BALTIMORE — Needing to create roster room to activate both starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo and shortstop J.J. Hardy from the disabled list on Saturday, the Orioles optioned two pitchers to Triple-A Norfolk.
After struggling starting pitcher Mike Wright was optioned to Norfolk late Friday night, Baltimore sent down left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland, who pitched two scoreless innings and threw 25 pitches in the 13-3 loss to Toronto. The move leaves the Orioles with a seven-man bullpen after Ubaldo Jimenez was demoted to a relief role earlier in the week.
With Manny Machado’s four-game suspension about to begin, manager Buck Showalter prefers keeping both Ryan Flaherty and Paul Janish on the roster — Baltimore will play with 24 players while Machado is out — but the state of the bullpen will go a long way in determining how feasible that is. The Blue Jays entered Saturday having scored 10 or more runs in five of their last seven games with three of those contests coming against the Orioles.
With Wright demoted and now set to start for the Tides, the Orioles will need a starter for Wednesday’s game against San Diego. Odrisamer Despaigne and Jimenez would appear to be the in-house candidates to take the ball on that day, but their usage over the next few days will be a major factor. The struggling Jimenez clearly wouldn’t be received as a popular option as he threw 62 pitches and allowed five earned runs in 2 1/3 innings on Friday to raise his season ERA to 7.34.
The Orioles entered Saturday with a 4.93 starter ERA, ranking 13th out of 15 American League clubs.
