Bullpen remains intact tonight (O's lead 3-2)

The Orioles didn't need to make a roster move tonight to bring up another reliever. Though Mike Wright worked on back-to-back nights and won't pitch tonight, Ubaldo Jiménez informed manager Buck Showalter that he's available.

Jiménez hasn't pitched since Sunday afternoon in Houston, when he covered the last six innings.

Wright threw 17 pitches on Wednesday and 26 last night.

"Physically, he was fine. He felt better yesterday," Showalter said.

"If he hadn't been able to do that job, we may have had to flip him out. Sure beats the alternative."

Here's your latest non-update update on closer Zach Britton: He continues to play a "firm catch" at the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota, increasing the distance and repetitions.

Britton is right on schedule, whatever it is.

"Zach called Richie (Bancells) today about once he starts pitching with the affiliates," Showalter said. "We've already done the schedule with the affiliates where he can work out of our locker room, where there's never having to go Winston-Salem. It worked out where he'll either pitch in Aberdeen, Frederick, Bowie - one of those three clubs."

Infielder Ryan Flaherty will start throwing within the week now that a sufficient amount of time has passed since his platelet-rich plasma injection.

"Once that gets going, it could move pretty quickly," Showalter said.

Outfielder Cedric Mullins is returning to Double-A Bowie's lineup on Sunday after missing a month with a strained hamstring. He's heading back to Maryland today from Sarasota.

Director of player development Brian Graham returned from Sarasota and is headed to Bowie tonight to watch left-hander Tanner Scott.

The Orioles haven't decided which level to start former first-round pick Hunter Harvey once he's ready to join an affiliate. It could happen late this month or in early July.

"I think he would kind of work his way up," Showalter said. "I don't know whether it's starting in Aberdeen or Frederick or Delmarva. He would start probably in the Gulf Coast League, I'd think.

"Brian's planning on him starting low and working his way up with the idea of where he would end up, what level in a perfect world, which I'm not going to say. It's not here, but you never know. Let's let him get on a mound and face hitters and be healthy before we start moving too far with it. But it's encouraging."

Pedro Álvarez is in right field again tonight for Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles and Álvarez agreed to a new opt-out date for obvious reasons. The club doesn't have a spot for him on its 25-man roster and Álvarez doesn't have a major league offer.

It makes sense for the Orioles to keep Álvarez in the organization. They signed him in spring training in case of an injury to one of their sluggers. They may as well hold onto him for as long as possible, though the experiment in right field hasn't panned out.

The Angels signed veteran outfielder Michael Bourn to a minor league contract, according to SB Nation. Bourn opted out of his deal with the Orioeles.

For the Red Sox
Mookie Betts RF
Andrew Benintendi LF
Xander Bogaerts SS
Mitch Moreland 1B
Hanley Ramirez DH
Jackie Bradley Jr. CF
Josh Rutledge 2B
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Sandy León C

Rick Porcello RHP

Seth Smith is 9-for-22 (.409) with three doubles and a triple against Porcello. J.J. Hardy is 11-for-30 (.367) with two doubles. Mark Trumbo is 9-for-29 (.310) with two doubles and three home runs. Manny Machado is 9-for-30 (.300) with a double and home run.

Chris Davis is 8-for-39 (.205) with a double, three home runs and 11 strikeouts.

Update: Smith led off the bottom of the first inning with his fifth home run of the season and Machado hit his 11th with one out to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.

Machado's ball traveled 465 feet. He's the first player to reach the second deck since Mark Reynolds on Aug. 7, 2011 versus the Blue Jays.

Update II: Alec Asher retired the first seven batters before Pablo Sandoval homered to left field in the third inning to reduce the lead to 2-1.

Update III: Hyun Soo Kim had an RBI double in the fourth inning after Jonathan Schoop singled, but the Jackie Bradley Jr.'s two-out RBI single off Mychal Givens in the seventh reduced the lead to 3-2.

The run was charged to Asher, who allowed three hits, walked none and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings.