Catcher Caleb Joseph on the plan to get Ubaldo Jimenez back on track tonight

During the last four games, Orioles starting pitchers have allowed just four runs over 27 2/3 innings for an ERA of 1.30. Tonight, they try to get Ubaldo Jimenez (7-6, 3.81 ERA) back into the act.

After ending the first half with an ERA of 0.45 his last three starts, Jimenez has started the second half by going 0-2 with an ERA of 18.00. He gave up seven runs in 4 2/3 innings at Detroit and then seven more in just 2 1/3 innings at New York.

Time for Ubaldo to get it dailed back in.

As usual, catcher Caleb Joseph provided some interesting insights earlier today. He talked with a few reporters about Jimenez and how the two-seam sinking fastball has been so big for him this year.

Jimenez needs to get back into attack mode and pound the zone with that pitch tonight.

"His best approach is just doing what he does," Joseph said. "Throwing a lot of sinkers early in the count. Getting ahead with the sinker, throwing sliders and curveballs to get them off (the fastball), and splits (split-finger fastballs) to put them away.

"They've gone right-left, right-left. Tonight, he will have more right-handed batters than he has seen recently, so that will be good. Getting him locked into the gloveside part of the plate. Outside to a righty, inside to a lefty. We get him locked in with the sinker on that side of the plate, we'll be in good shape."

Is Joseph concerned about Jimenez trying to get back to pitching well coming off back-to-back poor outings?

"Maybe with a younger, more inexperienced starter," Joseph said. "I don't see any part of his confidence wavering the last few outings. He's done a lot of great things for us this year. He's got a lot of weapons in his arsenal. If he can make quality pitches when he needs to, that is what we need. When they turn into center-cut pitches, that is when we get in trouble."

According to FanGraphs' PITCHF/x charts, Jimenez threw two-seam fastballs 16.4 percent of the time last year and that is up to 37.8 percent this season. This is his highest percentage of two-seamers since 37.9 percent in 2010 with Colorado. That year, he went 19-8 with an ERA of 2.88 and was third in the Cy Young Award voting.

"That is one of the hardest pitches to hit," Joseph said. "Look at what our closer does every night. I think last year, when he was not having as much success with it, the miles per hour was down. We then went to some off-speed pitches. But his best recipe for success is playing off the sinker, not playing off his split or slider. He really had a goal of throwing a lot of sinkers this year from his first start of spring training.

"Ramon (Martinez) has been here and Dave (Wallace) and Dom (Chiti) have worked hard cleaning up some mechanical issues. That gave him confidence to throw that sinker. We were sinker heavy from the start of spring."