Christian Walker, leadoff hitters and the closer (O's lose 10-1)

A win tonight would put the Orioles one game below .500 for the first time since Aug. 27 in Kansas City. They were headed in the wrong direction, losing 12 of 13 games and tumbling down the division and wild card standings.

The Orioles are facing three left-handed starters in a row, including Boston's Henry Owens. Manager Buck Showalter chose tonight to put Nolan Reimold and Steve Pearce in his right-handed heavy lineup, but he's also got Gerardo Parra in right field and Chris Davis at first base.

Davis isn't leaving the lineup. Not with 42 home runs, 107 RBIs and his .300 average against southpaws.

It remains to be seen whether first baseman Christian Walker, recalled yesterday from Triple-A Norfolk, gets a start in the near future.

The Orioles are still getting their arms around Walker, as Showalter likes to say.

"You keep getting more and more knowledge of a guy from the people you respect and know what they're taking about. But there's never, ever a given, whether it's Christian or whether it's (Trey) Mancini," Showalter said. "You never know. It's a huge jump. And if you feel confident that they'll figure it out, a la Manny (Machado) or (Jonathan) Schoop or whoever, even Adam (Jones) at a young age, the thing that allows you to keep running them out there is, can they defend? Can they turn a hit into an out and can they make the plays that need to be made at this level?

"I think Christian's made strides. Not that he was bad. He wasn't bad. It's just the level of the way we have to do things, knowing who you are. We have to be good. And we're not going to strike out a lot of people from a starting standpoint."

Walker figures to get more at-bats if the Orioles are eliminated from playoff contention.

"I'm hoping some ways he doesn't get a whole lot of playing time, but I'm going to look for ways to see if his second half can carry on. He had a big second half for them," Showalter said.

"Everybody says, 'Well, you really need to find out about these guys.' What are you really going to find out in fall baseball? If you don't have a pretty good idea, as long as we've had Christian, of what he's capable of doing, then shame on us. We've had him for a long time."

Reimold is leading off tonight for the eighth time this season. The Orioles are 6-1 when he's atop the order. They've also used Machado for 111 games and gave Parra his first start as the leadoff hitter last night.

"We have options," Showalter said. "But I just think the way you look at leadoff hitters nowadays compared to the way you used to ... A lot of it is coming from high school and college. They're not there. When's the last time a guy was drafted and you said, 'Boy, this is going to be a heck of a leadoff hitter in pro ball?'

"I was thinking about bunting (Dariel) Alvarez the other day and I was talking to (Paul) Janish - it was during batting practice - and I said, 'How many times do you think you guys bunted with Alvarez this year?' And he said, 'None.' When's the last time you think Nolan bunted? Now is that good or bad? They do a lot of work on it, but I'm talking about in-game speed and bunting.

"That's kind of what's coming out of the draft. The game has changed a lot in college. It's a different game. They guys who are coming out are different."

The Orioles may have someone in their system from this year's draft, center fielder Ryan McKenna, who projects as that guy. He was selected in the fourth round out of St Thomas Aquinas High School and batted .265/.366/.324 in 10 Gulf Coast League games.

"The McKenna kid we drafted they think he might have the skills to be a leadoff guy," Showalter said.

If the Orioles have another save situation tonight, Showalter must decide who closes after using Zach Britton and Darren O'Day the past three nights.

"Who's your closer tonight?" he asked reporters. "It could be Zach."

Update: David Ortiz led off the second inning with a home run to center field off Mike Wright, the 501st of his career, to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

Update II: It may be another abbreviated start for Wright. He gave up an RBI single to Brock Holt and two-run homer to Dustin Pedroia in the third inning and now trails 4-0.

Update III: Wright didn't record an out in the fourth inning and the Orioles are down 9-0. He's charged with six runs after Jorge Rondon let both inherited runners score.

Pedroia hit a three-run homer off Rondon with two outs.

Wright allowed six hits, walked one and struck out one. He threw 60 pitches, 37 for strikes.

In his last seven starts, Wright has gone five, five, four, 1 1/3, four, five and three innings.

Update IV: The Red Sox scored a run off T.J. McFarland in the eighth inning after the Orioles made massive substitutions. Allen Craig came off the bench and delivered an RBI double to increase the lead to 10-0.

Update V: The Orioles lose 10-1, but they avoided their 10th shutout when Junior Lake reached on a two-base error in the ninth and later scored on Steve Pearce's grounder.

The Orioles had won six of their last seven games.