Loewen behold

We have a late addition to the Eastern League All-Star Game. His name is Adam Loewen, and he plays the outfield for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. We'll deal with "Fisher Cats" later. Loewen is batting .278 in 77 games, with 22 doubles, two triples, 10 homers, 49 RBIs and an .853 OPS. He's also 10-for-14 in stolen base attempts. That's quite an improvement over last season, when Loewen batted .236 with four homers, 31 RBIs and a .695 OPS with Single-A Dunedin, and his plan to transform from pitcher to position player looked like it would never get off the ground. Loewen is batting .333 with six RBIs in his last 10 games. He's 9-for-20 this month. The Orioles would have welcomed his bat in their minor league system, but Loewen threw them a changeup by signing with the Blue Jays. Speaking of the Orioles' system, left-hander Zach Britton makes his second start tonight for Triple-A Norfolk. Over his last eight starts between Double-A Bowie and Norfolk, Britton is 5-0 with a 0.85 ERA, 39 hits allowed, 15 walks and 42 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings. His 0.85 ERA over that span is the third-lowest in all of minor league baseball. Saturday's starter for Norfolk is listed as TBA. It's supposed to be Chris Tillman, unless he joins the Orioles in Texas. Tillman is the first Tides pitcher to toss two nine-inning complete game shutouts in the same season since Brian Bohanon in 1997. Over his last 19 games, outfielder Jeff Salazar is hitting .311 (23-for-74) with five home runs, 14 RBIs and nine multi-hit games. Paco Figueroa has hit .326 (14-for-43) with a home run and seven RBIs over his last 15 games. Alberto Castillo is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA and one save in his last eight outings. Isn't he due for another promotion? OK, now I can ask: What's a Fisher Cat? I actually did a quick Google search and determined that I'd never keep one as a pet.