Orioles recall Hess and option Hart

BOSTON - The Orioles have recalled pitcher David Hess from Triple-A Norfolk today and optioned left-hander Donnie Hart to the Tides in the latest adjustment to the bullpen.

Hart was used in the last two games, allowing an unearned run in 2 2/3 innings, and wouldn't be available for the rest of the series. And the need for a second southpaw isn't as pronounced for the three-game set against the Tigers that begins on Tuesday at Comerica Park.

Hess, 24, was scratched from yesterday's start in Syracuse and he hopped on a flight to Boston. He allowed one run and three hits in five innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts, in an April 8 start against Gwinnett, which also marked his Triple-A debut.

A fifth-round pick in 2014 out of Tennessee Tech, Hess is 28-28 with a 4.14 ERA in 91 minor league games. He's never pitched in the majors.

The 40-man roster still has one opening on it.

Meanwhile, players put on layer upon layer of clothing this morning and ventured outside to test the elements. Temperatures are in the 30s with light precipitation that threatens to turn into sleet and snow. But today's game between the Orioles and Red Sox is scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m.

Ready or not.

One veteran, with only his eyes exposed as he dressed at his locker, noted how the conditions impact everything - how you throw, hit and run.

How do you prepare a team for these conditions?

"You mean yesterday, the day before, the day before, the day before?" said manager Buck Showalter. "It is what it is. They don't change the conditions for when you hit and then when they hit, or when you pitch and they pitch. You can't do anything about the weather ever since this game first started, you know? It's not like you put a tent up or something.

"You don't (prepare). It's easy for us to say. We're in the dugout and able to kind of manage that. I feel for the players trying to perform. I feel for the fans having to sit in it. There's nothing anybody can do about it. Control the things you can control."

Starter Dylan Bundy and anyone following him to the mound will feel it the most.

"It affects everybody, but my first thought is with the pitchers trying to hold the baseball. That's the big issue," Showalter said.

"I don't think anybody will be checking for a sticky substance today. You're hoping that everybody's got it."

The forecast for Monday is worse, which increases the efforts to play today.

"The situation here is tomorrow," Showalter said. "I think you also have a good chance you're not going to play tomorrow, so now you're talking about an issue. I'm sure that's figuring into their thinking. They haven't really run it by me. They don't have to. So, if they say we play, we play.

"It's a great way to earn a living, regardless of the weather. What are you going to do? There are a lot of people going to work in this who don't really want to hear it. You pass some construction sites, yesterday and the day before were operating."