After tough outings, Brach glad to get back to work

O’s acquire LHP Katz from White Sox for international slots

Reliever was glad to get back on the mound Friday and pitch well after a pair of tough outings followed by days of rest, allowing for more reflection than he prefers.

“I think it’s tough when you have outings like that, because for me, I just want to get back out there,” Brach said. “But with how many appearances I’ve had so far, it’s kind of tough to be in that situation where you can throw me back out there just to throw. It’s one of those things where I’ve got to learn, pitching the eighth and ninth inning, what it’s like to have a lot of games, pitching out of a lot of innings. For me, it’s tough just sitting on those couple of performances. It was great to get back out there, and hopefully I can just continue doing this from here on out.”

On May 10 in Washington, Brach had a blown save in a 7-6 loss to the Nationals. Then he didn’t pitch again until Tuesday’s wild 13-11 win over the Detroit Tigers. But in that game, Brach came in with the bases loaded after three walks by

and gave up a grand slam.

That left a lot of time to ruminate on uncharacteristic performances, a spell Brach is glad to be past.

“It was huge,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said the confidence wasn’t a little shaken there for a little bit, and to come out and have a night like last night goes a long ways and just helps you remember that you can be a good pitcher. It’s just one of those things that was huge for the confidence and hopefully, it can slingshot it going forward.”

Manager didn’t want to sidestep how important Brach’s outing was for him, either.

“Brad will complain about going three up, three down and throwing [21] pitches,” Showalter said. “But I think probably it is [important]. I’m not going to downplay it, but the next day is the next day. Did you see his velocity? He was getting after it. He was getting after it.”

Brach pitched his second straight strong outing on Saturday, picking up his ninth save with a perfect ninth inning in the Orioles’ 7-5 victory. Katz acquired for international slots: The Orioles continued to shed their international signing bonus slot money Saturday, sending two slots to the Chicago White Sox for 22-year-old left-handed reliever

Katz, who pitched for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic and has intrigued scouts with his fastball-breaking ball combo, will join High-A Frederick, the team said.

“He has a good fastball and excellent strikeout record,” executive vice president said of Katz, who has struck out 10.1 per nine innings in his minor league career. “A lot of guys like him and they project him to be a major league reliever. We’re going to send him to Frederick. He pitched in the Carolina League last year. He should return there. He showed a good fastball and a really good breaking ball in the WBC. We got a couple good looks at him.”

The Orioles traded international signing bonus slots Nos. 45 and 75 to Chicago, which according to Baseball America are worth a combined $756,300. They dealt slot No. 15, worth $885,300, to the Milwaukee Brewers for righthander on April 13, and designated him for assignment on May 2 without seeing him in the majors.

On April 14, they sent slot No. 105 (worth $198,000) to the Seattle Mariners for left-hander

That makes for over $1.8 million in international slots sent out for the current period, which ends on July 1. The hard cap on international signing bonuses looming for next year’s international period factored into that, Duquette said. Britton update: Duquette said closer threw for a second time Saturday after first playing catch Thursday, marking the first steps back on his comeback from left forearm soreness in Sarasota, Fla. Around the horn: Right-hander

is no longer listed as the starter for Triple-A Norfolk Sunday, indicating he could be an option if the Orioles need to add a pitcher to the major league roster. … Showalter joked that left fielder

feigned hyperventilating when he was told he’d be in the lineup for a second straight day. Before Friday, Kim had just four starts in May . ... As part of Celebrate Maryland Day, the Orioles wore Maryland flag script jerseys, and senators and

threw out ceremonial first pitches.