Buck Showalter on Adam Jones' return to lineup (O's down 1-0)

BOSTON - Adam Jones knew that reporters were waiting for the Orioles' lineup to be posted this morning, specifically to see whether his name was included in it. That was the primary reason for standing inside the cramped visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park.

Jones hadn't appeared in the last five games due to back spasms. Rather than keep the media in suspense, he said, "I'm playing. You can write that."

We did.

Jones is in center field and batting cleanup against Red Sox left-hander Henry Owens.

"We talked about it yesterday and this morning," said manager Buck Showalter. "Good sign. We'll see. We'll see what the game brings. Like to get one under his belt before we get home. But we'll see if anything flares up."

With a day game followed by a night game on Monday, Jones will receive additional time to recover from today's start.

"In a perfect world," Showalter said. "Yesterday would have been a perfect world, the day before would have been. It's just one of those day-to-day things. It's one of those things, too, where I don't think you're really sure how it's going to respond until you get out there.

"Structurally, there's nothing that's going to ... There's no caution where that's concerned. Just see how the body responds to playing. Sometimes you play a couple innings and everything loosens up and you're back in your element, so we'll see."

The Orioles have been shut out in back-to-back games, so the offense could use a jolt. Perhaps Jones can provide one today.

Shameless plug alert: I'm appearing on "O's Xtra" today at 1 p.m. on MASN.

Update: The Orioles gave up another two-out run, falling behind 1-0 in the first inning on Ubaldo Jimenez's wild pitch.

Brock Holt walked with one out and took third base on Xander Bogaerts' single. Manny Machado took Nolan Reimold's throw and fired to second to get Bogaerts, but Holt scored on the wild pitch, with Caleb Joseph unable to pick up the ball and throw to Jimenez covering the plate.

Jimenez threw 22 pitches in the first inning.

Jones lined to center field to end the top of the first and strand Chris Davis, who singled with two outs.