Hyde on Stewart, Givens and driving the Mancini bus (O's down 3-0)

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde intends to give DJ Stewart an extended look after the Orioles called up the outfielder earlier today from Triple-A Norfolk.

Stewart is starting tonight in right field and also will move over to left, "and we'll see how it goes," Hyde said.

"This is a position player who's going to get a lot of everyday at-bats. I think DJ is a part of the future and I think DJ is somebody who's going to swing the bat well. I just don't want to put too much pressure on him. That's the bottom line. Putting too much pressure on young guys to come up and produce.

"It's really hard. And he's going to face a really tough left-hander (Matthew Boyd) tonight, so it's really a tough test in his first day this year. But I wanted to throw him out there and try to get him comfortable and I think he will."

The Orioles recalled Stewart after he batted .316/.425/.586 with 13 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 35 RBIs in 43 games. He slashed .456/.512/.882 in 19 games this month, with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 27 RBIs.

"DJ's definitely earned his way here and like we told a lot of those guys in their exit meetings in spring training was to go down to Triple-A with a chip on your shoulder, prove to everybody that you should be in the big leagues and do everything you can to get back here. And DJ did that," Hyde said.

"Got off to a slow start, but he really swung the bat well the last month and is playing great, so we're excited to have him here."

The task now is to stay.

"I just want him to be himself, I want him to play, I want him to not change a thing from what he's doing at Norfolk," Hyde said. "Not to put too much pressure on himself, not feel like he has to carry us in any way. I just want him to do what he was doing.

"I think a lot of times what happens is guys come up from Triple-A and feel like they have something to prove and try a little too hard and I want to make him as relaxed as possible and make him really comfortable here, and I think we're going to see good things."

Hyde will keep working Stewart into the lineup without burying another player. He's got Stevie Wilkerson in left field and Keon Broxton in center tonight, with Dwight Smith Jr. on the bench against a southpaw.

"We've got a lot of guys who want to play and they're all going to play a lot," Hyde said. "We're going to rotate those guys around in the outfield and they're all going to get every day type at-bats. May be depending on the matchup a little bit on that night, but those four guys are going to play quite a bit.

"You can rotate in the big leagues and we haven't had a ton of days off. We're on the backend stretch of 20. There are a lot of guys who haven't had many days off, so it's nice to have a little bit of depth and guys you can move around."

The Orioles were looking for a way to get Stewart on the 25-man roster and a spot opened with Chris Davis going on the 10-day injured list with left hip inflammation. Other prospects could filter into Baltimore later this summer.

"I think whenever you get a fresh face in here from Triple-A, it energizes everybody," Hyde said.

"I'm excited. I liked watching him play in spring training. I loves the way he plays. He played so hard. He runs down the line hard, he plays defense aggressively. He played really well in spring training, even though his offensive numbers didn't show it. I thought his at-bats were really good and I loved his style of play, and I told him that when we sent him out in March.

"I'm looking forward to him playing the same way and bringing some energy to our club and fitting right in."

Stewart was included in the second round of camp cuts on March 10 after going 8-for-30 (.267) with nine strikeouts and a .767 OPS.

"Obviously, I wanted to be here," he said. "They gave me specific things to work on, so that was a goal of mine to go down, work on those and show them I could do it. As far as what's been going good for me, just simplifying things. Trying to use the whole field.

"Had early work probably the day the hot streak started, had early work with Butch (Davis) and Gary (Kendall). Just something clicked for me the way they worded things and took off from there."

Hyde repeated that he's going to use struggling reliever Mychal Givens in lower-leverage situations and go with a closer by committee.

"I want to see Mychal Givens get right and I want to do what's best for him," Hyde said. "We need Mike, so I'm going to put him in some lower-pressure situations to try to get him going a little bit, to get him back to where he was a few weeks ago. So until that time we'll be a committee backend of the bullpen. It could be somebody different every single night. I'm going to try to match up the best I can and we'll go from there."

Andrew Cashner is starting Friday night against the Giants, but the next two days are TBD.

The All-Star Game ballots went out today and the Orioles are represented by outfielders Smith, Trey Mancini and Joey Rickard, catcher Pedro Severino, third baseman Rio Ruiz, shortstop Richie Martin, second baseman Jonathan Villar, Davis at first base and Renato Núñez as the designated hitter.

Mancini seems to be the obvious choice as he goes into tonight's game batting .305/.353/.547 with 17 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs and 26 RBIs. His 62 hits rank fifth in the American League and 10th in the majors.

"For me, I'm on the Trey Mancini for All-Star Game bandwagon. I'm driving the bus," Hyde said.

"This guy's an All-Star in every (way). He's just had an amazing year. Such a class act, professional, plays hurt, wants to play every day. He's swung the bat really well. He drives in runs, he plays multiple positions. He's had an All-Star caliber year up to this point, so rooting for Trey."

Update: Miguel Cabrera's two-out single in the first inning scored Christin Stewart and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Update II: Dylan Bundy is down 2-0 in the second inning after surrendering a two-out RBI double to JaCoby Jones.

Update III: Niko Goodrum homered in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.