About today's 11-1 loss ...

The Orioles and Athletics actually played a game this afternoon. It wasn't Major League Wrestlemania. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed six runs and walked five batters in 2 1/3 innings in an 11-1 loss at Camden Yards. The Orioles issued 11 walks on the day. It wasn't pretty by any stretch, but at least it gave Showalter something else to discuss besides Manny Machado's ejection. "(Jimenez) started out well," Showalter said. "The first two innings, it looked like we were going to get a quality start, and then the walks were a challenge for everybody today. How many did we end up with, eight or nine? It was a lot. Just can't compete, especially against a team like that walking that many people. "He just couldn't get it back in gear. You've seen him better than that. Today wasn't very good." Josh Stinson was scratched from today's start with Triple-A Norfolk in case the Orioles need a long reliever for Monday's series opener against the Red Sox. "We're going to talk about it now," Showalter said. "Obviously, we had plenty of time to talk about it during the game. It was kind of moving parts. You look at some of the options that aren't there on the card we carry in the dugout. We were able to stay away from people we needed to stay away today. We've got (Ryan) Webb and I was hoping to not pitch Tommy (Hunter) today. Other than the ability to pitch long relief right now, we're OK." Sounds like Stinson is needed as the bullpen had to cover the last 6 2/3 innings. Brad Brach and T.J. McFarland were the only relievers used, but they're the guys able to provide length. "You don't like to use both guys in one game that can give you long relief, but he got us through it," Showalter said. "I though Mac was particularly good. We were able to hopefully put on a lot more competitive front tomorrow because of the job those two guys did. But I was proud of the way they got through it for us. That was a lot of innings. I know we had 140 pitches through five innings, 136. Not a good recipe." Does Showalter view this series against the first-place Athletics as a barometer for his club? "I hear people talk about somebody making a statement," he said. "We're very close to winning two out of three against statistically the best team in the league, so they're good. We knew that. We knew that (Scott) Kazmir is having about as good a year as anybody in baseball. We beat one of the best pitchers (Sonny Gray) in the American League last night. There'll be another good team coming in behind them. That's why they call it the big leagues. It's relentless. "We'll regroup and be ready to regroup tomorrow. It will be the first time our guys have been able to get any rest in about four days, so I'm hoping that helps out a little bit."