Ynoa hopes he made case

Right-hander wants to remain O’s rotation

CLEVELAND – The Orioles have spent the season going with their same struggling starting pitchers for lack of better options. In making his first start for the team Saturday, right-hander

hopes he made a case that his strong second half finally gives the Orioles a quality alternative.

Ynoa allowed three earned runs in 42⁄3 innings in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians, but manager laid little of the blame at his feet.

“It was fine,” Showalter said. “It’s obviously a good offensive team. I thought he presented himself well. He had had a couple of good starts. He’d had his struggles, obviously in Norfolk. Had two or three good starts in a row there.

“We’re going day to day right now. We’re managing a lot of things other than Gabe and some of the health of our people, and trying to put our best foot forward. We wanted to see how things went today, see how he feels and see where we are after each game. Again — look at our other options.”

With a rotation ERA of 5.63 entering Saturday, Ynoa’s start was distinguished for how in control he was despite never starting for the Orioles before and making just five relief appearances for them.

“I was not nervous,” Ynoa said through interpreter

“I was just concentrating on the opportunity, trying to take advantage of it, trying to compete, fight and give my team a chance to win.”

He featured a 94-95 mph fastball, and his slider was more effective earlier than late.

“It was not perfect, obviously, but for the first time starting, I think it was good,” Ynoa said. “Hopefully, there’s more to come.”

Whether that’s the case depends on plenty of factors, as Showalter mentioned. The Orioles rotation is mapped out through Monday, with pitching Sunday and

making his return to the rotation in Monday’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays after a brief spell in the bullpen. From there, and

will be available for Tuesday, with also due another start. Hays gets first start: Showalter handed breakout prospect

his first start in the majors on Saturday — he batted ninth and played right field in the visitors’ foisted attempt to break Cleveland’s 16-game winning streak.

Though Hays, who grounded out to shortstop in his first major league at-bat coming off the bench Thursday, grounded out twice on Saturday, Showalter commended a difficult play he made on a windblown fly ball in right field in the third inning.

“It’s early in the process,” Showalter said. “I think he’s handled himself well. I’ll tell you, the first fly ball he’s got out there was tough. That first ball was probably a home run, blows back. There’s a lot of adjustment to be made on that with the sun. That’s a difficult play. It may look routine to people. That was good to see. Made a really good throw to second base [on

double in the fourth inning]. Made it close.”

Hays was called up Tuesday to give the team another right-handed-hitting outfield option against left-handed pitching.

Indians starter is a right-hander who has had more success against same-side batters this season, though that’s been the opposite case in the past.

“I was hoping — we had three left-handed starters earlier [this week] and he didn’t get here until the last one, and he traveled that day,” Showalter said. “Tomlin is a reverse-split guy. Hasn’t been that near as much this year though. I’m trying to pick a spot for him to get out there. Today is his day. We’ve gotten a start. We’ll probably get

one. It’s what we have to do. It’s his time.”

The 22-year-old Hays said he wasn’t tipped off to the possibility of a start before the game, but had been preparing himself for that chance.

“I knew there was a possibility of me being in the lineup under any circumstances,” he said. “It’s not really surprising.”

In the meantime, Hays has used his time on the bench to soak in major league life and the routines of the Orioles stars in preparation for this moment.

“It’s great just getting to experience a big league locker room, see how the guys go about their business and how much the game means to them, especially in the situation the team is in right now in a playoff run,” Hays said. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s awesome.”

A finalist for Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year, Hays hit .329 with a .958 OPS, 32 home runs and 32 doubles between Double-A Bowie and High-A Frederick this year. Given the Chance: Sisco, who began the year as the Orioles’ top prospect, got his first big league at-bat late Friday, striking out on six pitches in the eighth inning against reliever

“I was going up there to be ready for the heater,” Sisco said. “I knew what he was throwing, he’s a cutter guy. Just looking for a pitch up in the zone and trying to have a good at-bat. We’re down by five at that point, so just trying to have a good at-bat and try and find any way possible on base.”

Sisco, a lifelong starter in the minors, said he’s been working on developing an in-game routine as he gets used to life off the bench. But he’s also using that time to learn about the game, trying to sit next to catcher in the dugout.

“We just talk about pitch sequences and talk about the batters and go over different things like that,” Sisco said. Tillman’s short test: Recently moved back to the bullpen, righthander pitched to just one batter for the final out of the eighth inning Friday. Showalter typically likes to get a traditional starter a fresh inning of relief, but had plenty of reasons not to do so with Tillman.

“Chris had been four days [since he last pitched] and we didn’t have anybody else, and we had wanted to get him out there, and he had had 20 minutes to get loose,” Showalter said. “I think it’s good for him, in a way. I’ll tell you, the last time he pitched, he felt pretty good the next day. I’ll be curious to see how he is with the short turnaround. I had four guys yesterday I couldn’t use, and I didn’t want to overuse and not have him available today, because the next two hitters could have been 20 pitches.” Around the horn: Catcher

returned to the lineup Saturday after missing Friday’s game out of precaution, as he was monitoring a situation with his family back in Baltimore that could have required him to return home. He went 0-for-3 . ... Right-hander

took the loss for Double-A Bowie in Friday night’s Game 2 of the Eastern League division series, allowing three runs on five hits with a walk and a hit batter in 11⁄3 innings. Both the Baysox and Frederick lost Saturday to end their seasons in their respective leagues’ division series. ... Left-hander who was designated for assignment Tuesday when the Orioles added Hays to the 40-man roster, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Norfolk on Saturday.