After strong spring, Ubaldo Jimenez makes his season debut tonight

In his first start since his 2014 struggles and since he had a strong spring training, Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez can be a bit of a stopper tonight.

He can both help the Orioles stop a modest two-game losing streak and help them slow down a Toronto offense that produced 12 runs on 16 hits Friday in a 12-5 win at Camden Yards.

Coming off a 2014 season where he went 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA in 25 games (22 starts), Jimenez gave up five runs in his first spring start. But since that day, he pitched to an ERA of 2.88 in his last six spring starts. He also walked just three and fanned 16 over his last 23 spring innings.

Why did he have such a strong spring?

"Command of the fastball," Jimenez said. "I was able to put my mechanics together and have a better delivery. That is why I could command the fastball.

"Very excited (for today). You get to do what you love, play baseball. Always exciting coming into a new season and want to forget about the past."

Signed to a four-year, $50 million dollar contract by the Orioles in February 2014, he lost his spot in the rotation late last season and fans lost some confidence in him. Does he need to win the fans back?

"You know what? You will do that once you start doing your job," Jimenez said. "That is the only thing I have in my mind, to be there for the team. After that, everything you get is by doing your job."

Jimenez was the road warrior in spring training, pitching away from Ed Smith Stadium until his last start. But he said that helped him because he faced better opponent lineups by pitching in their home parks.

"Yeah, you had to face tough guys in the lineup, the real lineups and you had to work every pitch," he said. "Not saying anything bad about Triple-A hitters, but you didn't face too many."

Now Jimenez wants to give Orioles fans something to cheer him for. Late last year, he made some adjustments with his mechanics that he carried over to this season. He's gotten better results with a simplified and much less busy windup.

He said the changes came about basically as a joint decision between himself and pitching coaches Dave Wallace and Dom Chiti.

"At the end of last year, we started watching videos and they told me a bit what they thought I was doing wrong with my hands. I was going way over the top (of my head)," Jimenez said. "One day, I said, 'I need to get rid of that.' Dave said my mechanics then looked way better. Before I was going way too far and had too much movement. Couldn't see the target at home plate. But now I've minimized those movements.

"This provides better command of the fastball. That is the biggest thing for every pitcher. Spring training, I located the fastball and pitched off the fastball. Threw the ball down in the zone and commanded that pitch."

Since Chris Tillman gave up one run over 6 2/3 innings on opening day at Tropicana Field, O's starters have allowed 12 runs over 13 innings in the last three games.

Jimenez can be a stopper tonight. And begin to prove that what the Orioles saw from him in the Florida sun was not fool's gold.

Class act: Minor league catcher Brian Ward, who was traded by the Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, sent out some tweets last night about his time in the organization.

Ward played in 394 games on the O's farm since 2009. He was the starting catcher on the 2011 Single-A Frederick Keys squad that won the Carolina League championship.

Learned alot about the game with the coaching staff the orioles assembled. Especially want to thank Brian Graham.

-- Brian Ward (@ward_br) April 11, 2015

Class act organization and was proud to be apart of it.

-- Brian Ward (@ward_br) April 11, 2015

The teammates I grew up playing with are very professional and many of the I consider close friends of mine ! Thank u

-- Brian Ward (@ward_br) April 11, 2015