Hardy headed to DL, Pearce ready to be activated following 4-3 12-inning loss (updated)

Shortstop J.J. Hardy is going on the disabled list with a groin injury, leaving the Orioles with two roster moves as they head to Kansas City.

The club will activate Steve Pearce from the disabled list and call up a reliever. The Orioles could option Mychal Givens, who worked two scoreless innings today. T.J. McFarland also has options, but he's fresher.

Pearce went 1-for-3 with a double today at Double-A Bowie. He's been on the disabled list since July 19 with a strained left oblique.

Hardy will undergo an MRI on Monday. The Orioles can't afford to play shorthanded in his absence, even if it's for a few days.

"I feel it a little bit," Hardy said. "I feel it in there and I'm protecting it a little bit, and I think that's the (reason) I'm running the way I'm running. It's what we've got to do."

As for today's 4-3 12-inning loss, let's start with the numbers.

The Orioles were swept at home by the Twins in a four-game series for the first time since Aug. 23-26, 2007. The Rays were the last team to sweep them at Camden Yards in September 2008.

According to STATS, this is the third time that the Orioles swept a four-game series and were swept in a four-game series on the same homestand. They lost four to the Rangers on July 7-9, 1972 and won four against the White Sox on July 14-16. They lost four to the Senators on June 18-20, 1954 and won four against the Philadelphia Athletics on June 25-27.

The Orioles were 54-0 when leading after the eighth inning until Zach Britton's third blown save today - on an infield hit and groundball single into left field. Britton was slow to cover first on Brian Dozier's single.

Kevin Gausman tied his career high with eight strikeouts and retired 19 of the last 20 batters he faced, failing to give up a hit after Trevor Plouffe's two-out single in the first. Darren O'Day struck out two while retiring the side in the eighth. Mychal Givens tossed two scoreless innings to carry the game into the 12th before errors by Manny Machado - his second of the day - and Jimmy Paredes stuck Brian Matusz with an unearned run.

Machado was fielding his first ball in his first major league game at shortstop after Paredes pinch-ran for Hardy at second base. Eduardo Escobar's grounder scooted under his glove with one out. Paredes, replacing Machado at third base, reached for Shane Robinson's bouncer with two outs and the ball slammed off his glove and rolled into shallow left field as Escobar scored the tie-breaking run.

The Orioles went 5-5 on the homestand, but it feels much worse. And now they get four games against the Royals, who have the second-best record in baseball at 75-48.

"Just feel like sometimes you can't quite catch a break, and you've got to make them, too," said manager Buck Showalter. "We had some opportunities we didn't cash in on. Uncharacteristically had some errors at the end that cost us. There's a lot of things you can critique and break down, but we just didn't push over enough runs.

"Manny can make that play, just like the one earlier that he short-hopped and Chris (Davis) will catch that ball more times than not. That's why it really jumps out when it doesn't because of how good they are at it. You get some swinging bunts and some ground balls that find holes. We'll get some that will come our way.

"Everybody's beat up this time of year - physically, mentally, emotionally. So is Minnesota, so is the team we're getting ready to play. That's why they call it the dog days of August."

The Orioles' resiliency will be tested, but what else is new?

"It's tested every day," Showalter said. "It's all relevant, you know? If you could walk a mile in their shoes, you'd probably have an idea what I'm talking about. It's a test every day to your constitution, so to speak. That's why the strong survive.

"We've had people try to - what's another expression besides 'write us off?' Kind of critique it. It's important to people and it gets critiqued and they think this means that and that means this. I know what it looks like, but I wouldn't sell us short. I really wouldn't."

Showalter was asked whether he needed to lift his team's spirits at this time.

"We do that every day," he replied. "If you come in here at 8 o'clock in the morning today, we do that every day. Long before the doors open. We do that every day and we'll do it on the plane. We do it in advance meetings. Ten things like that go on every day between the coaches and the players and the staff and the clubhouse guys and the traveling secretary. It's a group and those things go on every day."

Showalter sent Paredes to run for Hardy because of the groin injury. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made the switch and Machado would have stayed at third base.

"It's like Torii Hunter sitting there to pinch-hit," Showalter said. "You have a lot of different things that weigh into a lot of things. Close ground ball goes to a fielder instead of in a hole."

Paredes has worked to improve his defense, but it's still a weakness. And he lost his left-handed designated hitter role to Steve Clevenger.

"You know how much he cared and it bothered him, so your heart goes out to him," Showalter said. "It's one of those things I talk about on the plane. Something that's already happened. I mean, it's what we do. Nobody is that cold to reality. You feel for him.

"Jimmy, it's tough for him. Nobody is going to feel sorry for you. We all know that."

The pitching was solid today after Gausman surrendered the two-run homer to Miguel Sano in the first. Britton couldn't nail down the win, but as usual, he had batters beating the ball into the ground.

"Zach really pitched another good inning," Showalter said. "Darren was really good again today, and Gaus, that might be about as good an outing as he's had, especially considering all the things, short in the 'pen. I think that was his fourth game in a row over 100 pitches. That's pretty impressive to carry that type of stuff and feel, probably the best feel he's had and command. He's pitched some good games for us. That was one of them."

The timing of a trip to Kansas City could be much better for the Orioles, but Showalter wouldn't bite on the "darkest before the dawn" analogy.

"I look at (Ubaldo) Jimenez versus (Kris) Medlen," Showalter said. "Obviously, it's a lot deeper than that. The things you say on a two- or three-hour flight, there's a lot of things going on. I just don't broadcast it. I don't make it public. Nowadays, with the way lockerrooms are with everything, you really can't have meetings. So we do that all day long in different forms that don't get blown up on headlines and stuff. It's not good for players to have that. They know.

"I said many time the road to where we're trying to get is challenging. It was last year. There were points where I thought how are they going to play tomorrow after finishing at three o'clock in the morning with a real tough loss. We did. That's why you get to this level as players because you have that in you. They've answered that bell many, many times, sometimes for five or 10 years. We'll see if we can be better than Kansas City tomorrow."

Update: Reliever Jorge Rondon will join the Orioles in Kansas City from Triple-A Norfolk, as first reported by The Virginian-Pilot.