More on Walker's major league debut (Pearce homers again, O's win 6-1)

First baseman Christian Walker received a standing ovation in the bottom of the second inning tonight as he walked to the plate for his first major league at-bat. Facing Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ with runners on the corners and one out, Walker struck out on five pitches - four fastballs and a curveball. The Orioles decided to select Walker's contract from Triple-A Norfolk today and take a look at him. "Talking to a lot of people during the year, they think he's got a chance to contribute here at some point and we want to take advantage of the opportunity to see him in these environments that he's going to have - Yankee Stadium, Toronto, home," said manager Buck Showalter. "It would help us evaluate better as opposed to 40 at-bats against Double-A and Triple-A guys late in a ballgame in Sarasota and make better evaluations." Walker goes on the 40-man despite not being eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. "It's been a real asset for us as an organization not to be prisoner to stuff like that," Showalter said. "If we think a guy can impact us in the future, it helps us make better decisions in the offseason about the timing of whether somebody might be able to help us. Now, if he goes 0-for-30 or something up here, does that mean the door closes? No, of course not. "He's worked very hard defensively. Anxious to see what his clock is like at first base." Showalter said he met individually with four or five players and then the entire team "about what the rest of season holds for us, and let them understand what the thinking was on Christian." "Don't want to get to the end of this season, and then all of a sudden an injury you weren't counting on pops up and basically a guy who's an option has been down (in Sarasota) getting a few at-bats against instructional league pitching," Showalter said. "This is a better place for it." It also made sense to bring up Walker with Chris Davis serving his 25-game suspension and the Orioles wanting to rest Steve Pearce. "It has something to do with it," Showalter said. "I talked with Chris again today. It has something to do with him not being here. It will help us make better decisions, too, about the offseason. "When they're gone, they're gone. You can't ask everybody to come back and can we do that again? Hopefully, it will help us see what we have and what we don't have." Bud Norris has thrown 46 pitches in two scoreless innings. Showalter was asked about the six-game suspension and fine that Toronto pitcher Marcus Stroman received today after the right-hander fired a pitch behind catcher Caleb Joseph's head. "Like I said at the time, I had a lot of confidence MLB would look at it and do what needs to be done," Showalter said. "I have a lot of confidence that when something like that happens and emotions of players get in the way of good decisions that the league office will remind them that certain things aren't tolerated. " Update: Steve Pearce hit his 19th home run of the season, a solo shot with two outs in the third that gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Norris has allowed one hit and thrown 77 pitches in four innings. Update II: Pearce did it again, hitting a three-run homer in the fifth to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead. Pearce now has 20 home runs. He's got two multi-homer games in his career, both coming this season. Norris tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings and threw 108 pitches before Brian Matusz replaced him and left the bases loaded. He hasn't allowed a run in his last two starts covering 12 1/3 innings. Update III: David Lough homered off the bottom of the foul pole in right field leading off the eighth to give the Orioles a 6-1 lead. Lough entered the game as a defensive replacement in left field. The Orioles' fifth run scored an inning earlier on Jimmy Paredes' fielder's choice grounder, after Aaron Sanchez came high and tight on Pearce. The ball hit Pearce's bat as he bailed, and both dugouts were warned. Walker collected his first major league hit with a leadoff double in the seventh. Update IV: Game over. The Orioles move 32 games above .500 with a 6-1 win over the Blue Jays before 37,537. They lead the American League East by 14 1/2 games.