Jimenez: "I don't have to change anything" (Orioles fall 15-2)

ORIOLES QUICK WRAP

Score: Tigers 15, Orioles 2

Recap: Ubaldo Jimenez struck out two in a scoreless first inning, but the wheels came off in the second. He recorded only one out and was charged with six runs (five earned). Jimenez walked two, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch. Chris Jones replaced Jimenez with one out in the second and served up a three-run homer to Ian Kinsler. Yoenis Cespedes hit a grand slam off Oliver Drake (Navy) in the fourth. Eddie Gamboa gave up an RBI triple to Anthony Gose and three-run homer to Aaron Westlake. Julio Borbon and Henry Urrutia each drove in a run in the top of the ninth to prevent a shutout. Just a bad day overall for the first exhibition game.

Need to know: Jimenez said he was pleased with his fastball command and most of his pitches were close. A few got away from him. David Lough reached base twice on a walk and single. Jimmy Paredes had a double and a diving stop and throw at third base to record an out. The Orioles hit three batters today in the first four innings.

On deck: Wednesday vs. Tigers in Sarasota, 1:05 p.m.
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LAKELAND, Fla. - The scoreboard says that Ubaldo Jimenez had a poor outing today in the Orioles exhibition opener against the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. His stat line would agree. However, Jimenez wants people to look beyond the numbers when evaluating his performance.

Jimenez was charged with five earned runs, six total, and recorded only four outs. He walked two batters, hit two and threw a wild pitch, but he felt as though he had good command of the fastball and a repeatable delivery.

"I don't want to say I lost control because I had pretty good command of the fastball," he said. "I let a couple slip, two-seam fastballs to hitters, and then I made a mistake with a slider, probably the only one that I threw. I felt good.

"What I was looking for was to command the fastball. I know I walked two guys, but all of the pitches were really close, all of them were close. The only thing I can tell you is I did what I wanted to do and that was commanding the fastball. I threw a lot of fastballs. I only threw three or four breaking balls, mostly fastballs. I wanted to command the fastball and I feel good."

Asked what he would want to change beyond the score, Jimenez replied, "I don't have to change anything. I feel like I felt really good with the fastball, I had good command. Things just got out of control. There was a play I was supposed to make, made an error. A couple hits with two strikes, but I felt really good."

Jimenez used the same delivery today that he switched to in September and struck out the first two batters he faced. He threw 14 of his 21 pitches for strikes in a scoreless first inning.

"It felt good," he said. "I felt really good. I felt like I was a little bit smoother than before. I was in control of my head and that showed in the first inning."

Jimenez is trying to get back into the rotation after going 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA in 25 games last season, with 77 walks in 125 1/3 innings. He was left off the roster for the American League Championship Series.

Fans lost patience with him last season and he knows what they're thinking today.

"That's the thing. For me, I can't control what people are thinking," he said. "The only thing I can control is doing my job every day and work every day and hopefully take everything down to the game.

"If you see the scoreboard you're probably like, 'Oh, he was (bad),' but I wasn't. I felt like I had good control of the fastball even though I hit two guys, but it was two pitches that got away. All of the other pitches were really close, probably at the home plate.

"The only thing I can control is try to do the best I can to get ready for the season."

Jimenez will continue to focus on fastball command in preparation for his next start, and "the next thing is to get the breaking ball down," he said.

He's also got to lower his ERA.

Yoenis Cespedes hit a grand slam off Oliver Drake in the fourth. Anthony Goses had an RBI triple off Eddie Gamboa in the fifth inning and Aaron Westlake hit a three-run homer in the sixth to increase the Tigers' lead to 15-0.

The Orioles have four hits - singles by Everth Cabrera, J.P. Arencibia and David Lough, and a double by Jimmy Paredes. Lough also walked today.