Notes on Tillman, Britton, Rasmus, Beckham and more

OAKLAND, Calif. - Chris Tillman will be available in the bullpen for Sunday's game against the Athletics that concludes the West Coast trip.

Tillman threw only 47 pitches Thursday night in Anaheim while retiring three batters in a 12-3 loss. He wanted to be in the bullpen tonight, according to manager Buck Showalter, but the club decided to give him an extra day's rest.

Showalter hasn't revealed whether Tillman is staying in the rotation and, if so, when he'd take the mound again. The Orioles don't need a fifth starter until next Saturday.

Closer Zach Britton completed his fielding drills today and the next step is facing hitters in batting practice. It could happen during the upcoming homestand that begins Tuesday night.

"I don't think we're quite there yet," Showalter said.

"He had another good day. It was nice of Oakland to let us use the field. Chewed it up a little bit. We replaced our divots. He did well and just watching him run and cover first and get off the mound, he's starting to do it without thinking about it and that's good to see. How far along he is.

"He's done a great job with the rehab. Brian (Ebel) said he's as good a patient as you could have because he doesn't want to have any setbacks."

Outfielder Colby Rasmus continues to hit down in Sarasota while remaining on the disabled list with a left hip flexor strain. He hasn't played since April 6 in the Bronx.

"We've got it mapped out to a possible return date, but nothing imminent with that," Showalter said. "He's just starting to do a lot of baseball activities."

Rasmus was 2-for-21 with 13 strikeouts before heading to the DL. He was supposed to be the left-handed hitting right fielder and backup center fielder, and losing him had a ripple effect that included more exposure for Anthony Santander.

"That's one thing, I'm hoping he comes back and is healthy and starts contributing like we know he's capable of," Showalter said. "He'd be a good asset to get back to us and that's kind of forgotten because he wasn't performing real well when he was here. But I'm hoping getting the hip healthy and everything kind of helps him get kick-started."

Third baseman Tim Beckham also is in Sarasota while rehabbing from core muscle surgery.

"He's doing well," Showalter said. "It's six, seven weeks and that's what it'll be. I don't think it'll be any earlier or later than that. That's a pretty standard recovery on that. It'll be somewhere in that period.

"I'd love to think that Zach's going to make his on time and Colby's going to make his on time. We'll see. I'm really hoping Jon (Schoop) is a player for us on Tuesday. I'm hoping the next two days go well."

Schoop is 0-for-2 with two strikeouts so far tonight at Triple-A Norfolk.

Usually held back until the late innings of games, Brad Brach has appeared in the sixth and fifth in two of his last three outings. He's been struggling with an ERA that climbed to 6.55 before last night, when he allowed an unearned run in 1 1/3 innings and took the loss, but Showalter said the decisions were based more on availability.

Brach was equipped to go multiple innings.

"Both of them were because he was the guy who had the most rest," Showalter said. "He was the only guy down there with two days off available to finish an inning and pitch another. He pitched well in both of those situations.

"Kind of where he have been with some of our starts, the roles changed and they know that."

Brach didn't retire a batter in his previous appearance in Anaheim, with Justin Upton delivering a walk-off single.

"I think Brad more than anything wanted to get back out there, so he knew he was going to pitch at some point yesterday," Showalter said. "He got some big outs for us, kept us in that game."

For the Athletics
Matt Joyce LF
Marcus Semien SS
Jed Lowrie 2B
Khris Davis DH
Matt Olson 1B
Matt Chapman 3B
Mark Canha CF
Stephen Piscotty RF
Bruce Maxwell C

Trevor Cahill RHP