Jiménez back on the mound, Machado back under the microscope

The Orioles' romance with the American League East continues tonight with the Rays visiting Camden Yards for a three-game series.

Ubaldo Jiménez has been challenged over his career to repeat his delivery. Will he be able to repeat his last start?

Jiménez shut out the Reds on two hits over 7 2/3 innings to lower his ERA from 10.38 to 5.51. He began a stretch of four consecutive quality starts from the rotation before Kevin Gausman's outing yesterday against the Red Sox.

Jiménez is 5-2 with a 3.19 ERA and 1.118 WHIP in eight career starts versus the Rays over 53 2/3 innings. Rickie Weeks is 6-for-13 with a double and triple, Kevin Kiermaier is 3-for-10 with a double and home run and Logan Morrison is 5-for-8 with two doubles and a home run.

Brad Miller is 2-for-13 with a double.

Chris Archer is 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA in four starts this month. He's 3-6 with a 4.50 ERA in 13 career games (12 starts) against the Orioles and 1-3 with a 5.88 ERA and 1.769 WHIP in five games (four starts) at Camden Yards spanning 26 innings.

Manny Machado is 10-for-32 with a double and home run against Archer, J.J. Hardy is 8-for-23 with two doubles, Mark Trumbo is 5-for-15 and Jonathan Schoop is 5-for-16 with a double and two home runs.

Adam Jones has four hits in 32 at-bats against Archer.

Seth Smith is 3-for-8 with two doubles, but he's still day-to-day with a sore right hamstring. There appears to be some lingering tightness.

Smith hasn't played since Tuesday in Cincinnati. I'm wondering whether the Orioles will wait until Joey Rickard is ready to come off the disabled list - perhaps by Wednesday if he plays two injury rehab games - and swap them on the 25-man roster.

Otherwise, the Orioles are back to a five-man bench or a really tough call to create a spot for Rickard.

Manager Buck Showalter wants to keep the expanded bench intact.

"We're going to try," he said. "It's going to take some imagination, but we're going to try. We may not be able to. I don't know.

"The problem is after this next off-day (Thursday), we've got a pretty long span where you're going to line up five pitchers. It's going to be a challenge. Depth doesn't really come into play as much unless they're optionable and you can move things around. It's there for a reason. I understand why the option thing is there, and rightfully so. From that standpoint, we're able to move the pitchers around. The position players are a challenge.

"You don't want to penalize a guy who makes your club better just because he's got an option as a position player. We'll see how it goes with Joey in his rehab."

Utility player Ryan Flaherty has four at-bats in four games. He's used to sitting, but Showalter plans on prying him off the bench.

"One thing I've been disappointed in for me is I really need to get Ryan in there a little bit more," Showalter said. "I'll try to do that next week. He hasn't played enough to ... Because we're going to need people like that."

Rookie Stefan Crichton has made two appearances with the Orioles and allowed three runs and nine hits in three innings. Four of the five batters he faced yesterday collected hits.

The Orioles kept Crichton over Oliver Drake because he's an optionable piece. He'll need to pitch better or they're going to give a demonstration.

Schoop drew his third walk yesterday. He had 21 walks last year in 162 games. By comparison, Nolan Reimold drew 22 walks in 104 games.

Machado walked to first base yesterday after Matt Barnes zipped a pitch behind his head. Head athletic trainer Richie Bancells rushed onto the field to check on him. But it turns out that the ball hit Machado's bat.

Machado stared into the Red Sox dugout, but the benches didn't empty. Showalter stuck to Machado near first base as if they were crammed into a phone booth. He wasn't taking any chances.

Credit Machado for not losing his head, so to speak. He probably needs to button his shirt, but it's good that he buttoned his lip, turned toward first and let the situation settle down.

"It's just you mature, I guess. I don't know," he said. "You just be mature about the situation. I don't want to get suspended. I think everyone already knows out there that they think I'm the villain. It's always me. Manny always does something wrong. You know, it's never me. I just go out there and play a game that I love and leave it on the field. And I play with heart. So, whatever happens between the lines stays in between the lines and I'm not really going to put (more) into it."

It's true that Machado's reputation follows him like a hungry dog, nipping at his heels. You throw a bat, you charge a mound and you're labeled, no matter the circumstances or what else you've done.

"I mean, it's just how it is, you know?" he said. "Media people, all you guys, want to write bad about me. It's always my fault and this and that. You know what? I go out there and care about what everyone here has to think about me, 25 guys in here and the coaching staff. I play for my team. I play with my heart. I play with everything I've got. And that's the only thing we can control in this game.

"We can't control how many hits we get or how many games we're going to win. But being a good teammate and being good to your teammates is the No. 1 priority."

Dustin Pedroia can get away with calling out Barnes, and to an extent, the rest of his teammates by saying, "That's not me, that's them." He's the leader. David Ortiz could have done it, but he's retired. It can be argued that no one else in that clubhouse has the cachet.