Chris Tillman will head to the bump tonight against the likes of San Diego’s Andrew Cashner. San Diego on the whole is 16-21 and coming off of a sweep at the hands of Tampa this past weekend. That may be a far cry from the Orioles’ record of 23-15 coming into tonight’s game, however they had won six of their previous seven before heading to Tampa. Without sounding overly optimistic or overly brash, the Orioles will want to ensure that they’re able to win these games. With division play coming up following the San Diego series, winning the games you’re supposed to will go a long way towards maintaining your record in games that will undoubtedly end up being “grind ‘em out” type of games.

This series will feature San Diego’s hot-shot third baseman Chase Headley, in whom the Orioles had mild interest last summer. A trade acceptable to both sides was never worked out, and the Orioles ended up bringing Manny Machado up (one of the players in whom San Diego had been interested in return for Headley) to play third instead. Headley’s a great player that probably would have made an impact for the Orioles at some point, however sometimes it’s the moves you don’t make that pay off the best. I’ll re-iterate this again tomorrow, however all of Birdland has my permission to skip work to attend tomorrow’s 12:35 series finale!

Chen Update: The Orioles are expected to send Wei-Yin Chen to the DL at some point today due to the strained oblique. They’re expected to recall a starting pitcher, possibly Jair Jurrjens or Steve Johnson. (Jurrjens has an opt out clause in his contract for June 15th, and Johnson wouldn’t have to spend the necessary ten days in the minors after being sent down on Sunday morning because he’d be replacing Chen who was injured.) The Orioles also optioned reliever Mike Belfiore back to triple-A Norfolk yesterday, so there are now two roster spots with which the Orioles have to play. It would have stood to reason to me that for the time being the Orioles would leave the extra reliever up given that they don’t need a fifth starter, however Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette know what they’re doing. They don’t need to be questioned on this front because it’s obvious that they have some sort of plan.

Starter Jason Hammel only lasted four innings plus three batters, and all six Minnesota runs were charged to him. Hammel’s line: 4 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 6 K. The six strikeouts is a positive spin on things, however Hammel was pitching from behind in the count for most of the night. First-pitch strikes has been a bit of a theme for Orioles’ starters thus far in 2013, and even as far back as 2012. The idea is that you want to be able to get ahead in the count so that you can dictate what pitches you’re throwing to the hitter later on. Hammel couldn’t do it last night, and he struggled with command for most of his outing. Fans shouldn’t worry too much about Hammel, because his stuff is good and he’ll shake this outing in his next start. T.J. McFarland followed Hammel into the game, and was probably the unsung hero of the night. McFarland held Minnesota scoreless for two innings, just as Tommy Hunter (who got credited with the win) did following McFarland. Comebacks aren’t possible unless you start scoring and the other team is made to stop.

With Minnesota winning 1-0 in the second inning, Joe Mauer plated two runs with a two-RBI single with the bases loaded. Minnesota would add one in the third, and then two more in the fifth on an RBI-single by Plouffe and an RBI-ground out by Hicks. So come the top of the sixth the O’s trailed 6-0; enter those feelings of doubt for most teams, right? Not the Baltimore Orioles. Not the “comeback kids.” Suddenly they went from famine to having the sky raining doubles. Markakis doubled to lead off the inning, and he was plated by a Chris Davis RBI-double. Davis in turn scored on an RBI-double by Hardy, who scored on an RBI-double by Chris Dickerson. By the end of the inning the “comeback kids” had cut the Minnesota lead in half, and served notice to the home team that they’d be in a dog fight for the rest of the night…

…and with that said, Minnesota apparently wasn’t ready for a dog fight. You have to be of a certain mindset to play with a big lead as well, because often times what can happen is that they go into a coast-type mindset. Nate McLouth continued the doubles-parade in the top of the seventh, but Manny Machado bucked that trend with a measly infield single on which McLouth scored on an error by Plouffe. Machado ended up at second base on that error, and he scored on an RBI-single by Nick Markakis that brought the Birds to within two. And thus the doubles began again, as Markakis scored on an RBI-double by Chris Davis, and suddenly we had a tie game.

Courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The home team has a big advantage in any extra-inning game because in having the last at-bat they can end the game with one swing. Furthermore, they can utilize their closer in the top of the ninth and not have to worry about not having him to close out the game. However that aside, this game would have only been another one out of 162 had the Orioles allowed Minnesota to beat them with the last at-bat. Luckily for Orioles’ fans, they took care of business in the 10th inning. Chris Dickerson scored from second base on Manny Machado’s RBI-single, and Nick Markakis scored Nate McLouth with a sac fly. Adam Jones’ RBI-single scored Machado; in the backs of everyone’s minds had to be thoughts of not having to use closer Jim Johnson if the Orioles could put another run across, however Minnesota recorded the final out and we went to the last of the inning.

This wasn’t just any save for Jim Johnson; by recording his 35th save in a row, he broke a team record previously set by Randy Myers. Last season the O’s had a huge win on May 6th in Boston that included Chris Davis getting the win in relief. That was our first indication that this team could be something special. This win probably wasn’t quite as dramatic as that, however it serves to show us what this team is capable of doing. This was the Orioles’ first comeback win of six runs or more since 2010. Certainly Jason Hammel’s performance had much to be desired, however Hammel isn’t the type of player to sit and accept his outing. He’ll work in his next bullpen session to improve his command and hit his spots so that he isn’t working from behind in the count as much. However this was a great team win from the Orioles’ standpoint, and one in which they’re very deserving of that “comeback kids” term.

The Orioles will make a roster move before tonight’s game and formally call up Steve Johnson to make his first start of 2013 in place of the injured Miguel Gonzalez. No word of what the corresponding roster move will be, however I suspect that the O’s will probably option Alex Burnett back to Norfolk. Johnson will be opposed by Vance Worley of Minneosta, who’s still looking for his first win of 2013.

Manny Machado breaks up a double play against Toronto shortstop Munenori Kawasaki in the seventh inning at Camden Yards Tuesday night. Photo: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

You were expecting maybe Nolan Ryan?

What the Baltimore Orioles got out of Josh Stinson‘s emergency spot start yesterday was about what was expected. Part of Buck Showalter‘s thinking may have been to throw someone at the Jays on short notice about whom they knew almost nothing, unless some of them had played in the National League during the past two years. In his previous 20 big league games, with the Mets in 2011 and Milwaukee last year, Stinson had allowed only two homers in 22 1/3 innings.

The Orioles picked him up on waivers a day or two before the appearance. So much for that. He got rocked, which is bad news in itself, but because he only walked one, Toronto’s home run barrage somehow managed not to put the game out of hand.  

The Orioles fought back to tie it at 5 in the 7th inning, but of all people, Nick Markakis grounded out and left Manny Machado at third to end the inning. They left the winning run on third in the 9th. In the 10th inning, Nolan Reimold scorched what appeared to be the game-winning single to left field with Machado on second, but the ball got to a relatively shallow Rajai Davis too fast, and Machado hadn’t even reached third base yet when Davis fielded it. Machado was out by several feet at home to end the inning.

Jim Johnson, after pitching the top of the 1oth, came back out to throw the 11th, but loaded the bases and walked in the Jays’ go-ahead run. It was one too many deficits for the Orioles to overcome. It was also one too many innings for Johnson to pitch, so we probably won’t see that happen again for a while.

Moving on, it’s time for an 11-game Western swing, with tonight’s game kicking off a 4-game set in Oakland against the 13-9 A’s. Oakland is skippered by former Orioles backup catcher Bob Melvin, who played behind Mickey Tettleton for most of the Why Not? season of 1989, in addition to 1990 and ’91. There’s just one other reason Orioles fans might remember Melvin. He narrowly won the AL’s Manager of the Year award last year over Showalter.

Sunday’s final game of the series looms as an interesting matchup, as Bartolo Colón, the Dominican relic who turns 40 next month and has owned the Orioles for the better part of his career, faces (if the rotation plays true to form) Miguel Gonzalez. Colón has won only 35 games in the majors since his Cy Young-winning season of 2005 with the L.A. Angels, but three of those wins have come in this season’s first few weeks, an unlikely rebirth.

He did not pitch in 2010 due to right shoulder and elbow pain and damage to the rotator cuff, ligaments and tendons. Then last August 22, he was suspended for 50 games by MLB for testing positive for synthetic testosterone. The A’s gave him a second chance in the offseason. Left to conjecture is whether his early-season success owes itself partly to his arm being rested by the inactivity while on suspension.

Get ready to stay up late the next few nights. Jason Hammel pitches tonight.

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