Checking on J.J. and Britton

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

August 14, 2010, 6:20pm

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Jim Johnson's injury rehab assignment moved to Single-A Frederick tonight. He allowed four straight hits to Winston-Salem in the eighth inning, but only one run. Johnson faced six batters, but he threw only 11 pitches. Pretty strange. I'm told that his fastball sat in the low 90s. Winston-Salem entered the game leading the Carolina League with a .289 average. Triple-A Norfolk left-hander Zach Britton struck out nine Charlotte batters over eight innings. He allowed one run and five hits, and faced only five batters over the minimum. Britton threw 93 pitches, 58 for strikes. He had been scuffling, so this is encouraging. Britton, who posted seven victories at Bowie, joins teammate Chris Tillman and Single-A Delmarva's Kenny Moreland as the only Orioles minor leaguers with nine wins. Michael Aubrey homered twice for the Tides, giving him 17 for the season. He has 11 homers and 32 RBIs in his last 24 games. Scott Moore and Lou Montanez each had three hits, and Nolan Reimold added two hits, two walks and two runs scored. Matt Angle hit his first Triple-A home run. He's reached base safely in 33 consecutive games.