Joseph's offensive game got healthy while Castillo was hurt

Caleb Joseph probably will have to wait until Sunday to get back into the Orioles' lineup, his regular duty interrupted by Welington Castillo's return from the disabled list. Day games after night games are his best friend.

Joseph accepts his role. Embraces it, actually. Sure beats playing in the minors.

If there's a silver lining to Castillo's absence from the lineup due to right shoulder tendinitis, it's how Joseph responded to it. He's now batting .268/.278/.451 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs and nine RBIs in 20 games. As you probably heard, he batted .174/.216/.197 last summer and didn't have an RBI in 49 games.

Joseph went 4-for-4 in a May 8 game against the Nationals and was 3-for-3 with a double and triple on May 12 in Kansas City. There's picking up the slack and there's also running with an opportunity.

"It did a lot for me personally," Joseph said. "Coming off such a disastrous 2016. I knew in my heart that '16 wasn't the real me and '14 and '15 were more of what I could do. Under a bad situation with Weli getting hurt, I was able to kind of get consistent at-bats and was able to, it's not prove to myself or others, but more or less remind, I think, that I'm much better than what I showed in 2016. But at the end of the day, it's about winning games and I think that's what I'm most proud about, contributing both offensively and defensively to winning games.

"We had a nice little stretch there. And now that Welington's back, just try to stay sharp with (Scott) Coolbaugh and (Howie) Clark and when your name is called, go out there and do your best. Just like we talked about at the beginning of the year. But yeah, anytime you have confidence, I think it just breeds success. I'm feeling confident right now and hopefully that continues into whenever the next start is."

Joseph has 19 hits in 71 at-bats this season. Orioles catchers began last night leading the majors with a .325 average, including Francisco Peña's four hits in seven at-bats before the Orioles designated him for assignment.

Castillo singled last night leading off the fourth inning, hit a game-tying two-run homer in the sixth and launched a two-run walk-off home run in the 10th, and his average has climbed to .365. He's collected three hits in each of the last four games

Castillo is batting .447 (17-for-38) during an eight-game hitting streak that ties the longest of his career.

"We knew Welington was a great hitter before we got him and he had (three) hits in his first game back," Joseph said. "The guy just hits. He's hit really wherever he's been. That's nice. You can plug him anywhere in the lineup and he's going to produce. That's a huge bonus for the lineup. Peña came in and just killed it for us.

"I think similarly with pitchers, a pitcher goes out and has a great game, I think it's not competition, but there's kind of a bar set that you want to continue that, and Welington kind of started that at the beginning of the year producing offensively. And I was able to kind of continue that and then Peña came in and we're just trying to produce when we're given the opportunity. With the idea in mind that the most important thing is defense with all of us.

"So, when those two align, you can have a great defensive game, call a great game, get the pitcher through a quality start and lead to the backend of the bullpen that closes it down, and you contribute offensively, that's an extremely productive day and you feel good about your contributions."

Kevin Gausman already has faced the Blue Jays twice this season, allowing two runs and walking four batters over 5 1/3 innings on April 3 in Baltimore and allowing one run and five hits in six innings on April 13 at Rogers Centre. He's 3-3 with a 3.99 ERA in 14 career games (nine starts) versus the Jays.

Gausman's season took a nasty downward turn after he returned to the states. Eight runs and eight hits over 2 2/3 innings in Cincinnati, five runs and eight hits - including three home runs - in 5 1/3 innings against the Red Sox, five runs and eight hits in six innings in New York and an ejection in Boston for a misplaced curveball in the second inning.

José Bautista is 2-for-18 (.111) with a double and home run lifetime against Gausman. Ezequiel Carrera is 5-for-14 (.357) with a double and home run and Darwin Barney is 5-for-10 (.500) with a home run.

Mike Bolsinger is making his third start this season and the first of his career against the Orioles. He's 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA, with seven earned runs (eight total) and 11 hits in 10 1/3 innings. He's walked six batters and struck out seven.

Bolsinger has faced two current Orioles. Castillo is 3-for-10 (.300) with four strikeouts and Seth Smith is 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.