Orioles option Tolliver to Triple-A Norfolk

The Orioles have optioned rookie reliever Ashur Tolliver to Triple-A Norfolk to make room for left-hander T.J. McFarland on the 25-man roster.

McFarland has been recalled from Norfolk and will work out of the bullpen.

Tolliver, 28, made four appearances in his first exposure to the majors, allowing three earned runs (four total) and four hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out five.

The Orioles promoted Tolliver from Double-A Bowie, where he was 1-1 with a 2.42 ERA in 18 appearances. He made his major league debut on May 26 in Houston.

Tolliver worked both games of the Red Sox series and retired the side in order last night in the ninth inning, including Mookie Betts, who hit three home runs. David Ortiz homered off Tolliver the previous night.

Before the move was announced, Showalter talked about the state of his bullpen and why McFarland was back in Baltimore after going 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in eight appearances.

"Not going to use Tolliver tonight and Dylan (Bundy) is down tonight," he said. "Want to make sure we have length regardless of who's starting for us or who we're playing and make sure we're able to protect everybody physically."

"It helps to have two guys capable of pitching length, and really three with Dylan. I said many times we'd like to get Dylan to 60-70 innings this year and healthy. Try to keep in mind Dylan's basically a college senior and pitching at a level probably two above that he's pitched at. There's some things he's going to gain from this year and I think we'll see he's going to do some good things for us. He already has, but we're kind of moving toward a different product next year. But the two length guys, our bullpen operated its best when we had two guys with length.

"Tolliver's capable of doing that, too. I'd really like to see his appearances come down a little bit. He had a lot of appearances for a minor league pitcher when he came to us. He was at 18 or 19 when we got him. That's probably too many. If he ever goes out, I'd rather him pitch two-inning stints and further apart. He's capable of pitching multiple innings because of the changeup.

"He's presented himself well here. The way you'd like to see a 28-year-old guy who's going through some challenges come up here and go, 'Listen, this might be my one shot. I'm going to let it rip. I'm going to attack the strike zone.' That's the thing I was hoping to see from him, what I told him when he first got here."