Trumbo appears headed to disabled list

CLEVELAND - The Orioles apparently will be able to make room for Adam Jones on the 25-man roster without optioning or designating a player.

Mark Trumbo will return to Baltimore tonight rather than accompany the team to Toronto. The pain in his right knee has intensified again and he's expected to undergo an MRI and be placed on the 10-day disabled list.

Team orthopedist Dr. Michael Jacobs will examine Trumbo on Monday.

"His knee flared up on him, barking pretty good," manager Buck Showalter said following today's 8-0 loss to the Indians. "Go back and let him see Dr. Jacobs. I think he's probably going to head to the DL."

Trumbo said he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in the knee during last Monday's off-day and returned to the lineup the following night. He missed five games in May, including an entire series at Tropicana Field, with an injury to the same knee. It's been drained a few times.

"We talked about (the DL) last time, but he had some good results from the treatment and the shot, but this last day or so it's kind of really flared up on him again," Showalter said. "So, take him back and let him look at it."

Trumbo struck out twice and singled in the sixth inning. Austin Wynns pinch-hit for him in the eighth and grounded into a double play.

"It's just not getting any better, so I'll head back to Baltimore," Trumbo said. "We're going to see what's going on with an image and what might be able to help it a little bit.

"I had a good day yesterday, actually. Probably the worst day was three days ago, and yesterday, out of nowhere, it felt pretty good. Today, it was back to pretty painful. I just don't see enough improvement to keep going."

Trumbo is labeling the injury as right knee inflammation, which hasn't slowed his bat. He's hitting .261/.313/.452 with 12 doubles, 17 home runs and 44 RBIs in 90 games after starting the year on the disabled list with a strained right quadriceps muscle.

He's been productive at the plate with five homers and 14 RBIs this month, but his mobility is limited.

"At some point, they kind of go hand-in-hand," he said. "I just really worry about my teammates and how it might cost them. If I can get this right, sooner or later I think everyone's better off."

Reminded how the Orioles tried to get out in front of the injury, Trumbo said, "I don't know what that means exactly. I was hopeful. There's been some good days. Most days are pretty rough, though. I'm not able to really run too well.

"I guess I worry about not being able to help the team, especially costing someone a hit or just being kind of a nothing out there on the bases right now."

Jones will come off the bereavement list Monday and Trumbo likely will be the corresponding roster move. Trumbo has been restricted to designated hitter duty with the sore knee and Jones playing right field.

As if the Orioles needed another reminder of the gap between the contenders and themselves, they just lost two of three to an Indians team that's headed to another Central Division title.

"They've got some really good examples, guys that know what they're trying to do and are able to execute," Trumbo said. "Their offense is top tier, they have great starting pitching, and they play great defense. There's a number of things to say about them. They've got it going on."

"Just a solid baseball team," Showalter said. "A reminder. We were talked about like that. Something we need to get back to."

Yefry Ramírez couldn't record an out in the fourth inning and was charged with seven runs, the last three on Melky Cabrera's grand slam off Sean Gilmartin.

"Just command," Showalter said. "We always talk about mechanics, but what drives those sometimes is you watch him on a workday and both of these guys (Ramírez and David Hess) had two workdays in between for that and they dialed up, they commanded the baseball.

"I went over David's whole outing with him again today with Roger (McDowell), just like I'm doing with all these young guys. You've got to self-correct sometimes, but the game speeds up up here. And it's like we're talking positive about Austin, the game's kind of slowed down for him, like the emotion of coming into those situations into a game and being able to keep that in check and not rush and be faster, and try to do more and try to throw harder.

"You look at guys' walk totals in the minor leagues and you watch how they jump up up here. There's a reason for that."

Ramírez said he couldn't command any of his pitches. He allowed seven hits, walked five batters, hit one and threw two wild pitches.

"I think the pace of the game was just fine," he said via translator Ramón Alarcón. "Truly, I wasn't able to attack the zone today, attack the hitters and execute quality pitches.

"I think consistency is what I'm looking for. To go after the hitters, attack the zone and be ahead in the count.

"Definitely, walks hurt me today. Walks are the no. 1 enemy of pitchers. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to limit the walks today."

The Orioles must lean upon Ramírez's earlier success and resist the urge to punt on him based on what they've been subjected to lately.

"This guy, he's got some good intangibles I like about him," Showalter said. "It's just, they're having to learn on the job. It's tough. You're facing a team that's got four of their starters in the top 10 in ERA. Runs are going to be at a premium with them.

"Little things like holding runners. One of the reasons David stayed out there for six innings was because he was 1.2 to the plate. One reason Yefry has trouble is he's 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, and we've been trying to correct that. That's a mechanical thing.

"And the other thing you've got to correct is covering first base on time, so those are little things that, 90 feet gets very accelerated at this level, giving up 90 feet via a walk, via a stolen base, via a defensive play."