Early notes on Ortiz, rotation, Jones and more (O's lead 7-4)

Orioles manager Buck Showalter indicated today that rookie Luis Ortiz isn't close to being available to pitch and likely will undergo an MRI on his left hamstring early this week

"On anybody that there's some possible questions on, they do exit MRIs on to make sure they've got a baseline to compare anything with and not be surprised during the offseason," Showalter said. "And there's some talk about pushing that forward to, say, Monday or Tuesday, making sure what we're dealing with there and whether he's got any chance to pitch again here. Or should he maybe go down to the instructional league and let them try to rehab him there.

"I'll think we'll get our arms around that tomorrow. It's hard to find an MRI on Sunday."

Ortiz injured his leg Friday night in his first major league start while trying to cover first base on a ground ball to Chris Davis. Ortiz hesitated, sped up and tried to avoid a collision.

"He assumed Chris was going to go, then he started again and that's usually when a lot of those things happen," Showalter said. "I talk a lot about when most professional athletes have injuries like that, it's when they're off-balance and there's an unexpected lack of fluidity to your motion or something jerks."

This is the second time in 2018 that Ortiz has tweaked his hamstring and any health issue will bring the conversation back to his weight, which his considerably higher than his listed 230 lbs.. He's vowed to make dieting and conditioning a top priority after the season.

"I'm sure it's some of the things that we need to help him solve as we go forward," Showalter said. "All of us, we don't pitch and we don't play, but we'd all like to have some things different about where that's concerned. He's a 22-year-old young man who we think can fix that challenge and we're going to help him. But without some blinders that Texas or Milwaukee may not have gone there.

"It's something he's aware of and we're going to try to take the steps to help him with it. But he's got a good arm, he's got good stuff and you just don't want to have somebody look back at 27, 28 ... There's enough challenges as it is. But I don't think anybody can sit here and say that's the reason why he pulled his leg muscle. I've seen guys in as good a physical status as possible never get off the DL. You certainly know that you improve your chances of staying off it.

"The way things look aren't always the way they are as far as ... You can give examples of that on both sides of it. It's delicate. It's a Captain Obvious thing, too, to think he doesn't know that or the teams that have had him don't know that. We knew that. We liked the arm and we think we can help him."

The starter for Monday night likely will be revealed after today's game. There's also an opening on Wednesday.

"I think we're going to have to wait and see how we get through today," Showalter said.

"We're going to have some challenges Monday and Wednesday, but we'll figure it out."

Andrew Cashner won't make Monday's start due to the bursitis in his left knee and his return remains a mystery, which further complicates the rotation plans.

"We're trying to put some things in place to cover us in case there continues to be a need," Showalter said. "I look at (Josh) Rogers and Cashner and even Ortiz in kind of the same light. We'll see how (Alex) Cobb's blister, how that all develops. I hope it doesn't develop.

"They were talking about potentially throwing some today, but I haven't gotten the report back on that yet."

Adam Jones is in the lineup again today, playing right field and batting cleanup. Showalter was asked again if there's a plan in place for how often Jones gets into games and how the decisions are made.

"First of all, we like playing Adam. I do, and we're going to as much as we can because he's one of our best players," Showalter said.

"Believe me, every day John (Russell) and I and whoever else might be there spend a lot of time trying to satisfy a lot of things with the lineup, but it's always with the idea of Adam playing, and the respect that the organization has for him and how much he's been a part of this and see what the future brings.

"He's playing today and he played yesterday. I look at the teams that we're playing a lot, what it means to them and the teams that are hoping that we beat them. I bring that into play. I start out with what's best for the Baltimore Orioles today and there's a lot of different factors in that. Whether it's fans ... I look sometimes, what's our crowd like tomorrow or whatever.

"Where Adam's concerned, I and the organization has always wanted to play him. And not just out of respect for what he's done here, but because of the presentation it makes."

Showalter said he receives input but the final decision rests with him.

"Are you asking me is someone telling me to play him or not play him? That's never happened here," Showalter said.

DJ Stewart is the designated hitter today because, as Showalter explained, he wanted to get Joey Rickard another start in the outfield and the rookie won't be in Monday night's lineup with the Blue Jays starting left-hander Ryan Borucki.

Update: The Oriole scored five runs in the first inning, a season high, to take a 5-0 lead over the White Sox. The last two runs were unearned.

Jonathan Villar and Jones had RBI singles, Stewart picked up his first major league RBI on a fielder's choice and Breyvic Valera closed the scoring with a sacrifice fly.

Daniel Palka led off the top of the second with a home run.

Update II: Villar homered onto Eutaw Street in the fourth inning to give the Orioles a 6-1 lead.

Update III: Yolmer Sánchez followed Trey Mancini's error with a two-run homer in the fifth to reduce the lead to 6-3.

Palka also homered in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-4 and end Hess' day.

Update IV: Jones homered in the seventh and the Orioles lead 7-4.