Showalter on Wright, Britton, Givens and Bundy

Slow news day this afternoon at Camden Yards.

Nothing in the way of significant injury updates. Utility infielder Ryan Flaherty may not be ready to begin a rehab assignment later this week, but there haven't been any setbacks. Mike Wright remains with the Gulf Coast League team and will get another start after pitching yesterday and allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Manager Buck Showalter said he continues to view Wright as a starter, though the former third-round pick out of East Carolina was working out of the bullpen in the majors until coming down with bursitis in his right shoulder.

"Obviously, everybody's need, including us for the most part, is for starters and you want to go down that road as long as you can," Showalter said.

"I think Mike's shown that he could fill that other role, but I feel like we could take most starting pitchers and do that. Somebody's got to start and that's always a priority. It's five innings compared to one or two. It's pretty easy to do the math with that. So, I'm hoping Mike could still be an option for us there.

"I don't know how other people feel about it. That's the way I'm going to approach it for right now."

Showalter called upon Brad Brach last night to record the save in a 3-1 victory over the Rangers. However, he still seems intent on slotting Zach Britton back into the closer's role.

"I'd like to have Zach get to the point that he was last year and has been a little bit for us this year and, hopefully, will be for us next year," Showalter said. "Brad's a guy who's capable of pitching multiple innings, and when we were able to extend him and have him pitch in a lot of different roles ... Well, not roles, but when you see a part of the order that's really big in the seventh inning or even the sixth inning, you're able to use him. Of course, you could say, 'Why don't you do that with Zach?'

"Yesterday was a day I really wanted to pitch (Britton) a second day in a row, which is something he's already done. Keep that in mind. He's done it in the minor leagues. But I just didn't' think it was quite fair for him yet, but he's getting ready. If he continues down the path, he's getting ready to be able to do that again. So, we'll see."

Mychal Givens retired the side in order last night in the eighth inning as a major contributor to the win. Givens has allowed one run in his last 11 appearances and two in his last 19. He's worked multiple innings in eight of those games.

Givens posted an 0.71 ERA in June with one run allowed in 12 2/3 innings. He walked two batters and struck out 13, and opponents hit .186 against him. He surrendered one run in 7 1/3 innings this month, with one walk and 10 strikeouts, and opponents are hitting .125.

Perhaps the most important change in Givens is his success versus left-handers. They posted a .366 average against him last season, but it's down to .150 this summer.

Showalter is reluctant to talk about Givens for fear of jinxing him or giving away too much to the opposition.

"He and Roger (McDowell) tightened up his slider, that it wasn't quite as mistake-prone," Showalter said. "You'll notice it on the gun that he's throwing a little harder, a little smaller. Changeup, something he started some last year, and Roger and them helped him kind of finish that pitch off. He got a strikeout, one or two with it, the last two outings. You see how much better his numbers against left-handed hitters have become.

"Those are things that, when you talk to him, as he gets older and some nights he's not throwing with that plus-velocity, that he's going to have to have the ability to defend himself. So, I think that's been one of the things that's allowed him to pitch at another level at times. And believe me, if he throws a couple (changeups) a game, the way advance scouting is, once you put that in the back of a left-handed hitter's mind ... The next step is going to be for him to be able to throw it against right-handed hitters.

"Mike is real athletic. He may get out of whack for a little while, but he kind of gets back in order. He doesn't let things snowball as much."

Chris Tillman's outing last night, with one run allowed over six innings, lowered the rotation's ERA to 5.96 in 92 games. A little more distance from the Reds, who are last in the majors at 6.12 in the same number of games.

Tillman was working on extended rest, needing three work days between starts. There's also a significant cap for Dylan Bundy, who's making his first start tonight since July 6 in Minnesota.

Bundy hasn't done as much work as Tillman, who left the team to go on paternity leave. The Orioles simply were looking to rest Bundy in his first full season as a starter.

There's really no way to know whether Bundy will respond as Tillman did.

"I wish I knew," Showalter said. "Some guys really benefit from it. Some guys don't.

"I know physical, it usually does them some good. Some guys, it takes a while to get back on the horse. I think a lot of it depends on how engaged they are between (starts).

"We really wanted Dylan to have some down time."

Did Showalter imagine that Bundy would be 1 2/3 innings from last season's total on this date?

"We were hoping that he'd be like this and would be getting into some games deeper than conventionally thinking," he replied. "I'm hoping that a lot of this that we're doing with him is productive for a pitcher in October. We're still holding out hope for that. That's a lot of why it was designed as such."

Update: Shin-Soo Choo homered to center field on Bundy's second pitch of the night to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. However, the first six batters reached against Tyson Ross in the bottom half, and the Orioles took a 6-1 lead.

Jonathan Schoop had a two-run double and Chris Davis followed with a two-run homer on a ball that deflected off center fielder Carlos Gomez's glove. Mark Trumbo singled and Trey Mancini hit a two-run homer.

The six runs match the highest total for the Orioles in the first inning this season.