More from Showalter before tonight's game (O's win 1-0 in 10th)

Darren O'Day is likely to take the ball tonight if the Orioles are in a save situation. However, Zach Britton is on the verge of reclaiming the ninth-inning responsibilities after spraining his left ankle over the weekend.

"Zach had a good day today," said manager Buck Showalter. "Very close. He's close to being available."

The decision to go back to a 12-man staff probably won't be made until Britton appears in a game and is fine the next day.

"The need for an infielder might take precedent. We're one misstep out there from needing somebody. It's going to be an after the game thing," Showalter said.

"They should have a rule where you could activate somebody midgame. Think they'll go along with that? Just DL him on the spot. 'You're out of here.' "

Kevin Gausman makes his third start of the season tonight since coming off the disabled list.

"You can tell Gaus feels good about himself physically," Showalter said. "He's ready, I hope, to be a consistent guy that goes out there every fifth day. I thought it was important to get him back out there. It also gives him another start before the off day down the road. It matches up some things.

"I think Gaus, there's a maturity about understanding how hard this is. He can do it, but he's got to follow certain approaches to do it. More is not always better. He understands that. I feel more confident about the days when he's not carrying a plus-fastball out there that he's going to be able to give us a chance to win."

Joey Rickard is on the bench tonight while fighting a 7-for-44 slump that's lowered his average from .350 to .269. Showalter isn't worried about the Rule 5 pick and continues to find positives in his approach at the plate.

"He's good," Showalter said. "He was real proud of being drug tested in there. I walked by him and I go, 'Nice going.' He goes, 'Yeah, I've arrived.' No, Joey's been good. Our players won't let him be bad. He's living the American dream. He's fine. We're real proud of him.

"Like I said yesterday, his last at-bat was the one that made me go, 'OK.' When I see him starting to have those anxiety at-bats, that's when I'll kind of go ... But when he's still taking that walk late in the game (that's) 7-0, that's what I want to continue to see. Continue to be who he is."

Rickard has talked about pitchers making adjustments and how he must counter them. It's all part of the process.

"They have, but they were throwing the kitchen sink at him the first week," Showalter said. "There are certain things they're doing a little bit now that they were trying to do earlier and he handled it. Some of it he hasn't. The bunt last night is typical. I asked him, 'Do you play golf?' He said, 'Never.' That's what a good wedge shot looks like. He had a nice spin on that.

"He'll make the adjustments. He's too athletic and too smart not to. The biggest thing about jumping up here is the quality of pitching day in and day out. You may see one guy in a three-game series in Triple-A that you go, 'OK, that's one of those.' Here, you see it every night."

The Yankees are starting right-hander Masahiro Tanaka tonight, which gives Showalter an opening to put Hyun Soo Kim in left field. The Athletics are sending left-hander Rich Hill to the mound for Friday night's series opener at Camden Yards, marking Rickard's return to the lineup while Kim takes a seat on the bench.

Kim is 7-for-10 in his last four games.

Adam Jones' average is down to .205, but he's still in center field and batting second tonight behind Manny Machado. Showalter knows that Jones isn't 100 percent physically, but he doesn't think it's impacting his at-bats. This is just a good ol' fashioned slump.

Showalter said he has a "long memory" when it comes to Jones' contributions in the past and how quickly the center fielder can heat up.

"He'll be fine," Showalter said.

For the Yankees
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Starlin Castro 2B
Brian McCann C
Mark Teixeira 1B
Carlos Beltran DH
Dustin Ackley RF
Aaron Hicks LF
Didi Gregorius SS
Ronald Torreyes 3B

Masahiro Tanaka RHP

Update: Gausman became the first Orioles starter to go more than seven innings this season, tying his career high by completing the eighth. He shut out the Yankees on three hits, walked none and struck out four. He threw 98 pitches, 65 for strikes.

The Orioles also are being shut out. Tanaka has held them to five hits.

Darren O'Day is working the ninth and Britton is warming.

Update II: The Orioles hadn't scored in 21 innings before pushing across a run in the bottom of the 10th and winning 1-0 to take the series.

Kim led off with his fifth infield hit of the season and raced to third base on Jonathan Schoop's single into left-center field. Andrew Miller came in to face Pedro Alvarez while Nolan Reimold ran for Kim.

Alvarez, in a rare at-bat against a left-hander this season, flied to center field and Reimold beat the throw home.

Britton gets the win and the Orioles improve to 16-11.