Some Tillman talk and a WBC update

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman got a cortisone injection yesterday for his shoulder discomfort. While cautious optimism seems to be the current mood about Tillman, with any pitching injury, we don't know until we know.

That sounds like a wiseguy response, but even if Tillman can return to pitch in April and looks good, we won't know if he can stay healthy and pitch well all year. We just won't know until we do.

On the positive front, the Orioles say no surgery is contemplated right now and Tillman has been feeling better. There is no talk right now of further MRIs or second opinions. But we also know that the platelet-rich plasma injection from December didn't resolve the issue.

For now, the Orioles seem inclined to stay in-house to replace however many starts Tillman has to miss.

"We've been encouraged by how some of these guys have thrown, some of these young guys, so we'll probably look there first," Duquette told MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko here.

Pitchers Chris Lee and Jayson Aquino have looked good in Florida, while Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson have experience starting for the Orioles. Gabriel Ynoa made three starts for the Mets last year, while Logan Verrett has made 16 for the same club over the last two years.

Two veterans that remain unsigned are right-handers Doug Fister and Colby Lewis.

Fister went 12-13 with a 4.64 ERA for Houston last year, but he did pitch 180 1/3 innings. He had a 1.425 WHIP. Since pitching to an ERA of 2.41 for the Nationals in 2014, his ERA has been 4.19 and 4.64 the past two years.

Lewis, 37, went 6-5 with a 3.71 ERA for Texas in 116 1/3 innings in 2016. He walked 2.2 per nine innings with a 5.6 strikeout rate and impressive 1.126 WHIP. But Lewis suffered an oblique injury and he missed two months. He returned to pitch late in the year but had a 6.38 ERA in four starts in September.

The Orioles didn't rush out to sign a veteran pitcher after they knew of Tillman's December PRP injection. They have not now either. That could be an indication they are truly optimistic about Tillman, they have confidence in some of their younger pitchers as options or they don't like the current options available on the market. Or some combination of all three.

In the WBC: Team USA was six outs away from a disheartening loss in the World Baseball Classic last night, but thanks in large part to Adam Jones of the Orioles, they ended up with a thrilling win. Jones hit a game-tying solo homer in the last of the eighth off Hector Rondon, and the United States went on to a 4-2 win over Venezuela in their opening game of the second round of pool play. In the opening game of the tourney for the Americans, Jones produced a walk-off single in the 10th inning against Colombia.

The USA entered the eighth down 2-1, but Jones' homer tied it. It was quite a moment for Jones, who is from San Diego where the game was played at Petco Park, about eight miles away from his high school. A few batters later, Eric Hosmer hit a two-run shot as the United States took the lead and held on for the two-run win.

The USA still has games left with Puerto Rico on Friday and the Dominican Republic on Saturday. A 2-1 record in this pool may be enough to advance to the semifinals, pending other results.

Meanwhile, the Orioles' Jonathan Schoop won't be returning to the team until sometime next week. That is because the Netherlands has joined Japan as semifinalists. Schoop's squad went 2-1 in the first round and then 2-1 in the second round and will play in the semifinals Monday at Dodger Stadium. The WBC championship game is next Wednesday, March 22.

Meanwhile, MLB Network announced that last Saturday's United States versus the Dominican Republic game was watched by 977,000 viewers. It is the network's most-watched non-playoff telecast ever and the audience peaked at 1.2 million viewers.

MLB announced that the tournament produced record attendance through the first round of games. A total of 621,851 fans was a 34 percent increase over the previous record of 463,017, which was established during the 2013 Classic.

Pool B, held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, registered the largest attendance of any pool in the history of the tournament with a total of 206,534. The average attendance for Japan's three first round games was 42,123.

Leave it to the San Diego native to tie it up! @SimplyAJ10 #WBC2017 #ForGlory🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/71xppPtw54

-- MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 16, 2017

@SimplyAJ10 That...was... HUUUUUGE!!! 🎶🙌🏻

-- Chris Davis (@CrushD19) March 16, 2017

Adam Jones is staring to be called "Captain America" in the US clubhouse. Says he's more than happy taking on a leadership role

-- Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) March 16, 2017