Jimenez looking for third win, Joseph first RBI (O's down 3-0)

Ubaldo Jimenez and Caleb Joseph aren't joined at the hip. Just the lineup card.

Jimenez is making his seventh start tonight and Joseph remains a constant behind the plate. They haven't been separated this season, and while there may be other factors at work, it's worth noting that Jimenez has a 3.23 ERA in 38 career games with Joseph and a 7.02 ERA in 14 games with Matt Wieters.

Jimenez has a 4.85 ERA in nine games with Nick Hundley and a 10.00 ERA in two games with Steve Clevenger.

Read as much or as little into it as you choose.

Jimenez is 2-3 with a 4.54 ERA this season. Does Joseph get credit for the quality starts and a free pass for the duds? How exactly does this work?

Anyway, Joseph is starting tonight after catching Tyler Wilson yesterday afternoon in Minneapolis. Wieters will catch Chris Tillman and Mike Wright the next two nights, as manager Buck Showalter explained earlier on the "Manager's Report" on 105.7 The Fan.

Joseph's appearance in tonight's lineup isn't related to Wieters' right elbow.

"He's fine, he's fine," Showalter said. "He's going to catch the next two days. If you look at the whole series with the Sunday day game and the off day, it gives Matt the benefit of the day game and the off day. It won't be long before we're able to take the wraps completely off."

Joseph enters tonight's game batting .209 with no home runs or RBIs. He almost drove in his first run yesterday on a double, but Nolan Reimold had to slam on the brakes at third base.

"Caleb had a good day yesterday," Showalter said. "Didn't have much to show for it. But I'd like to get Caleb out there a couple times. And he's caught Jimenez, too, so there were a lot of factors there and something we talked about two or three days ago with Matt and Caleb."

Wieters has caught all seven of Tillman's starts this season - Joseph was behind the plate for one inning - and all four of Kevin Gausman's starts. However, Gausman is pitching Sunday in the series finale while Wieters is scheduled to have the day off.

The rotation has produced 11 quality starts in the last 14 games. The bar has been raised as Jimenez takes the mound tonight.

"The walk totals have really done down for the most part, now that I've jinxed them tonight," Showalter said. "They've been attacking the strike zone. We had 15 outfield putouts yesterday. I think the strike counts have been more in their favor. It's allowed us to get on and off the field some.

"That's a big thing. When you're constantly throwing a lot of pitches and the tempo of the game slows down, it puts some strain on you defensively and offensively, especially with the weather we've been playing in. And you think about the weather these guys have been pitching in, the grip on the baseball has been a challenge.

"That's what's really been something to watch is how good their command's been with the weather. I'd hate to see our baseball bill the last three weeks. We've used twice as many baseballs."

Update: Jimenez issued back-to-back walks to J.D. Martinez and Miguel Cabrera with one out in the first inning and Victor Martinez dumped an RBI single into left field to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.

Jimenez threw only 12 strikes among his 25 pitches in the first.

Update II: Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off the fourth with a home run and Miguel Cabrera's RBI grounder increased the lead to 3-0.

Jimenez has allowed three runs and eight hits in four innings, with four walks, one strikeout and a home run. He's thrown 86 pitches, 53 for strikes.