Notes on Tillman, Castillo and tonight's game

BOSTON - Chris Tillman will fly into Baltimore on Friday, throw a bullpen session and wait for confirmation that he's starting Sunday afternoon against the White Sox at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are listing the starter as TBD, but Tillman is expected to take the mound for his 2017 debut.

Tillman served up four home runs last night in five innings at Triple-A Charlotte, but only one was deemed legitimate, according to reports provided to manager Buck Showalter.

"No sense in flying here for one day," Showalter said, "so he'll meet us there and take his work day Friday and decide where we're going to plug him in."

Welington Castillo is expected to be ready to come off the disabled list when he's eligible on May 11. He's taking medication to reduce the inflammation in his right shoulder.

"He's in his third day into the dose pack that takes about five or six days," Showalter said. "He already feels a little bit better."

Castillo's participation in the World Baseball Classic may have led to his current condition. Castillo played for the Dominican Republic.

"Any time you start a clock early on these guys with the WBC and stuff, he was wanting to catch the first game of the intrasquad game and you could tell how much he wanted to be ready to start for the Dominican," Showalter said. "I'm not thinking it might have a little something to do with that, too. But God forbid it's something we did, right? There's probably a lot of factors."

Castillo said he felt the discomfort in his shoulder throughout the spring.

"Yeah, honestly, I feel like the same thing that I had in spring training, just getting worse," he said. "I was playing through that all of spring training, all of the WBC until now. I think the body is just telling me I can't continue to go farther than this. But honestly, after medication I feel a lot better. I hope that I can come back soon to help the team win.

"It's not a swinging thing. I can swing right, it's just my throwing has been bothering me and getting tighter and tighter and weak during the game. After the game is the worst part. But I've been treating it and everything is going to be OK."

Castillo has worked through the discomfort to throw out five of 14 runners attempting to steal.

"Because when I play in the game, I just try to compete, honestly, and forget about anything that I feel in my body and stuff like that," he said. "I just try to go out there and compete and give everything I've got that day."

This is the first time that Castillo has experienced a shoulder injury. He concedes that a normal spring training might have fixed it.

"I think so," he said. "You as a professional baseball (player), you know the right time and what to do to get your arm and your body in game shape. But at the WBC, I don't blame it on the WBC because it was my decision to play there, but you take steps, I think, going to the WBC. Your body, your arm, it's not where you want it to be, 100 percent. And I think you force it and cause stuff like that.

"Honestly, I don't blame it on the WBC. I had that before and it doesn't feel any better, but the good thing is I'm taking care of it and it's not going to take a long time, either."

As for tonight's game, no warnings will be issued to the teams following Chris Sale's pitch behind Manny Machado last night that raised the tension level between the clubs.

"The commissioner's office made it clear that they'd like to see the behavior stopped and should they continue, they will be dealt with a sanction," said executive vice president Dan Duquette.

Duquette said he hoped the feud would have ended after Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw a pitch behind Machado's head as retaliation for a late slide into Dustin Pedroia. Barnes was suspended four games.

"To me, that's not acceptable when you throw at a guy's head. It's just not acceptable in any circumstances," Duquette said.

"These guys should be able to come and do their job at the plate without having their livelihood threatened night in and night out. It's not good for any hitter in the league. Of course I'm concerned about our guys, but we can't have the pitchers in this league throwing at the hitters. It doesn't work."

The Red Sox are waiting to find out whether Sale is suspended or fined. The Orioles also have an interest in the outcome.

"I understand that Joe Torre says that it's likely Sale will be suspended and so we'll see if Joe follows up on that and makes that stick," Duquette said.

"If he was intentionally throwing at our guy, I think he should be suspended."

Duquette is satisfied with how the Red Sox handed the harsh treatment directed Monday night at center fielder Adam Jones, including racial slurs coming from the center field bleachers and a bag of peanuts thrown at him near the dugout.

"I haven't gotten an update from the Red Sox, but they pledged additional security yesterday," Duquette said. "They apologized to Adam. They have a duty to have a safe ballpark, a family atmosphere. They're dedicated to that.

"Their owner (John Henry) weighed in. The commissioner (Rob Manfred) weighed in that that behavior had no place in Major League Baseball. And Adam to his credit has kept focused, played his game and done very well."

Jones received a standing ovation last night in his first at-bat and expressed his appreciation after the game.

"I think the support for Adam was an inspiration," Duquette said. "Showed that they have a high standard and they want to come out to the ballpark to enjoy the game."