BALTIMORE _ Chris Tillman needed eight pitches to throw his first strike in his season debut Sunday at Camden Yards against the Chicago White Sox. But despite battling through some deep counts, Tillman enjoyed a successful start to his 2017 season.
Tillman, who opened the season on the disabled list with what the team called right shoulder bursitis, threw five scoreless innings in a 4-0 win over the White Sox, giving the Orioles (20-10) a three-game series sweep over Chicago (15-15) and their fourth straight win overall in front of an announced 31,806 at Camden Yards.
Making his first regular-season start since last year's American League wild-card game in Toronto, Tillman battled with his control early, but settled in. He escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam in the first inning, and after issuing a one-out walk to Jose Abreu in the third, Tillman retired eight of the next 10 batters he faced.
Tillman had seven three-ball counts in his 93-pitch outing, but none after the third inning.
Tillman's return _ which came nearly five weeks into the season _ followed four minor league rehabilitation assignments over which he had a 7.16 ERA. He missed all of spring training after shoulder discomfort _ which first shelved him for three weeks last August and into September _ cropped up in December. He took a platelet-rich plasma injection then, but suffered a setback in his final bullpen session before getting into a spring training game in March, which led to a cortisone injection.
On Sunday, Tillman's fastball averaged 90 mph, but he found his footing by pitching effectively with his off-speed pitches. All nine of his swing-and-misses came on his secondary offerings _ his slider, curveball and changeup.
White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana had his share of control problems early, and the Orioles made him pay as both first-inning walks he issued ended up scoring.
Adam Jones and Manny Machado drew back-to-back one-out walks in the first inning, and the Orioles loaded the bases when an out call at first base on Mark Trumbo was overturned after an Orioles' challenge.
Chris Davis drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly to right, and Trey Mancini gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead with an RBI single to right.
The Orioles added two runs in the second on run-scoring singles by Jones and Machado.
Leadoff hitter Joey Rickard had his first three-hit game of the season, posting two singles and a double.
Rickard, who was making his first start since Tuesday, is hitting .344 going 10-for-29 since returning from the disabled list April 28.
The return of Tillman officially sent right-hander Alec Asher to the bullpen for the time being, and Asher provided some valuable length behind Tillman, pitching 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.
Asher allowed just three hits while pitching in relief for the third time in five appearances this season. It was his longest relief appearance of the season _ his previous two were just one inning apiece _ and came off a quality start (six innings, three earned runs) in his most recent outing on Tuesday in Boston.
Brad Brach got the final two outs of the game, entering for Asher with two on and one out in the ninth and inducing a game-ending double play off the bat of Leury Garcia to end the game.
