Cubs claim Berken off waivers (scoring change gives Machado triple)

The Chicago Cubs have claimed reliever Jason Berken off waivers. The Orioles designated Berken for assignment to make room for left-hander Zach Phillips on the 40-man roster. Berken appeared in one game for the Orioles this year, allowing seven runs (two earned) in one inning in a May 7 game against the Rangers. He was 5-6 with a 3.50 ERA in 26 starts with Norfolk. Before this season, Berken was 10-17 with a 5.34 ERA in 105 major league games, all with the Orioles, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Clemson University. Jason Hammel said he's "good to go" after being hit on the right elbow last night. Troy Patton (ankle) did half of his throwing today off a flat mound and half off a half mound. He's still scheduled to throw off a regular mound Monday. Jim Thome (herniated disc in neck) took 40 dry swings today. The Orioles still want to slow him down to avoid any setbacks. Manager Buck Showalter thinks Thome could rejoin the team later this month. And yes, Thome would be eligible for the playoff roster. Showalter said the club has a pretty good read on what caused the inflammation in Chris Tillman's right elbow, "and we won't do that anymore," he said, without elaborating. As I wrote earlier, Tillman could throw off a mound Saturday after long tossing today. The Orioles will continue to monitor Miguel Gonzalez's innings, keeping in mind that he pitched winter ball. Gonzalez and Tillman are two starters that Showalter would consider using out of the bullpen, saying it's "all hands on deck." However, he wouldn't put Wei-Yin Chen in the 'pen. Kevin Gausman, the Orioles' first-round pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, probably will be limited to three innings during tonight's start for Double-A Bowie in Game 3 of the Eastern League Playoffs in Erie. For the Yankees: Derek Jeter SS Nick Swisher RF Robinson Cano 2B Alex Rodriguez DH Russell Martin C Curtis Granderson CF Andruw Jones LF Steve Pearce 1B Casey McGehee 3B Phil Hughes RHP MORE NOTES: Over Chen's last 20 starts, the Orioles have scored three runs or fewer while he was in the game 12 times and have scored a total of 72 runs. Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer in the first inning Thursday, his 10th career homer against the Yankees - the most he's hit against any opponent. According to Elias, it was Wieters' first career first-inning home run. Entering the game, he had a .159 average and no home runs in 107 first-inning at-bats in his four seasons in the majors, and his first-inning batting average was the lowest in the majors over the last four seasons among all players with at least 100 at-bats in the opening frame. Mark Reynolds is batting .423 (11-for-26) with eight homers and 16 RBIs in his last seven games. According to Elias, Reynolds is the second major leaguer to hit at least eight homers in a seven-game span over the last six seasons, joining the Rangers' Josh Hamilton, who did it in four overlapping seven-game spans in May this year (with a high of nine homers). According to Elias, Reynolds became the second player in Orioles history to have three multi-homer games in a four-game span against one team. Luke Scott had three multi-homer games in four games against the Tigers on Aug. 17, 2008-May 29, 2009. Darren O'Day won his career-high seventh game last night. ONE MORE NOTE: A scoring change from the second inning of Monday afternoon's game in Toronto has removed an error on Blue Jays right fielder Moises Sierra and given Orioles third baseman Manny Machado a much-deserved triple. Eleven of Machado's 26 hits are for extra bases: five doubles, three triples and three home runs.