Showalter must juggle his bullpen
Manager won’t say much about adjusting roles with Britton injured
Manager Buck Showalter wasn’t willing to reveal much about his plans for the bullpen nowthat closer Zach Britton will be on the shelf for at least several days after jamming his left ankle Saturday night.
It seems logical that top setup manDarrenO’Daywill take over the closer role temporarily, but Showalter always likes to maintain anair of mystery about how he’ll handle his roster in situations such as this.
“I’ll never tell until I get there,” Showalter said before Sunday’s game. “We’ve talked about it. We’ve got some options.”
Of course, it’s not as simple as just pushing everybody in the short-relief progression back an inning, because there generally is a pitcher or two Showalter is not willing to use in a given game. He doesn’t broadcast that because it could become a competitive advantage for the opponent.
“It’d be easy if you had two or three days off before you played,” he said.
It seems likely he’ll line up Mychal Givens, Brad Brach and O’Day over the final three innings when they are available while retaining the option of matching them up when the head-to-head and right-left splits make that the better option.
He was asked whether Dylan Bundy could be used in a save situation.
“I’ll think about anybody that gives us the best chance to win the game,” Showalter said. Jimenez couldn’t keep rotation rolling: The Orioles’ starting rotation had been on something of a roll entering Sunday afternoon’s game against Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale, but Orioles’ right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez could not maintain that momentum.
Through the previous six games — including Saturday night’s 8-7 loss — Orioles starters had combined for an impressive 2.62 ERA, but Jimenez’s fifth start of the year came unraveled in a five-run fifth inning that was too much for the Orioles to overcome against one of the hottest starting pitchers in baseball.
Jimenez said that he felt fine through the first four innings, during which he worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second and gave up a solo home run to Brett Lawrie in the fourth. Then he surrendered five runs in the fifth. “Nothing changed,” he said. “I think I had everything working. Just one of those innings that you just shake your head and go like, ‘Wow. I can’t believe this is happening.’ ”
It was a soft parade of hits, but Jimenez also hit two batters in that inning and finished with four walks. Worley pitches in: Spot starter and middle reliever Vance Worley made his second relief appearance in as many nights and got kudos from his manager for saving the bullpen after Jimenez was knocked out. Worley pitched 31⁄ scoreless innings, bringing the Orioles to the ninth inning, when Brian Matusz took over.
“I was not surprised,” Worley said. “I was excited to get the ball in my hand again after last night. I felt great. Ball was coming out well, everything was doing what it needed to do. Made things interesting a couple innings, but I made some big pitches to get out of it. And the defense behind me was good, as usual.” Around the horn: Manny Machado singled in his first two at-bats and now has four consecutive multi-hit games. … Jimenez ended a string of seven straight starts in which he threw at least 100 pitches. He threw 84 Sunday. … Nolan Reimold, who drove in the only run Sunday, is batting .340 with 10 RBI in the past 15 games in which he’s gotten at least one at-bat. That dates back to Sept. 15.