More notes and Showalter on Norris and Davis (not the radio tandem)

With a win tonight, the Orioles would move six games over .500 to match their season-high from May 10, when they were 20-14. They also would move above .500 at home for the first time since being 9-8 on May 12. Steve Pearce has hit three home runs in his last two games. He's never homered in three consecutive games. Pearce has collected 10 homers in 46 games and 150 at-bats. He needed 192 games and 488 at-bats to hit his first 10 in the majors. The Orioles have hit multiple home runs in five straight games, one short of their longest streak of the season from June 1-7. They've homered in 11 consecutive games, their longest streak since Aug. 1-16, 2013 (13). Since allowing five runs in five innings in a July 9, 2013 start against Texas, left-hander Zach Britton has not surrendered a run in 19 consecutive relief appearances at Camden Yards spanning 27 1/3 innings. He's given up 14 hits, walked seven and struck out 21. The Yankees have signed right-hander Edgmer Escalona to a minor league deal. The Orioles designated Escalona for assignment and he refused the outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles still haven't announced the signing of third baseman Austin Anderson, their ninth-round pick out of the University of Mississippi. As I wrote yesterday, they've reached agreement and he's taking his physical. Asked earlier today about Bud Norris, on the disabled list with a strained right groin, manager Buck Showalter said, "He's getting better. I asked Richie (Bancells) and him every day. It's improving. I don't think we can really tell until he gets on the mound." Norris has participated in bunting drills in case he's able to start July 7 against the Nationals in D.C. Showalter didn't have an update on Korean pitcher Suk-min Yoon, who had his right shoulder examined today by team orthopedist Dr. Michael Jacobs. Yoon is on the minor league disabled list with a shoulder impingement. Showalter downplayed his participation in today's hitting session with first baseman Chris Davis, who took swings off a tee before batting practice. "It's just something we do that sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't," Showalter said. "Same thing Jimmy (Presley) and him are working on. I just wanted to kind of see it, be around it." Showalter finds the positives in Davis' game - the hustle running out ground balls, the defense at first base. "He saved J.J. (Hardy) an error last night. J.J. saves us all the time," Showalter said. "That part I'm real proud of. But don't think for a second it's not frustrating for him. But I look at it with good players like him that somebody's going to pay. Somebody's going to pay down the line. And that bodes well for us that we've been able to get through this amount of games without (Matt) Wieters and without the potential of Chris going to another level, and Manny (Machado) for that matter. A couple other things. "Texas has issues. Every team has issues."