Bleier: "It's just not working out for me or the team"

A medical check yesterday on Orioles reliever Richard Bleier revealed tendinitis in his left shoulder and the need to put him on the 10-day injured list.

The Orioles are recalling left-hander Tanner Scott and selecting the contract of reliever Josh Lucas from Triple-A Norfolk. Left-hander Josh Rogers was optioned after last night's game.

The 40-man roster had an open spot that Lucas is occupying. He's been assigned No. 70.

Bleier has made four appearances and posted a 14.54 ERA and 2.077 WHIP in 4 1/3 innings. He's surrendered two home runs.

The most recent outing on Tuesday included four runs charged over 1 1/3 innings and a late-night conversation with Brandon Hyde in the manager's office.

"It's just been a constant battle with my arm in general and the other night it got to the point where I couldn't make the pitches I wanted to make," Bleier said. "And when it gets to that I feel like it's just something that we can treat and kind of get me in a controlled environment where it's not like I'm doing a rehab assignment in the big leagues."

Bleier packed his bags and is headed down to Sarasota while the Orioles conclude their homestand today and then fly out to Boston to begin a two-city road trip.

"I'm going to take a couple days off and then kind of set like Hyde said and get back after it and continue progressing in a more controlled environment," Bleier said. "It's just tough to try to get back to 100 percent here in the big leagues, obviously, and it's just not working out for me or the team."

Bleier stayed ahead of schedule in his recovery from lat surgery in June and broke camp with the club as one of the feel-good stories of spring training. He doesn't have a timeline for his next return.

"I don't know exactly," he said. "I just know that throughout this entire process there's been various steps of progression, and I feel like I'm one step away from being back to normal. I'm close, it's just not quite there yet, so I just think if I can get rid of the shoulder tendinitis that I'm battling through right now that flared up the other day and then get back to a steady program like just continuing more of a rehab-type thing rather than trying to compete in major league games, I think that will do me really good."

Bleier said the discomfort isn't found in his lat area.

"My lat has actually been fine," he said. "This is in my shoulder, but I think a lot of lat injuries are misdiagnosed as shoulder injuries, so I think it's related to the lat, but there's no structural damage or anything like that.

"I think it's just part of the process, to be honest with you, where it's just you don't really feel 100 percent. They said it was nine months game-ready, but I think it takes a little longer than that for some people.

"I'll just head down to Sarasota and continue on more of a structured program and throwing and continue to try to build on what I've been doing and get my fastball back, my sinker back sinking. Then I'll do a controlled rehab assignment where I can pitch when I need to pitch and throw the innings I need to throw as opposed to, in big league games it's tough to ... 'I need to throw an inning today because I haven't pitched in a while' or whatever.

"It's hard to do a rehab assignment in the big leagues."

Bleier has kept his ERA below 2.00 in three major league seasons, and the stint on the IL is aimed at getting him back to his previous form. Bleier understands the reasoning, but there's still disappointment in another interruption.

"But I wouldn't call it a setback," he said.

"I think maybe I probably was over-ambitious with opening day. Spring went well, so it's kind of hard to say it was a bad idea, but just the way I felt and the way I was responding, I could tell I needed a little bit more time."

Bleier won't be ready to come off the IL after 10 days. How much longer is one of the unknowns confronting him.

"I don't think it's going to be much longer than that," he said. "It's definitely something that I'm hoping to get back here as quick as possible. But also when I'm back here I need to be able to compete and pitch like I normally do. It's hard to go out there and, you guys are all watching the games and you've seen me pitch in the past, as well. Obviously, it's not working out right now."

Here are the pitching matchups for the four-game series in Boston:

Friday: David Hess vs. Eduardo Rodriguez
Saturday: Andrew Cashner vs. Rick Porcello
Sunday: John Means vs. David Price
Monday: Dan Straily vs. Chris Sale

For the Athletics
Robbie Grossman LF
Marcus Semien SS
Stephen Piscotty RF
Khris Davis DH
Kendrys Morales 1B
Chad Pinder 3B
Jurickson Profar 2B
Ramón Laureano CF
Josh Phegley C

Aaron Brooks RHP