Schoop on his injury and return (O's down 3-1)

BOSTON - Jonathan Schoop expressed some hope today about his ability to come off the disabled list after the minimum 10 days. Oblique strains traditionally require a longer recovery period, but no one is stamping out his optimism given the disappointment he felt upon suffering the injury.

"I hope 10 days," he said. "I hope in the next couple of days I'll feel better so I can start swinging and start to work on it to get better and get stronger."

Manager Buck Showalter knows the odds against making the DL period, but he won't discourage Schoop by reciting the numbers. Spirits must be lifted.

"Yeah, you would say from the history without a doubt, but I was telling Jon last night, 'Hey, we've got one day behind us, that's nine,' " Showalter said. "We probably get rained out (Monday) and there's an off-day in there, so it's seven. You try to keep people like Jon upbeat about it because he's, I don't want to say depressed, he's really down right now. He really wants to be out there.

"It's tough on everybody, but especially Jon. He knows what he means to the club. He was hitting third and coming off the best year of his career and as good a year as any second baseman had and was primed to take it to another level. But it's delayed, it's not denied. He'll be back.

"The trouble with these injuries is that you can't test them. That's what I was trying to tell him out there today, you start twisting and what have you. He's stiff more than sore, which is a good sign."

Schoop noticed the discomfort in his side while swinging at a pitch in the seventh inning of Friday night's game and again while fielding a ground ball in the eighth.

"I felt like something pinched me in my side," he said. "I went out there the next inning, a ground ball to me and I felt it right away again. It wasn't that bad, but the MRI showed ... it's not a good thing with an injury, but the MRI showed good news because it's not as bad as we thought."

choop has missed only two games over the past two years. Having to sit and watch will test his patience, especially after back-to-back multi-hit games as signs that he was busting out of his slump.

"I started real slow and then I started picking it up a little bit, but this is something that I cannot control," he said. "An injury you never can control. You never want to get hurt. I went out there trying to play hard and I got hurt, but I never wanted it to happen. Now, I've got to work to get stronger and do the rehab and do the things that I've got to do to get better and get started on it.

"It's tough, it's tough. I want to be out there. I don't want to miss any games, but I cannot control this. I want to still go out there, but they don't want me to go and hurt it any more. Thank God it was early in the month, so it's not that bad and work on it. I hope I only miss the 10 (days) and play the rest."

Tim Beckham remains at second base today and Danny Valencia is playing third against Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale. The Orioles are using Engelb Vielma as a reserve.

"We have depth," Schoop said. "All the guys we have here, they're good. It will give a chance for the other guys. Pedro (Álvarez) will get more at-bats, Danny, Vielma, all those guys. They've got depth.

"I hope I stay out there for only 10 days and come back and try and play as quick as soon as possible."

Mark Trumbo will accompany the team to Detroit and continue workouts before going back on a rehab assignment and further testing his right quadriceps.

"There's some unknown there," Showalter said. "I was talking to Mark in the dugout and I spent some time kind of looking at some other guys, (Matt) Holliday, he came back too early and it really bothered him all year back and forth. We're really got to get this thing right the first time.

"The thing that bothers him the most is when he really pushes it and busts it out of the box or really wants to quick spurt. That's the only time he has some real concerns. And that's why we stopped it. But each day he's getting closer. We just want to make sure it heals all the way. We'll probably re-image that at some point."

Adam Jones is in the lineup today as the designated hitter. He wanted to play despite the conditions and Showalter wanted to give him a break. Being the DH is a compromise of sorts.

"He wants to play, because if our guys are going to have to go through this, he wants to go through it with them," Showalter said. "That's why Adam's been the guy he has been. I've made a pact with him and myself that I'm going to try to do a better job of resting him this year."

Here are the tentative starters for the series in Detroit. Postponements likely will bring adjustments to the Tigers rotation:

Tuesday: Andrew Cashner vs. Jordan Zimmermann
Wednesday: TBD vs. Michael Fulmer
Thursday: Alex Cobb vs. Mike Fiers

Update: Trey Mancini delivered another leadoff single and he scored on Manny Machado's double to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

Dylan Bundy retired the side in order on five pitches in the bottom of the first.

The Tigers now list their starters for the Orioles series as Francisco Liriano, Matthew Boyd and Zimmermann.

Update II: Andrew Benintendi's two-out triple in the fifth scored Jackie Bradley Jr. and tied the game 1-1. Chris Sale allowed one run and threw 93 pitches in five innings.

Update III: The Red Sox scored two unearned runs off Bundy in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. Valencia's second fielding error in two days started the rally. The tie-breaking run scored on a wild pitch.

Bundy allowed three runs (one earned) and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, with two walks, six strikeouts and two wild pitches. He threw 94 pitches, 68 for strikes.