Cashner MRI encouraging; rotation cloudy
Showalter: O’s ‘trying to satisfy a lot of things’ as Adam Jones sits again
The Orioles received encouraging news Thursday regarding right-hander Andrew Cashner, who had an MRI on his left knee that revealed no structural damage. But it’s still uncertain whether he will be able to make his next scheduled start Monday, further clouding a murky starting rotation situation over the season’s final three weeks.
The team already needs a starter for Sunday to fill in for right-hander Alex Cobb, who needs more time to recover from a nagging blister/cut on his right middle finger that forced a premature exit from Tuesday night’s start against the Oakland Athletics.
There’s also uncertainty around right-hander Dylan Bundy, who started Thursday and has struggled to the point that there has been consideration to shut him down for the season.
Cashner failed to record an out in the third inning Wednesday night, allowing eight runs in a 10-run frame in the Orioles’ 10-0 loss to the Athletics, raising questions about whether Cashner was pitching hurt. The left knee is Cashner’s landing knee, and he’s said in the past that whenhehadcontrol issues, it’s mainly from being unable to get on top of his delivery.
“We’re going to take a course. I think that he’s planning on getting a cortisone shot,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “That hasn’t been finalized, but it’s good news. Structurally, he’s in good shape. He’s got some discomfort in there that we hope that we can resolve the next few days and he can make some more starts for us before the season’s over.”
When asked whether Cashner would be able to make his next start, Showalter said: “Let me see the next day or two how the cortisone manages. Obviously, he’s been pitching, and pitched real well the first twoinnings. Thelast inning — hehas a little trouble getting over his front side sometimes. I think that’s probably what’s challenged him a little bit. He’s always been a good manipulator of the ball with his hand, but there’s certain things you really have to do.”
Cashner has failed to get through six innings in his past three starts, recording a11.25 ERA over that span.
“He’s been dealing with it somewhat for a while, but he’s been able to pitch through it, pitch well with it, and sometimes not,” Showalter said. “But I think it got to the point last night where he and we wanted to make sure there wasn’t something structural, anything more than tendinitis or whatever. At this point, nothing’s going to be surgically corrected, but we can go on without the risk of hurting it worse or whatever.”
Cobb’s cut issue re-emerged Tuesday after six days off, so the Orioles will give him at least more than that before he pitches again. Showalter said Cobb likely wouldn’t make his next start until next Friday’s series opener in New York.
“I know he won’t pitch Sunday, and I look at it maybe over-simplified,” Showalter said. “We gave him six days and he had an issue, so weknowthat it would be at least seven. We’ll take it further and see what goes.”
That leaves the Orioles relying on a mostly unproven rotation for the foreseeable future. Rookie right-hander Luis Ortiz will be given his first big league start in Friday’s opener against the Chicago White Sox. Right-hander Yefry Ramírez will start Saturday. Right-hander David Hess could be plucked from the bullpen to start Saturday. Showalter said the Orioles could add another starter not currently with the team. Jones sits again: Showalter said he has a lengthy process each time he has to pull veteran outfielder Adam Jones out of the lineup, which he did Thursday after Jones started the first two games of the homestand against the Oakland Athletics.
“Adam and I communicate constantly about it,” Showalter said. “We’re trying to satisfy a lot of things right now, but I won’t get into the reasons unless you ask me. We talked about it in detail, and that’s the way we’ll go tonight.”
Whenasked about those reasons, Showalter said satisfying the team’s in-person fan base at Camden Yards who want to see Jones in what could be the pending free agent’s final month with the club is one of “many factors.”
“It’s a lot of factors,” Showalter said. “I’m not going to get into what Adam said, exactly. Be careful about being too frank. I got it. It’s best for all concerned tonight.” Ortiz excited about first start: The 22-year-old Ortiz will become the 12th pitcher to start for the Orioles this season when he makes his first major league start Friday against the White Sox. Ortiz’s debut came in relief against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, when he allowed five of the seven batters he faced to reach base in the seventh inning of a 14-2 loss.
Ortiz expects to still have some jitters Friday, but he hopes those will go away the deeper he pitches into the game.
“The nerves are always going to be there,” Ortiz said. “It just something that just has to go away as the game goes.”