Zach Britton hurt in Baltimore Orioles’ win

Baltimore Orioles’ pitcher Zach Britton was hit on the bottom of his glove by a comebacker in last night’s 11-5 victory over Minnesota. After the game Buck Showalter said that Britton might end up with a bruise, but that he should be okay – no x-ray’s needed. According to Showalter the ball mainly hit Britton’s glove; and for what it’s worth he didn’t have to come out of the game. But this does invoke some bad memories for O’s fans, who still remember former pitcher Brad Bergesen being hit by a comebacker off the bat of Kansas City’s Brett Butler.

The good news in general is that Britton appears like he’s going to be okay. Perhaps the best news of the day for the Birds however came in the context of the 11-5 victory. Chris Tillman allowed three runs, but only one of them earned. Showalter said after the game that in his mind it should have been zero; Tillman himself also said afterwards that he was happy with his performance. Backup catcher candidate Johnny Monell’s three-run homer was also part of a five-run rally in the third inning. My personal opinion is that Monell will probably end up being Norfolk’s starting catcher, as the Orioles will probably keep Steve Clevenger. However it’s good to know that they have catchers in the system that have plate presence and so forth.

The Orioles will return to Sarasota this afternoon to take on Tampa at 1 PM. Manager Buck Showalter and several players will be leaving camp at some point tomorrow (possibly during their game) and flying briefly to Baltimore to attend the services for Monica Barlow, the team’s late Director of PR. For what it’s worth to fans, owner Peter Angelos paid out of his pocket to expand the number of seats on the team’s plane so that all of the players, coaches, and staff who wanted to attend would have the option of doing so.