Duquette on the team, trades and Rickard

The Orioles will return to Camden Yards on Friday looking up in the division standings and beside them in the wild card race. A 12-14 July was followed by a 13-16 August and a tumble that leaves them in jeopardy of missing the playoffs.

Three consecutive quality starts against the Blue Jays this week produced only one victory. Yovani Gallardo surrendered two home runs in the first inning last night, tossed five scoreless frames and took the loss.

"The consistency of our run production and putting together the pitching with the hitting is really the key to winning and I see flashes of us doing that," said executive vice president Dan Duquette. "We didn't do it in July and August, but we did a lot of it in June. Hopefully, our September will be like our June.

"The club's healthy. We should be able to get (Chris) Tillman back in the next 10 days and I'm encouraged by the development of (Kevin) Gausman and (Dylan) Bundy. Those guys are good and that's exactly what we need. We went out to Oakland and got, what, three or four quality starts? And we lost three out of four games. We got three quality starts against the Blue Jays and we lost two out of three. So, our starting pitching has been better since the All-Star break and that's the area of the team you hope to solidify that we've been building as we go. But you've got to put it all together, the club's got to put it all together, and we have the opportunity to do that."

The Orioles hit 56 home runs in June and 55 in August, one a major league record and the other tying it. They lead the majors with 209 and have surrendered 159, which ranks 11th.

"You have to play a complete game," Duquette said. "You've got to pitch, you've got to catch, you've got to hit. We have good defense. The real key is keeping the ball in the ballpark. When we keep the ball in the ballpark, we're good. That's the key.

"We've got plenty of power. We hit more than our share of home runs. We've got a good defense. But the key job is keeping it in the ballpark. When we do that, we'll do well."

Duquette acquired two outfielders at yesterday's deadline for players to be eligible for the postseason. He also traded for left-hander Kyle Lobstein and designated him later in the day to create an opening on the 40-man roster.

A rotation that ranks 27th in the majors with a 4.93 ERA remains unchanged, and not by design. Same with a bullpen that's trusting rookie Donnie Hart with lefty specialist duties and unsure when top set-up man Darren O'Day is coming back.

"We always scour the pitching market," Duquette said. "I'm not sure there was pitching available that could really impact our club. And we may want to take a look at some of the young pitchers we have in our organization and see if their talent level is higher than what we could acquire.

"We have Donnie Hart up in the big leagues and he's doing a good job, and we've gotten a contribution from Tyler Wilson to this year's club and we also have Mike Wright in the wings, (Parker) Bridwell has been here, and (Jayson) Aquino was here for a couple of days. So, I think we'd like to find out a little more about that group. They have talent. They've all had a cameo appearance here. I think we'd like to see them make a contribution in September."

Veteran outfielders Drew Stubbs and Michael Bourn will join the Orioles on Friday. Stubbs comes via a waiver claim and Bourn from a trade that sends minor league outfielder Jason Heinrich to the Diamondbacks.

Bourn made it with a few hours to spare before the deadline.

"He's a really talented player and what I think he can do for our club is he can play good defense in center field, he's a good on-base man and he can occasionally steal a base," Duquette said.

"A couple years ago he was one of the better players in the league and he's more experienced now. He still has good skills to track the ball in the outfield and get on base and run the bases, and I think that's how he can contribute to our team. He's got a left-handed bat. He's a two-time Gold Glover and two-time All-Star. He's not the player that he once was, but he's still highly skilled."

Bourn and Stubbs on the same day seemed redundant on the surface, but dig a little deeper.

"I think we can improve our outfield defense late in a game at a couple of positions, and when you have center fielders, they can generally cover more ground," Duquette said. "Stubbs is a right-handed hitter with a little bit more power and Michael Bourn's a left-handed hitter with pretty solid on-base capabilities, so they're complimentary players and they should both be able to make a contribution to the team."

These moves are tied more closely to Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard, who hasn't played since July 20 in New York. A slight tear in the ligament in his right thumb has left the Orioles scrambling for a suitable replacement.

They transferred Rickard to the 60-day disabled list last night without waiting for the results of Friday's examination.

"If the doctor clears him for work, then he can start doing the work that he needs to do to return to action, but he probably wouldn't be ready until about the 15th. Putting him on the 60-day DL just pushes him back four days. We thought this was a more conservative approach to Rickard's injury," Duquette said.

"When we picked up Stubbs, I think that filled the need on the team that Rickard has been doing. We've been looking around for somebody to do that job since he got hurt. Frankly, the injury that Rickard has is not a good injury for a hitter. I think there's still a question whether he'll be able to return to top form and exactly when he'll be able to do that. That's up in the air, also."

Catcher Caleb Joseph is expected to be recalled on Friday. In the meantime, the Orioles have promoted top catching prospect Chance Sisco, 21, to Triple-A Norfolk and he's in today's lineup at Charlotte.

Sisco, the leading candidate to be named the organization's Minor League Player of the Year, was batting .319/.405/.422 with 28 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 44 RBIs in 111 games with Double-A Bowie. He homered in the All-Star Futures Game.