Mariñez rejoining O's, Yankees complete sweep (with quotes)

The Orioles are prepared to activate right-hander Jhan Mariñez from the disabled list Sunday as a fresh bullpen arm for their series finale against the Yankees at Camden Yards.

Mariñez was on the DL retroactive to Aug. 3 with a strained right hamstring. He's been pitching at Triple-A Norfolk, working a scoreless inning Friday night against Durham.

Mariñez has registered a 2.72 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 39 games with the Tides. However, he's allowed five earned runs (six total) and nine hits and walked nine batters over eight innings in his eight appearances with the Orioles.

Control has been an issue. The numbers don't lie.

The hamstring injury occurred while Mariñez warmed up for his second inning of an Aug. 2 appearance in Texas. He allowed two runs and walked three batters in the fourth.

Catcher Caleb Joseph noticed that Mariñez appeared to be hurt and motioned to the dugout.

Because Mariñez is on a 40-man roster that's currently full, the only corresponding move Sunday will involve freeing a spot on the 25-man.

Left-hander Sean Gilmartin worked three innings and threw 50 pitches in Game 1, making him unavailable for the next few days. Ryan Meisinger surrendered his fourth home run in seven appearances and threw 29 pitches in 1 2/3 innings.

The Orioles didn't need Mariñez between games of the doubleheader. Miguel Castro was available - he surrendered Austin Romine's leadoff home run in the ninth inning - and Yefry Ramírez moved to the bullpen after manager Buck Showalter chose Jimmy Yacabonis to start Game 1.

Yacabonis was the 26th man and returned to Norfolk following tonight's 5-1 loss to the Yankees before an announced crowd of 26,236 at Camden Yards. Starter Andrew Cashner got his pitch count under control and worked through the seventh to limit the bullpen use.

The Orioles have lost seven in a row, 14 of 16 and 34 of 46. They're 37-93 overall, 21-43 on the road and 2-7 against the Yankees at Camden Yards.

They seemed to return to Game 1 as they started the nightcap. Yacabonis and Cashner both threw 20 pitches in the first inning while allowing one run. Brett Gardner doubled on Cashner's first pitch, Giancarlo Stanton walked and Aaron Hicks delivered an RBI single.

Cashner contained the inning by picking off Hicks, striking out Miguel Andújar and retiring Neil Walker on a fly ball to hold Stanton at third base.

The Orioles have been outscored 103-58 in the first inning this season.

The lead grew to 3-0 in the second on a bases-loaded wild pitch and Trey Mancini's wide throw home on Gardner's ground ball. Cashner put two runners on base in the third, but Joseph threw out Gleyber Torres attempting to steal.

Defense keeps putting the Orioles at a disadvantage. Mancini was charged with an error in the fourth for failing to hold onto Jonathan Villar's low throw, and both middle infielders covered second base on Gardner's comebacker that produced a force instead of an inning-ending double play.

Stanton followed with a single off the right field fence and the Yankees led 4-0.

Romine's homer in the ninth marked the seventh time that Castro has been scored upon in nine appearances this month.

Cashner logged back-to-back nine-pitch innings in the fifth and sixth to leave him at 99, and he retired the side in order in the seventh to finish at 112. He struck out Stanton and Hicks to cap off his evening and his 13th quality start with three earned runs and nine hits allowed.

The night began with Cashner's run-support average at 3.29, the third-lowest in baseball. Sonny Gray blanked the Orioles tonight over 6 1/3 innings and they needed Jace Peterson's run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth to avoid their 13th shutout.

Gray chose "Pickles" as his nickname on Players' Weekend. His start was a dill-light to the Yankees fans that took over Camden Yards. It was a Vlasic case of a maligned pitcher getting redemption.

Showalter on Cashner: "That was a gutsy effort. It really was, in a time of need. One of the reasons why you like starting the veteran guy in the second game in our situation. He gave us what we needed to get through it physically. He started getting the ball down in the zone a little bit more and we started catching the ball a little bit behind him.

"We gave them about four extra outs, so that doesn't bode well early in the game especially."

Showalter on Gray: "Most guys, they throw more breaking balls than anybody in baseball. They have the highest average velocity, too, so when he commands that it's tough. Late-life fastball. Obviously, he's had a lot of rest. They got deep in the game with both of their starters."

Showalter on starters doing job and other aspects failing: "Offensively it's been a struggle. We scored, what, four runs in 18 innings. Give a lot of credit to their pitching, but that and being consistent defensively has been a real challenge for us. So, there's two obvious things we've got to get better at."

Showalter on Castro: "Pretty good tonight except for the home run. He just got ambushed on a fastball. I think he did it to (Brad) Brach, too, in the same situation.

"I've said it before, sometimes guys are fine physically, sometimes the knife gets a little dull. As a young pitcher he's had two years, so we're keeping an eye on him. We made sure he had two days off today and I think four before that. He's close, but against good teams, close sometimes ...

"He was one pitch away from having a good outing with results even though he had a lot of baserunners."

Showalter on defensive breakdowns: "I'm talking about we miss the cutoff man, we just don't hit a target that we're throwing to. Cash was a little late covering home plate. We also threw out a backside stolen base, which we work on a lot. We had a double play that we didn't turn on a 1-4-3, just a half a step, but that's a tribute to Gardner's footspeed coming out of the box. There were some good defensive plays, too, but not enough to offset the miscues we had."

Cashner on early innings: "It kind of felt like I was really struggling commanding anything. The off-speed wasn't good. The fastball was up. I didn't really do a lot of things well, but I kind of settled in and just focused really on making pitches and my stuff really picked up toward the end of the game."