Britton may have only gone six innings in the game, however Tommy Hunter potentially did the club a huge service by pitching the final two innings of the game (obviously Seattle didn’t have to take a turn at bat in the last of the ninth). That means that Jim Johnson and T.J. McFarland are both on 2+ days of rest, and the rest of the bullpen (with the exception of course of Hunter) has one day of rest. I suppose there still might be a few tired arms out there, however the Orioles’ pen is probably in the best shape it’s seen in a week.

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After the sixth Britton was at 101 pitches; with a tired pen, Buck Showalter might have had an inkling to at least see if Britton could go just a bit further. However a bizzare circumstance in the last of the sixth probably closed the door on Britton for the night. Home plate umpire Alan Porter routinely threw a ball back to Britton, and the ball appeared to hit him above the left forearm. Britton was in obvious discomfort, and Showalter and trainer Ritchie Bancells examined him and at least felt comfortable letting him finish the inning. While the Orioles probably shouldn’t expect Porter to issue a mea culpa, I think they’d probably appreciate it. That’s exactly the reason why umpires should hand the balls back to the catcher to throw back. That’s not something that in anyway affected the outcome of the game, however it is something that could affect Britton.

With Seattle leading 1-0, Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer off of former Oriole Joe Saunders to give the O’s a short-lived 2-1 lead in the fourth. In the last of the inning Seattle reclaimed the lead at 3-2 on Jason Bay‘s RBI-double and former Oriole Robert Andino‘s RBI-single. Seattle manufacture thee more runs  in the sixth to close out the scoring for the night, defeating the Orioles 6-2.

The Birds now need to decide what to do with Britton. My money would be on him getting at least one more start, which would come Saturday in Anaheim. That’s not said with any firsthand knowledge of the situation, just a gut feeling. My initial thought is that Britton probably isn’t injured in a significant manner from the Porter throw from last night, however as opposed to wasting an option might the Orioles also consider using that to send him to the DL? That would open up a roster spot for another pitcher such as Steve Johnson or Freddy Garcia to come up and make the start on Saturday. (On an unrelated note it might also send a message to the league to control the actions of their umpires, because something like that should never happen.) The Orioles have options, but one thing at a time.

The series continues tonight as Jason IN mel reeturns to the mound after a great start in Oakland last week. Hammel will be opposed by Brandon Maurer who though has been solid of late, struggled in his first two starts of 2013. Expect on-base machine Nate McLouth to be back in the lineup tonight after sitting last night with a southpaw on the mound.

However might there be a way for the Orioles to get some bullpen relief moving forward? The O’s have off days on May 6th, 13th, and 15th. (And for the record, that’s some pretty poor scheduling on the part of MLB to have a team have two days off during a homestand while they have no day in between finishing up a series at home and opening another on the opposite coast.) Zach Britton will slide into the #5 starter role tonight, and his turn in the rotation would in theory come up again on Saturday afternoon in Anaheim. With the days off in between, the O’s could certainly afford to send Britton (or someone else for that matter) back to the minor leagues in order to call up and carry an extra reliever on the roster.

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I would suspect and hope that this is something that’s being thrown around between Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette as we speak. In order to garner the most return out of a move like this, the O’s would want to decide on who they wanted to summon to the big league club, and have that person join the team either on Saturday or Sunday in Anaheim. As soon as Saturday’s game is complete, they could option Britton back to triple-A, and add the new guy to the roster to be available to pitch in Sunday’s series finale. If needed, that guy could be the long man or first guy up in the pen on Sunday, which would still make him available to pitch next Tuesday in relief if needed when the O’s welcome the Kansas City Royals to Camden Yards on Tuesday night.

Given the frequency of the days off ahead, that would also allow the Orioles to go with a four-man rotation and to keep that fifth starter (presumably Britton) in the minors for the required ten days before recalling him. The way the season has shaped up for the first month or so, that extra reliever might serve the club better than carry a fifth starter when it’s not necessary to do so. Given this scenario, my guess would be that Steve Johnson (who’s currently making some rehab appearances in Norfolk) might be the first guy called up. Johnson of course made some starts towards the end of last season, however again at the moment I feel that the bullpen is something that needs attention.

If the Orioles go this route, my guess is that it would happen regardless of what happens this week. For all we know the O’s get a string of starts whereby the starter goes deep into the game coming up over the course of the next few days, giving the pen some rest. However again I suspect that if the scenario laid out above were to come to fruition, it would happen withstanding that possibility. I also suspect that it could happen regardless of how Britton pitches tonight and presumably on Saturday. He could have two great starts and end up on the way back to the minors. But that’s part of baseball (roster games that is).

As I said above, the Orioles do have three starters with a minimum of one game’s rest going into Seattle tonight. Safeco Field’s dimensions changed over the off season with the fences being brought in, but it’s still a park that will play better for pitchers than hitters. It will also be nice for the Orioles to see Robert Andino, their former teammate who was dealt to Seattle in the off season.

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Britton’s issue yesterday seemed to be that his sinker wasn’t sinking, which has been a challenge for him since coming to the big leagues. Last season he developed a four-seamer which seemed to work at times, but Britton’s issue has seemed to be that he can’t consistently get those pitches over for strikes. In terms of the actual game, with Toronto leading 5-0 J.J. Hardy and Nolan Reimold delivered back-to-back home runs in the last of the second, an inning in which Nate McLouth also homered. That cut Toronto’s lead to 5-3. Reimold would homer again in the third, as would Chris Davis to tie the game at five. Brian Roberts‘ two-out RBI single in that same inning would give the Birds the lead for good at 6-5. Later in the game Roberts would foul a ball off his foot, however Buck Showalter indicated that Roberts was expected to start tonight against Pittsburgh in Sarasota.

Going back to Britton, he said after the game that he still feels he can make the club. Mentally it sounds like he’s in the right place, which is a good thing. However he also seemed acutely aware of the fact that there’s only one full week left in camp, and things are winding down. Even in he doesn’t necessarily announce it to the media, I suspect that manager Buck Showalter might start putting guys into a rotation of sorts starting next week.The Orioles’ final spring game is Saturday, March 30th against the New York Mets. They’ll spend Sunday packing up camp and then have a workout at Tropicana Field on Monday April 1st before the April 2nd opener at Tampa.

Personally I think that a sinkerballer like Britton (and a southpaw at that) would be a huge asset to the Orioles’ rotation. However with his spring ERA ballooning to 6.10 with this one outing, it definitely has to give Buck Showalter and pitching coach Rick Adair pause. If Britton’s past is any indication I believe that he’ll rebound fairly strong in his next outing. However that in and of itself is part of the problem the Orioles have seemed to always have with Britton in that he hasn’t been able to consistently turn in strong outings. Again, sometimes pitchers have days where things just aren’t clicking the way they should be. Britton picked a bad time to have that happen, but if Showalter’s comments and Britton’s attitude are any indication he’s not out of this fight yet.