Notes on Tillman, Johnson, Schoop, Hunter and more

The Orioles are a season-high 11 games over .500 heading into tonight's series finale against the Angels. They haven't been 12 games above .500 since Aug. 12, 2013 (65-53). Also with a win tonight, the Orioles would secure their first series sweep in Anaheim since Aug. 27-29, 2010. The Orioles are 7-2 against the Angels since the beginning of 2013, including a 5-1 record in Anaheim. The Angels rank 14th in the majors with 58 stolen bases. If they've done their homework, they won't be in a hurry to run on Chris Tillman. The Orioles' PR staff notes that Tillman has allowed one stolen base since the beginning of 2013, the fewest among 86 starters with 250 or more innings pitched. The next fewest steals against a right-handed pitcher in that time is five - the Mariners' Hisashi Iwakuma, who faces the Orioles Thursday night in Seattle. Teams are 1-for-10 attempting to steal against Tillman. The pitcher closest to Tillman in caught stealing percentage is Mark Buehrle (8-of-12; 66.7 percent). In 38 games since June 9, the Orioles' rotation has posted a 3.28 ERA in 228 innings and reduced its ERA from 4.61 to 4.08. Ubaldo Jimenez threw in the bullpen this afternoon after doing some light tossing in the outfield at Angel Stadium and performing agility drills. I watched a few minutes of his session on one of the televisions in the MASN studio in Hunt Valley and he looked comfortable, for what that's worth. He didn't appear to be favoring the right ankle. That's pretty much it for my expert opinion. You may recall that Jimenez was supposed to start tonight on a rehab assignment, but his bullpen session Sunday in Oakland didn't bring favorable results. Steve Johnson made his first start tonight for Triple-A Norfolk since coming off the disabled list and allowed one run and one hit in two-plus innings. He walked three and struck out one. Johnson threw 42 pitches, 20 for strikes. I'm told that Dylan Bundy will make at least one more start for Single-A Frederick after tossing six scoreless innings last night in his fourth appearance with the Keys. The Orioles improved to 6-1 this season when Jonathan Schoop homers, and 7-1 in his career. Tommy Hunter hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 12 appearances over 14 innings to lower his ERA from 6.52 to 3.78. He's 1 2/3 innings shy of the longest scoreless streak of his career, set on April 12 to May 12, 2013. Nelson Cruz is still one RBI away from recording his sixth consecutive season of 20-plus home runs and 75-plus RBIs. Chris Davis is one hit away from reaching 400 with the Orioles. The Orioles are now 14-8 against the American League West this season, and their .636 winning percentage is the highest by any AL against the division. The Tigers are second at .593. Jim Palmer will join Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray for the Orioles' 60th anniversary celebration on Aug. 8 at Camden Yards. Shameless plug alert: I'm in studio tonight for "O's Xtra" at 9:30 p.m. on MASN.