Harvey set to join GCL team on Wednesday (O's lead 3-1)

Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed to reporters this afternoon at Camden Yards that former first-round pick Hunter Harvey will pitch Wednesday in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

Harvey, 22, is beginning an injury rehab assignment one year after undergoing ligament-reconstructive surgery on his right elbow. He recently threw a two-inning simulated game and convinced the Orioles that he was ready to join an affiliate.

"I know they're kind of planning him out through the end of August, September, how far they'd like to get him, at what levels and how they're going to do it. So, that's encouraging to hear," Showalter said.

"He's feeling good."

Harvey hasn't pitched since leaving a July 16, 2016 start with soreness in his right elbow/forearm area. Dr. James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon, recommended surgery that was performed by Dr. Donald D'Alessandro on July 26 in Charlotte, N.C.

The 22nd-overall pick in 2013 out of Bandys (N.C.) High School, Harvey has been limited to 30 starts with the elbow injury, a strained flexor mass, a fractured shin and sports hernia surgery. He missed the entire 2015 season and was a combined 0-1 with a 2.13 ERA in five starts in 2016 with the GCL team and short-season Single-A Aberdeen before the Orioles shut him down again.

Harvey, the son of former major league closer Bryan Harvey, is 7-7 with a 2.79 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 30 minor league starts over 125 2/3 innings. He was 7-5 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 17 starts at low Single-A Delmarva in 2014, including 106 strikeouts in 87 2/3 innings and a .209 average-against before a strained flexor mass ended his season.

The Orioles could assign Harvey to the Arizona Fall League to give him more innings.

Meanwhile, the Orioles need others to step up and straighten out a rotation that's posted a 6.02 ERA, easily the worst in club history. The 2008 starters combined for a 5.51 ERA.

The Orioles are a season-worst seven games below .500 as they continue their homestand tonight against the Rangers. They remain tied with the Blue Jays for fourth/last place in the American League East, nine games out of first place and 5 1/2 back for the second wild card.

"It's tough. It's a challenge," Showalter told reporters.

"I tell the players all the time, 'What do you bring that we can't get from every corner of Baltimore County?' The challenge is to continue to treat people like you'd like to be treated and you don't do it because it's going to be reciprocated, you do it because it's right.

"We had our private moments, trust me. The level that we've tried to establish here hasn't been that way lately and it's frustrating for everybody. We're hired to do the 'why' part. You don't push the blame someplace else.

"I always look at it like it starts with me. You don't lose that accountability."

And if he's the man shouldering the blame, taking the proverbial bullet for the failures of others?

"That's the way of the world," Showalter said. "You don't get into who, what or where. You just try and get a little better every day.

"You have to have a long memory. It's the world we live in."

For the Rangers
Shin-Soo Choo DH
Elvis Andrus SS
Nomar Mazara RF
Adrian Beltre 3B
Rougned Odor 2B
Carlos Gomez CF
Drew Robinson LF
Jonathan Lucroy C
Joey Gallo 1B

Andrew Cashner RHP

Update: Chris Tillman issued a two-out walk to Drew Robinson and surrendered an RBI double to Jonathan Lucroy to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Jonathan Schoop threw out Lucroy at third base.

Update II: Jonathan Schoop's sacrifice fly in the sixth inning tied the game, and Seth Smith homered with two outs in the seventh to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead.

Welington Castillo doubled and scored on Ruben Tejada's single.

Tillman held the Rangers to one run and two hits in six innings. He walked four batters.