Hyde on pitching: "As of right now, this is what we have" (O's lose 6-5)

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he expects outfielder Keon Broxton to join the club Friday in Colorado, which will require a corresponding roster move.

A position player is more likely to be removed with the Orioles trying to compensate for a lack of pitching depth.

Hyde repeated that Stevie Wilkerson will stay busy. Broxton's arrival won't impact his roster spot or bury him on the bench.

"They're all going to play," Hyde said. "Stevie's going to play. I think Trey (Mancini) has had one day off this year. Smitty (Dwight Smith Jr.) got one the other night. They've been playing a lot, so this allows me to rotate a little bit, to give guys breaks.

"Stevie plays some other places also. I think it's all positive. You want to have depth, you want to have as many players as possible that you feel comfortable about putting in the lineup or having depth on the bench to be able to rotate and give guys blows and give guys necessary days off.

"The more talented you are in the big leagues, obviously the better you are. We feel like adding Broxton just adds another really talented guy who's athletic that we want to get a good look at."

Hyde said the Orioles haven't revisited the idea of using an opener, which they did twice with Nate Karns before moving him to the bullpen and later placing him on the injured list.

"Not really, no, because there's a lot of nights where we're trying to get through the game," he said.

"We're short already. We don't have the length in our 'pen and an ideal situation with that opener, the second guy that comes in is able to give you four or five innings, but then he can't pitch for three or four days. So there's a lot of nights where we're just trying to get through and you'd probably have to carry an extra guy, more than we already do."

The front office continues to check on available starting pitchers while Dan Straily and David Hess struggle.

"As of right now, this is what we have," Hyde said. "I know our guys are working hard to see what else is out there, also. I think we're always keeping an eye on what's going on around the league. We're excited about a couple guys down below that we don't feel are ready and we want to make sure that guys, when they get here, are ready to have success here and not rush guys into a tough situation.

"We're going to do the right thing for the player and not just from necessity from the major league club. So I think we're big picture minded. We don't want to rush somebody here. But also, when guys are proving that they're ready to come here that we're not afraid to make that decision, also."

Hyde believes it's possible to do harm to a player by promoting him before he's ready.

"I think you can definitely rush people. There's no doubt. I've seen that first-hand and it takes a while to recovery instead of going through a normal development track to get here," he said.

"Some of the best players in this league have been sent down when they first got here. That's part of it, also. But ideally you want to see a guy come here with confidence and step into a good situation here he's going to get playing time and there's going to be patience involved and you want him to have some sort of success and not take a step back and not have his confidence shaken a little bit, knowing how hard it is to play here.

"There's a lot of factors that go into calling up a guy for the first time and I think we're very, very aware of that and sensitive to that. But sometimes guys tell you when they're ready, too. We called up young players in Chicago that were college guys but had limited minor league at-bats or innings and came up and produced right away. But a couple of them went back the next year. Those things happen. But in our situation, we just want to make the right decision for the player and call him up when he's ready, not because we're anxious to see him here."

Left-hander Keegan Akin has made eight starts with Triple-A Norfolk and he ranks third among qualifying International League pitchers with a .219 average against. He also ranks eighth in ERA at 3.60. But he isn't under consideration for a promotion.

"I don't think we have a huge depth of Triple-A pitching prospects that are knocking on the door. There aren't a ton of guys who we feel like are 100 percent ready to come here," Hyde said.

"Akin wasn't even in big league camp. I've never even seen him pitch. He's made eight Triple-A starts. So there's a lot that goes into it. We don't just want to call somebody up because guys are struggling here. We want to make sure we're doing what's right for them."

Is it right for Hess to pitch in Denver on Sunday while leading the majors with 17 home runs allowed?

"That's a great question," Hyde said. "That's a little bit of the issue. You don't want to put guys in bad spots and tough situations. We want to have our guys have success and so watching some of our starts have been tough. You feel bad for the player. You're supporting them and coaching them and helping as much as you possibly can. You want to see them have success.

"It's a two-edged sword. There's a lot of things to factor in, but you definitely don't want to see a young player come up here and struggle after struggle after struggle. You want to see him fight through it and pitch well."

The pitching staff served up five more home runs last night to run its total to 105. They come in all shapes and sizes and the reasons vary. Credit the hitter or blame the pitcher.

"I think it's a combination," Hyde said. "In our case a lot of times it's just miss-located pitches that are not executed well. But there's also times like Gleyber (Torres') second one yesterday where it's a 94 mph fastball down and on the outside corner that, that's just a great piece of hitting and you tip your hat.

"Pitchers are going to make mistakes. We just make way too many of them. Breaking balls in the middle, a miss-located heater that runs back in the middle part of the plate. I think there's both scenarios where sometimes the hitter beats you, but there's also times when you don't execute."

Outfielder Austin Hays has moved up from Single-A Frederick to Double-A Bowie.

Update: The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning and settle for one run on Richie Martin's fielder's choice grounder.

Update II: Clint Frazier's two-out solo home run in the fifth tied the game 1-1.

Update III: Gio Urshela's two-out, two-run single in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie.

Update IV: Austin Romine's RBI single off Paul Fry in the seventh gave New York a 4-1 lead.

Update V: Luke Voit homered off Miguel Castro in the eighth for a 5-1 lead.

Update VI: Trey Mancini had a run-scoring single off Jonathan Holder in the eighth and Renato Nunez hit a game-tying three-run homer off Tommy Kahnle.

Update VII: Mychal Givens walked Aaron Hicks with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth to force in the go-ahead run.

Update VIII: The Yankees completed the four-game sweep with a 6-5 win. Zack Britton earned the save.