Pregame notes on McFarland, Gallardo, Hardy and more

The Orioles are activating left-hander T.J. McFarland from Triple-A Norfolk's disabled list today and he's scheduled to pitch in relief for the Tides because he needs the work.

McFarland will be held back until the later innings in case the Orioles decide that they need him. Their bullpen is in better shape today, but it's still vulnerable to a short outing from their starter.

Yovani Gallardo's bullpen session went well this morning and he remains scheduled to start Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader at Single-A Frederick. However, rain would alter those plans and relocate his start to Norfolk.

The Orioles expect Gallardo to make at least two rehab starts before coming off the disabled list. They want him to throw around 60 pitches on Thursday.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy could begin baseball activities on Friday. His next CT scan on his left foot is scheduled for that day, but the Orioles want to move it up.

Hardy has been removing the walking boot from his foot.

Manager Buck Showalter repeated that Ubaldo Jimenez is scheduled to start Thursday night against the Red Sox, despite media speculation that he could make a change.

Showalter wants to keep Vance Worley in a long relief role, and he used the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" analogy again.

Worley is valuable in his current role, and putting a struggling Jimenez in the bullpen could present a new problem.

Double-A Bowie left-hander Chris Lee will have his next start skipped to freshen up his arm. Pitching coach Alan Mills made the suggestion after noticing that Lee appeared to be fatigued.

It's just one start. Nothing of concern.

Lee, a candidate to join the Orioles rotation this summer, is 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA in eight games with the Baysox. He's only struck out 19 batters in 51 1/3 innings, but pitching to contact is working for him.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Chris Tillman is the first Orioles pitcher to win five or more games without a loss in one month since Tillman went 6-0 in June 2013. He's 5-0 this month.

Tillman also became the first Orioles pitcher to produce a record of 5-0 or better in two separate months since Jim Palmer went 6-0 in September 1977 and 5-0 in September 1978.

For the Red Sox
Mookie Betts RF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Xander Bogaerts SS
David Ortiz DH
Jackie Bradley Jr. CF
Travis Shaw 1B
Blake Swihart LF
Ryan Hanigan C
Marco Hernandez 3B

Steven Wright RHP