Ailing Jones sits vs. Rays, is day-to-day
Outfielder (ankle) hadn’t missed back-to-back starts since 2011
Though Adam Jones was out of the starting lineup for consecutive games for the first time since 2011, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Jones’ tender left ankle felt better Sunday morning and likely would not require a trip to the disabled list.
Still, the club is being cautious with its star center fielder, which means the decision on when to return might not be in Jones’ hands.
“It’s the right thing,” Showalter said of the decision Sunday to keep Jones out against Tampa Bay Rays starter Jake Odorizzi, against whom Jones has hit a team-leading .471 (8-for-17).
“I don’t put Adam in that position, because I know what he’s going to say. It’s not fair to him. We know what he means to our club, and there’s some caution we have to take right now. I’m not saying he’s going to play” today.
Showalter said that at other points in the season, Jones might have been available. But for the durable outfielder, who played all 162 games in 2012 and sat out a combined five games in 2013 and 2014, any time out of the starting lineup is a rarity.
In September 2011, Jones missed a week while dealing with a thumb injury.
Jones played the first 47 games of this season, including Friday’s, a day after he turned his ankle sliding into home against the Chicago White Sox. An X-ray and MRI on Saturday revealed a mild ankle sprain, Showalter said, and Jones is considered day-to-day.
David Lough made his second start in center Sunday and his fourth in the outfield this week since Alejandro De Aza was designated for assignment.
“It’s unfortunate Jonesy is hurt right now, but I feel that I can hold down the fort for him while he’s gone for a few days,” Lough said. “And once he comes back, hopefully, I can build some trust in Buck in getting more at-bats and consistent playing time.”
Lough has been a fourth outfielder almost since he joined the Orioles in a trade with the Kansas City Royals for Danny Valencia before the 2014 season. Playing defense and pinch-running with the occasional start is something to which he has become accustomed.
“I’ve been in this role for a while now and I’ve embraced it with all I can,” he said. “So when I do get my chance to play, I just try to go out and do things that will help our team win.”
Still, he has welcomed the chance to see his name in the lineup again — before last week, he hadn’t started consecutive games since last June.
In two games in center field in place of Jones this weekend, Lough was 0-for-7, lowering his batting average to .239. Showalter said Lough is valued for his ability to play center field.
“He ran a ball down yesterday not many guys get to,” Showalter said. “That’s one of the reasons he’s valuable on our club, because he can do that.”
Wieters to catch Norris
Catcher Matt Wieters might end his yearlong comeback from Tommy John elbow surgery a day earlier than planned.
Wieters, who until last week was rehabilitating at the team’s facility in Sarasota, Fla., has caught three games for Double-A Bowie since Tuesday and was scheduled to catch twice more — tonight for High-A Frederick and Wednesday for Triple-A Norfolk — before being activated Friday.
But with right-hander Bud Norris (bronchitis) making a rehab start with Norfolk on Tuesday, the team and Wieters decided he should catch that game instead, and possibly be activated Thursday.
“He’ll catch in Norfolk, and if that goes well, he’ll join us and either DHon [Thursday] or catch on [Friday], so the fourth or fifth [of June] will be his first game,” Showalter said. “He’s eligible the fourth. ... There’s a lot of reasons, and also it kind of worked out with Bud, too.
“I think that will be good. He’s ready to go, at-bats and everything. He needs all the time, but [I’m] looking forward to getting him on the fourth if everything goes well Tuesday. Or the fifth.”
Though Wieters is eligible to come off the 60-day DLon Thursday, a return Friday would continue his schedule of catching every other day, which he established during his rehab assignments and plans to continue with the Orioles.
Wieters last played Saturday for Bowie, and had two hits in 11 at-bats over three games for the Baysox.
Paredes cools off
After showing the Houston Astros, for whom he made his major league debut, a bit of what they were missing, designated hitter Jimmy Paredes has fallen into the worst slump of his young season.
Paredes had five hits in 11 at-bats against the Astros after he reached the minimum at-bats to qualify for the batting title the previous weekend against the Miami Marlins.
But he went a combined 1-for-8 with five strikeouts in Thursday’s doubleheader against the White Sox, then didn’t have a hit in12 at-bats over three games against the Rays. Hestruck out six times in the series.
His batting average has dipped from .353, coming out of the Houston series, to .314. He entered Thursday’s games with just five hitless games all season but has had four since.
Around the horn
Right-hander Kevin Gausman (right shoulder tendinitis) will throw a two-inning simulated game Tuesday in Houston. Gausman then will make a rehab start of three innings or 45 pitches for Frederick on Saturday in Wilmington, Del., then throw between four and five innings, or 60 to 65 pitches, on June 11 for Bowie. … Right-hander Matt Hobgood, the Orioles’ first-round draft pick in 2009, was activated from the DL for Bowie on Sunday after missing more than six weeks with a shoulder injury. … The Orioles honored longtime reliever Tippy Martinez on the scoreboard during the third inning. He celebrated his 65th birthday at Camden Yards on Sunday.