jeremy Hellickson and has brought them back within 2{ games of a playoff spot, albeit in early August.
Their fifth straight victory put them one shy of their longest streak of the season, which came in early May _ as they jumped out to a major league-best 22-10 start before a two-month skid put their season in jeopardy.
Now a game below .500 at 53-54, the Orioles enter a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers to kick off a stretch of three weeks against mostly sub-.500 opponents in which they hope to continue to ride a wave of strong starting pitching back to relevance.
Over their past five starts, Orioles starters have combined to allow three earned runs in 35 2/3 innings.
An RBI double by newly acquired shortstop Tim Beckham and a two-run home run by catcher Caleb Joseph in the second inning staked the Orioles to as big of a lead as they'd need thanks to seven scoreless innings from Hellickson (7-5).
That didn't stop them from adding three insurance runs in the eighth on a two-run double by first baseman Chris Davis and an RBI triple by Beckham.
Beckham and designated hitter Trey Mancini had two hits apiece. Beckham drove in a pair while Mancini scored twice in the win.
A 35-minute rain delay sent everyone at Camden Yards scurrying in the third inning Wednesday night, but neither pitcher seemed too impacted by the mid-game pause.
Hellickson needed a little time to get re-acclimated before getting out of the third unscathed, and his counterpart, Jason Vargas, came out of it strong as well.
Once Hellickson completed his seven innings, right-hander Mychal Givens lowered his ERA to 1.86 with a clean eighth inning and right-hander Darren O'Day pitched scoreless ninth.
Twice early Wednesday, the newest Orioles on the field seemed to be uneasy with what their teammates were doing defensively. In the first inning, Beckham cut off a ball up the middle that was bound for second baseman Jonathan Schoop and eliminated the possibility of a double play because his momentum took him past the bag.
An inning later, the Orioles were shifted toward the right side against designated hitter Mike Moustakas with third baseman Manny Machado near the shortstop position when there was a pop-up near the third base coaching box.
Hellickson took matters into his own hands and made the catch just above Machado's glove, narrowly avoiding a collision. Neither did any damage, but the moments represent the growing pains of breaking in new teammates.
Joseph's home run was the first at Camden Yards in the three-game series. That there were two games in a row here without a home run this year was a rarity. There had been two homerless games in the first 51 played in Baltimore before the two this week.
