Bud Norris hopes he can start Monday
Right-hander eligible to come off DL that day; Bundy’s start delayed
If Orioles right-hander Bud Norris had his way, he’d be starting against the Washington Nationals on Monday, the day he’s eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list.
Norris said he hasn’t had any setbacks in his recovery from a strained right groin, which forced him to leave the game against the New York Yankees on June 21.
“I haven’t felt anything pop up since,” Norris said. “I feel better day by day.”
But Showalter isn’t ready to name Norris his starter for Monday, saying the right-hander is only “still in play” to pitch that night.
Norris took pitcher’s fielding practice Thursday afternoon and will have either a bullpen session or a simulated game today. Showalter explained that both work days will help the Orioles determine a timetable for the right-hander’s return.
“He definitely needs to get this under his belt,” Showalter said.
Because Norris will have spent so little time on the disabled list, he doesn’t necessarily need a rehabilitation start, but it remains possible, Showalter said.
Norris is 7-5 with a 3.62 ERA in 14 starts this year. His current four-game winning streak equals the best of his career.
Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez will start for the Orioles today against the Boston Red Sox, and right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez will take the mound Saturday. Showalter still hasn’t announced a starter for Sunday, though left-hander T.J McFarland and right-hander Kevin Gausman, who is temporarily at Single-A Aberdeen, are likely candidates.
If Norris doesn’t pitch Monday, right-hander Chris Tillman could start on regular rest.
Nelson Cruz thought he had his 27th home run of the season in the second inning Wednesday night, but Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin leaped at the wall and pulled the ball back. A few hours later, Cruz received a text. “I’m Sorry,” Martin wrote. Cruz laughed. “I said, ‘Don’t be sorry. It’s OK. It’s part of the game,’ ” Cruz said. Cruz and Martin played parts of three seasons together in Texas and still keep in touch.
Entering Thursday, Cruz was in a three-way tie for the major league home run lead with the Toronto Blue Jays’ Edwin Encarnacion and the Chicago White Sox’s Jose Abreu. Cruz has also been robbed this year by the White Sox’s Alejandro De Aza.
With High-A Frederick’s game postponed because of rain Thursday night, Dylan Bundy’s next rehab start has been pushed back to tonight in Lynchburg.
It will be the right-hander’s fourth rehab game since undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction in June 2013, and it will be his first for the Keys.
In three games with short-season Single-A Aberdeen, Bundy, 21, allowed just one run on 10 hits while striking out 22 in 15 innings. He had a 0.60 ERA there.
In his last start for the IronBirds, on June 27, Bundy pitched five scoreless innings against Hudson Valley, striking out seven and yielding just three hits. He threw 70 pitches, 48 for strikes.
The Orioles’ top pitching prospect, Bundy has allowed a hit and a walk over 12⁄ innings in two games with the club.
Around the horn
Orioles catcher Matt Wieters, who had season-ending surgery to repair a ligament in his right elbow in June, will join the club from Thursday to Sunday next week in Baltimore. … Outfielder Henry Urrutia, who is on the minor league disabled list after undergoing sports hernia surgery in May, will begin a rehab assignment next week. ... Right-hander Steve Johnson (St. Paul’s), who was on the Triple-A disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, will pitch two innings Saturday for the Gulf Coast League Orioles. … The Orioles announced that they signed third baseman Austin Anderson, the club’s ninth-round selection of the first-year player draft. ... Thursday was right-hander TommyHunter’s 28th birthday. … Adam Jones extended his hitting streak to seven games with a first-inning single Thursday.
Cruz on robbed home run
Weather delays Bundy’s start