Showalter on Machado leading off and more (O's win 4-0)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - In their latest effort to make the Baltimore media feel at home, the Rays served "Maryland style crab cakes" in the press dining room.

It's the thought that counts, and another classy gesture by the Rays, who have been gracious visitors in their own ballpark.

Third baseman Manny Machado is leading off tonight for only the third time in his career and the first since September 22, 2013. He lined out to right field on the first pitch from Rays starter Chris Archer.

Machado is the fourth leadoff hitter used by manager Buck Showalter. Alejandro De Aza has batted first in 15 games, Everth Cabrera in five and David Lough in one.

De Aza is batting .219/.265/375 with three walks and 21 strikeouts in 16 games. He trails only Chris Davis (32) for the most strikeouts on the club.

Machado gets the call tonight after batting second, sixth and seventh this season. He's 12-for-29 (.414) with three home runs in his last eight games.

"If not him, then who?" Showalter said. "I don't put as much emphasis on that as some. There used to be some preconceived idea of what a leadoff hitter is supposed to be. The only thing you're gaining is you get a chance to hit more and I think he's swinging the bat well. Now, (Chris) Archer can take whoever's hot and turn that into cold.

"Just a chance to get him some more at-bats and it was either he or David Lough and I kind of like David where he is, stretching out the speed a little bit. I know the players don't pay much attention to the batting order. Why is that a hot subject?

"How many true leadoff guys are there in baseball now, the way we used to look at them? Name them quick. On-base and run. They're not there. They're hard to find because the game's not really developing those type of guys anymore. I told you many times the computer says to take your best hitter and hit him first, take your second-best hitter and hit him second. The biggest thing over the course of the season is to get Adam Jones 50 more at-bats. We kind of do that in spring training. Whoever I want to get the most at-bats, I hit them the highest in the batting order so they can get out of the game the quickest."

Jimmy Paredes is serving as the designated hitter for the 10th time in his 11 starts since coming off the disabled list. Showalter prefers to keep that spot flexible and rotate players, but Paredes' hot bat and defensive limitations combine to change that approach.

"It just fits us well and Jimmy's squaring up a lot of balls more than most of our guys, so we're just going to ride that for a while," Showalter said. "It hasn't gotten in the way yet. It did a little bit there with Steve (Pearce) and Delmon (Young), but we're trying to keep everybody in the flow. It's early in the season and we're trying to get everybody started.

"He was one of the few guys who squared up two or three balls last night. They didn't all fall."

Paredes made one start at second base in Toronto, and he recently was inserted at third base in a game at Camden Yards and commited a throwing error on the first ball hit to him.

"He's working hard," Showalter said. "He's out there every day. He's improving. But it's still a challenge for him. He's getting better."

So are the times of the games, the last two being played in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 2 hours, 19 minutes.

"What drives the length of games more than anything is pitching, tempo of pitching," Showalter said. "More importantly, tempo of catchers. They've made a huge improvement on the tempo in their catchers here, but it still stayed in the division."

We're looking at you, Ryan Hanigan.

Showalter said it's possible that shortstop J.J. Hardy and infielder Ryan Flaherty will begin their injury rehab assignments on Monday unless it's decided that Hardy needs another day. Showalter checked the weather report and is considering a "Bowie special," where he'd watch the Baysox game and take a late train to New York.

The Orioles miss having Hardy, a three-time Gold Glove winner, on the field on a daily basis. They also miss Matt Wieters behind the plate and Jonathan Schoop at second base.

The Orioles began tonight ranked 24th in the majors with a .979 fielding percentage.

"We've gone through periods when we haven't played real well defensively," Showalter said. "We're still not as consistent defensively as we're going to be and we better be. I'm holding out that's going to be a strength that shows itself over a long season. That's something that shouldn't go into a slump. They say effort and defense shouldn't go into a slump."

The message about defense is delivered to every level of the farm system.

"Our guys in our minor leagues know," Showalter said. "Christian Walker has been out early just about every day down there (at Norfolk). He knows that's something he has to get better at."

The Rays scratched Desmond Jennings from tonight's lineup and replaced him with Tim Beckham. Jennings, who's dealing with left knee soreness, has four career home runs against Gonzalez in 25-bats.

Update: Chris Davis had an RBI single with two outs in the third inning and Steve Pearce followed with a two-run double to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead.

The Orioles hadn't scored at Tropicana Field in the last 27 innings.

Machado walked with one out and Paredes singled to fuel the rally.

Update II: Caleb Joseph hit his second home run of the season, and he wasn't cheated. The ball landed on the concourse above the left field bleachers to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning.

Miguel Gonzalez has allowed three hits, walked none and struck out five over six scoreless innings. He's thrown 76 pitches, 53 for strikes.

Update III: Gonzalez threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, walking one and striking out six. He threw 105 pitches, 70 for strikes.

Brad Brach stranded two inherited runners.

Gonzalez retired 17 of the last 20 batters and turned in the rotation's fifth consecutive quality start.

Update IV: The Orioles even the series with a 4-0 win over the Rays, their first shutout of 2015.

Brach tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings to record the save, and the Orioles improved to 11-11.