Notes on rotation, Flaherty, Santander and Davis (O's down 3-1)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles are starting Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman and Wade Miley in the three-game series against the Rangers that begins on Friday at Globe Life Park.

The Rangers are listing Andrew Cashner for Friday and left-hander Martin Perez for Sunday. They haven't announced Saturday's starter.

Manager Buck Showalter also confirmed that Dylan Bundy will be pushed back to Tuesday night against the Royals at Camden Yards. That would leave Ubaldo Jiménez for Monday night if no changes are made in the rotation.

Ryan Flaherty will begin his injury rehab assignment Thursday by playing second base at Double-A Bowie, and he'll move around the diamond.

"He'll probably play a little bit of everywhere," Showalter said.

The assignment is expected to last through the weekend.

"That would be my initial guess, but who knows?" Showalter said. "I just hope he doesn't have any (setbacks). It's kind of like the first couple times he makes some throws and gets into the speed of the game and doesn't think about it.

"Bobby (Dickerson) put him through a pretty good workout yesterday and he handled it pretty well. I haven't talked to him yet today, if he's sore or anything, but I think I would have heard something from Richie (Bancells) if he was.

"I told him, 'They've got a pennant race going on down there. They're nip and tuck there. They're counting on you to be pretty good now.'"

Flaherty hasn't appeared in a game for the Orioles since May 18 in Detroit.

Rule 5 outfielder Anthony Santander also will begin his rehab assignment Thursday at Bowie. He's going to be used as the designated hitter and also play the outfield.

"We wouldn't activate him unless he was ready to do all activities," Showalter said.

Santander probably needs the full 20 days on his assignment.

"I would think so, on the surface, because he hasn't played most of the year, a good deal of it," Showalter said. "He needs to kind of go through a spring training. He's had a lot of setbacks along the way. We're hoping he got it behind him and behind us.

"The whole idea with him was that we knew when we acquired him that there might be some issues, but the talent level was always there. If we could get him back to full health, we might have something.

First baseman Chris Davis is back in the lineup after missing the last two games with a stomach virus.

"He feels markedly better than he did," Showalter said. "He was pretty sick. But he's been able to eat a couple times and got fluids down.

"Fortunately, we're playing in a place where it's climate controlled."

Always 72 degrees at Tropicana Field.

"Chris is a go. We're glad to have him back," Showalter said. "You just hope it doesn't go around. That's another reason why you get them out of here. Try not to spread it. That's the one thing about clubs. When one guy gets it, everybody gets it."

Update: Jonathan Schoop's solo home run with two outs in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie.

Schoop has 22 home runs and 72 RBIs to lead the Orioles.

Ubaldo Jiménez has retired seven in a row with four strikeouts.

Update II: Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer with two outs in the sixth to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.

Update III: Steven Souza Jr. greeted Darren O'Day with a home run in the seventh inning that increased the lead to 3-1. O'Day has allowed home runs in three of his last five outings.