Orioles shuffle rotation again

Ynoa gets shot instead of Tillman; Jiménez gets another crack at start

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The game of musical chairs that’s quickly becoming the Orioles starting rotation took another twist when manager announced after Thursday’s 9-1 loss to the New York Yankees that right-hander will start Saturday’s game in Cleveland instead of right-hander Chris Tillman.

Tillman will instead be available out of the bullpen, with Showalter citing a lingering physical problem as the reason the right-hander won’t make his next scheduled start Saturday.

Also, right-hander who was jettisoned to the bullpen earlier this week, will return to start Monday’s series opener in Toronto.

Tillman said after Thursday’s game that he’s had some wrist soreness in his throwing arm, but it’s nothing that has affected his pitching and wouldn’t prevent him from starting. He had a work day before Thursday’s game and threw off flat ground without incident.

When the Orioles acquired right-hander just before the nonwaiver trade deadline, it gave the club six starting pitchers, which allowed Showalter to give right-hander additional rest as his innings count approaches the 180-inning threshold the organization wanted for him. Showalter said Bundy will pitch Tuesday in Toronto, allowing him seven days’ rest between starts. Bundy has 2.90 ERA in five starts this season with at least six days’ rest, and owns a 4.42 ERA in 21 starts on less rest.

Ynoa, whose contract was purchased in the offseason from the New York Mets in an effort to assemble a stable of optionable arms for spot starts or long relief, has made just five appearances for the Orioles this season, all in relief, while posting a 3.68 ERA. He was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday and threw two scoreless innings Monday against the Yankees in his only outing since re-joining the club. Hehada 5.25 ERA in 21 starts with Norfolk.

After allowed five runs over three innings in Thursday afternoon’s makeup game against the Yankees, the Orioles rotation has posted a combined 5.07 ERA since Aug. 1. Despite that number, left-hander Wade Miley (2.67), right-hander Dylan Bundy (2.93) and Gausman (3.83) all have sub-4.00 ERAs over that stretch.

The starting ERAs since Aug. 1 for Hellickson (6.87 ERA), Jiménez (8.22) and Tillman (9.72 ERA) are lacking, to say the least.

The Orioles rode some strong starting pitching to their season-long seven-game winning streak last month that propelled them back into the middle of the American League wild-card race, but have struggled since.

“When we won those seven games, you’re talking about in a row, we’ve gotten some quality starting pitching and when we didn’t, a couple of those games we were able to make up for it in other areas so that’s going to have to get better,” Showalter said Thursday. “We’ll see.” Showalter mourns loss of mentor: Showalter is a storyteller, and if you listen to him long enough, the tales will eventually lead to the lessons he learned from former New York Yankees executive

in surviving his first major league managerial job with baseball’s most recognizable franchise.

He told some of those stories Thursday morning, hours after he learned of Michael’s death at the age of 79 of a heart attack in Florida. But the words didn’t come out as easy, his voice breaking several times talking about one of his biggest mentors.

Showalter, whose Orioles ended a three-game series with a makeup game against the Yankees on Thursday afternoon, was informed of the passing of Michael – the player, coach, manager, general manager, scout and special adviser with the Yankees who was often simply referred to by his nickname, “Stick” – while driving to Camden Yards on Thursday.

“Tough, tough day,” Showalter said. “It’s really hard to talk about it. My wife called me on the way in today right after I left the house. … I’ve cried enough today.

“You hear things that makeyou pull off the road; that’s one of them. … It’s a loss for everybody. … He had done it all. He was trying to keep you from stepping on your tail like he did, as he put it.”

Showalter and Michael remained close, and Michael — who lived in the Tampa area — would often visit Showalter when the Orioles came to Yankee Stadium, most recently on the team’s last trip there in June.

“He’s the one who [said] the first time I heard, ‘Friends are people who know all about you and still like you,’” Showalter said. “Last time we were in New York he told me, ‘Hey I know you. You ain’t gonna fool me.’”

TheOrioles have returned to prominence under Showalter’s on-field leadership, but he cut his teeth with the Yankees and was given his first big league managerial job by Michael in 1992. They both were removed from their Yankees posts in 1995. Stacking bullpen more than a numbers game: Since rosters expanded last Friday, the Orioles bullpen has accounted for 352⁄ innings, entering Thursday with the fourth most in the American League. While the addition of right-hander gave the Orioles 12 relievers, it doesn’t necessarily make for a better, deeper bullpen.

“I tell you one thing,” Showalter said. “I think it gives you too many toys. Not toys, but sometimes the options can kind of get in the way of some good decisions. It’s tough. You like the idea of being able to cover some innings, physically with some guys, but that’s the extent to how we like it.”

The additional relievers don’t necessarily mean more rest for his late-inning pitchers. Over the past week, closer (five innings) and setup man (four) are among the team’s top three relievers in terms of innings. September call-up

leads them with 52⁄ innings. Hardy for Cleveland? After a round of hitting and throwing before Thursday’s game to test his right arm, shortstop said he expected to be activated from the 60-day disabled list and be available to play before Friday’s series opener in Cleveland.

Hardy went on the DL with a broken bone in his right wrist on June 19 and most recently dealt with arm soreness that required a cortisone injection. Showalter has said that the biggest obstacle with Hardy is ensuring he’s pain free while hitting, but Hardy said he came out of that session feeling good. Around the horn: Shortstop singled twice Thursday, giving him his 16th multihit game in his 35 games with the Orioles. … Catcher double Thursday snapped an 0-for-10 streak for him. … Center fielder had two hits, giving him a .300 average on the team’s 10-game homestand.