Notes on Hellickson, Castillo, Beckham and more

The Orioles finally made it back home after their 10-day West Coast trip. White pants instead of gray.

Jeremy Hellickson makes his fourth start with the Orioles. He shut out the Royals over seven innings in his debut, allowed three runs in six innings in Anaheim and allowed six runs in five innings in Oakland.

Not the way to trend.

Hellickson owns a 3.02 ERA and 1.056 WHIP in eight career games (seven starts) against the Angels. Albert Pujols is 2-for-14 with a double, home run and six strikeouts.

The Orioles are facing another left-hander, Andrew Heaney, who's making his 2017 debut following Tommy John surgery.

Heaney was a promising pitcher in 2015, going 6-4 with a 3.49 ERA in 18 starts. He faced the Orioles on Aug. 7 of that year and surrendered four runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings in the Angels' 8-4 win.

Jonathan Schoop and Matt Wieters homered off Heaney.

Wieters entered last night's game in San Diego batting .238/.289/.366 with 18 doubles, eight home runs and 44 RBIs in 93 games with the Nationals. He's thrown out 29 percent of runners attempting to steal, down from 35 percent last summer, and has been charged with five passed balls, four more than in 2016.

Wieters batted .301/.400/.534 with four home runs in 21 games in April, but it's been a struggle in the proceeding months. He hit .247/.275/.286 in 21 games in May, .202/.221/.357 in 22 games in June and .230/.265/.311 in 18 games in July. Before last night, he was 6-for-33 (.182) in 11 games in August.

Meanwhile, replacement Welington Castillo is batting .284/.319/.456 with nine doubles, 12 home runs and 37 RBIs in 68 games with the Orioles. He's thrown out 49 percent of runners attempting to steal, and he's been charged with five passed balls after committing 10 last season in 107 games with the Diamondbacks.

Does Castillo exercise his $7 million option next season? There are plenty of people in the organzation who are wondering and predictions lean both ways.

Tim Beckham enters the Angels series tonight batting .485/.507/.879 with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 12 RBIs in 16 games with the Orioles. He has hits in 15 of those games and multiple hits in 11.

The Orioles are working with Beckham on how to receive throws at second base, doing it their way to increase the odds of a caught stealing. The tutoring took hold in a game in Seattle.

Beckham is showing off nice range - he ran down a ball in shallow center field Wednesday afternoon with his back to the infield - but he doesn't transfer the ball as smoothly as J.J. Hardy.

Hardy will take batting practice on the field today at Camden Yards and he's nearing an injury rehab assignment. What happens after he comes off the disabled list is anyone's guess.

Beckham is swinging such a hot bat and he's becoming a nice fit atop the order. It's a pleasant problem to have, but it's still messy.

Schoop has hit safely in 28 of 33 games since the All-Star break, batting .319/.365/.548 with seven doubles, eight home runs and 32 RBIs. He's hitting .310/.359/.533 in 49 games in the third spot in the order.

Since pitching the ninth inning on Aug. 2 and 4, Darren O'Day has been used in the sixth, seventh, eighth, seventh and fifth. It was especially strange to see him warming in the fifth in Seattle.

O'Day hadn't entered a game in the fifth since Sept. 18, 2016, the first time it happened since 2012. He's allowed one run and two hits this month in 7 1/3 innings.