Britton on Buck the manager, but not that one (plus other notes)

When the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds began a new season on Thursday, the other Buck started his career as a minor league manager.

Buck Britton, the older brother of Orioles closer Zach Britton, is the Shorebirds' first-year manager. An O's 35th-round selection in the 2008 draft, Britton had a nine-year playing career in the minors. He moved into the coaching ranks last season when he was Delmarva's hitting coach. In his second year as a non-player, he begins his first as a minor league manager.

And his team is off to a flying start. After last night's 18-3 blowout win over Asheville, the Shorebirds are 3-0. Seamus Curran drove in six runs, while Will Robertson and Trevor Craport had three RBIs each. Winning pitcher Matthias Dietz allowed three runs over 5 1/3 with six strikeouts.

You can easily find several members of the O's organization that believe Britton is going to do a great job. He can find his younger brother in the O's clubhouse, who is rather sure of it.

"I think he is going to be really good at it," Zach Britton said of Buck. "He is really excited and I think he'll get along great with those kids. He's only 31 years old. A lot closer in age than a lot of managers those kids have probably had. I think that will help with that transition for him. I think he'll get the most out of those kids in Delmarva.

"He's good at communicating. That has been something ever since he was young, the ability to interact with people. He's got a good personality. I feel like the one thing that even with me playing, I've gone through struggles and he is someone I've leaned on. The way he talks to you, he can help you through tough times and I think that will translate with those younger kids. That is a good trait for a manager. Be able to get the most out of guys and help them when they struggle. I think that is one of his strongest traits."

Zach Britton said there are certainly differences between how a minor league and major league manager run a game and a team.

"Some things are the same," Zach Britton said. "But in the minors, your roster is handed to you and you make the most of it. Guys are moving up and down. You have to play certain guys, you have to pitch certain guys. The strategy aspect of how Buck (Showalter) will use a bullpen here and how my brother will in Delmarva, that will be different. But I think he will learn a lot. There are definitely differences, but that is a good level to start."

The elder Britton could prove to be a rising star in the coaching/managing ranks.

"Everyone that I've talked to, they feel he is a (future) major league coach," Zach Britton said. "He's going to be in the majors in some capacity - third base coach, bench coach, manager - at some point. For a long time, they've been telling me that. They said, 'When your brother is done playing, we want him to be a manager in our organization.' And now he's doing it."

As for the big club: The sixth and seventh innings have proven to be crucial in several Orioles games so far in 2018 and they were yesterday. The Yankees outscored the Orioles 5-0 in those frames to break a 3-3 tie. The O's lost 8-3 after winning the series' first two games in the Bronx.

The top of the sixth ended with Yankee left fielder Jace Peterson making a nice running catch on a fly ball down the line by Pedro Álvarez. That held a 3-3 tie as the O's stranded two. In the seventh, righty David Robertson fanned Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop with runners on second and third and one out. The Orioles went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position after going 1-for-10 in Friday's marathon win. They had their chances.

Meanwhile, Chris Tillman has an ERA of 8.68 through two starts. But it looked to me like his start in New York was better than the outing in Houston. Tillman just could not get through the sixth inning and keep the 3-3 tie.

Tillman looks better than he did last year but of course the bar is not high in that comparison. But he doesn't look quite like the pre-2017 Tillman. I see both reasons to be encouraged and reasons to be concerned. If Chris Davis could have reached Brett Gardner's two-run single to his right in the second inning yesterday, Tillman's final line may have been better.

For me, the bottom line on Tillman is this: It's too soon to know what this year holds for him. I would expect that he gets several more chances to show what he can do. But if he can't bring that ERA and other numbers into a more workable range, those chances should not be unlimited.