Jiménez on his outing, Ynoa on his promotion

BOSTON - Ubaldo Jiménez will take a seat in the visiting dugout tonight and watch Tyler Wilson make the start that belonged to him.

Jiménez should have closed out the series against the Red Sox, but the Orioles needed him to pitch in relief following Kevin Gausman's ejection in the second inning. Richard Bleier covered the next four innings and was optioned today to Triple-A Norfolk. Jiménez worked the final three and must wait his next turn.

As far as Jiménez knows, he's going to stay in the rotation and not experience another shift in roles.

"I guess," he said. "I guess that's what I'm doing. I was out there yesterday because they needed me."

It came in shocking fashion, with Gausman tossed by plate umpire Sam Holbrook for hitting Xander Bogaerts on the left hip with a 77 mph curveball.

"Everyone was surprised," he said. "You don't see that every day. Those are things that shouldn't be happening in the major leagues. I mean, I know that everyone makes mistakes. We're human, but I think we have to accept that they made a big mistake."

Maybe it benefits Jiménez in the long run. He allowed one hit in three scoreless innings.

"I look at the results in a positive way, that I was able to go out there and be there for the team, especially when they need me," he said. "Because it's an emergency game - you don't want to throw all the guys in the bullpen in that kind of game - then you have to change everything the next day. I feel happy I was able to do that for the team."

Jiménez has flashbacks to his own ejection two years ago after hitting Pablo Sandoval in the fourth inning. He hadn't allowed a hit in 3 2/3, but he walked three batters.

"Yea, of course, right away," he said. "Even before that, even the game before yesterday when Chris Sale threw behind Manny (Machado), the first thing that came to my mind is I was thrown out in the same situation. I was in the fourth inning, without any warning, without anything, and they threw me out of the game. Then when Sale was pitching and threw behind Manny with a 98 mph fastball and they didn't do anything, and you hit a guy with a breaking ball and it's out of the game, those are things that shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be happening in this game."

The Orioles just want to get through tonight's game, gain a split in the series and head home. Putting the focus back on baseball would be a treat.

"I think that everyone wants to put their mind on just taking care of business every day," he said. "That's what we're here for. Things like that just happen and you have to go through that and just continue and on the purpose of what you really want to do, and that's winning games every night."

The ejection led the Orioles to make multiple roster moves. They also optioned Alec Asher to Norfolk and recalled Gabriel Ynoa, who is waiting for his Orioles debut out of the bullpen.

Ynoa is the latest pitcher to get the call.

"I have to say I felt good for them, quite honestly happy for them that they were getting those opportunities," he said through interpreter Ramon Alarcon. "At the same time, I just wanted to concentrate on my job, on the things that I needed to do to get back here as quickly as possible, so that was just my mindset."

It took a while after Ynoa allowed five runs and 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings. He's made steady progress and the Orioles felt comfortable bringing him to Boston.

The difference for Ynoa?

"I would say consistency, being able to make the adjustment quicker and feeling more confident as the season goes on," he said.

Ynoa had a shot at the fifth starter's job in spring training, but he was a late cut, unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

"I didn't feel bad," he said. "I received really good feedback from the manager and from the pitching coach as well, so I was just trying to focus on Triple-A, trying to do my job and just concentrate on the things that were working for me in spring training.

"The only thing that they mentioned was to work on my slider, to work on it, to get it better and just try to focus on doing your job to the best of your ability in Triple-A so that I can come back to the big leagues soon."