Showalter on Hays: "His time will come" (game update)

TORONTO - It is a question being asked a lot around Birdland: If the Orioles took the leap to bring up outfielder Austin Hays and add him to their 40-man roster, why is he not playing more?

Especially at a time when the Orioles are not getting a lot of offense out of the right field spot. In September, Mark Trumbo is batting .238 (10-for-42), Joey Rickard is hitting .118 (2-for-17) and Seth Smith is batting .100 (2-for-20).

Has Showalter considered putting the kid out there?

"Oh, sure. Have I been tempted, sure?" he said this afternoon. "Thought about it a lot. Same way with (Chance) Sisco, same way with (Anthony) Santander. There will come a time. Just don't think ... not there yet. Got a pretty good idea about, best way to develop young players. His time will come."

Showalter added: "There are certain things when people have a track record and they are not performing to it. He's not the only one. I mean right field is not the only position. There are a lot of things you can do. But you are just hoping that guys that are capable of getting real hot do it. Still going to be dictated by pitching.

"I guess your readers are wanting to know why he isn't playing right field? Good question. I'd like to play him more, I really would. We consider the unknown better than what is there. We'll see."

Meanwhile, the Orioles have set their rotation for the first three games of their upcoming series in New York against the Yankees. Wade Miley will start tomorrow night, Gabriel Ynoa on Friday and Jeremy Hellickson on Saturday.

Sunday's starter has not yet been announced, but Showalter said he has several options for that. One he is not likely to use is right-hander Dylan Bundy. He would be pitching on normal four days' rest Sunday after starting at Rogers Centre last night. But the club keeps looking for ways to get him extra rest, so Sunday is probably out for Bundy.

"We've got a lot of options," Showalter said. "That is why Sunday has not been determined yet. I want to see how Dylan's workday goes. If I was making an educated guess by you all, I'd lean to him not pitching on turn. This is all designed for him to be able to pitch in October. He's in good shape right now (health and innings wise).

"We've been monitoring not only him but all our guys. Knock on wood, take a look around baseball at the health of pitchers compared to ours. We're pretty proud of it. Now that I've jinxed us. You have to do some things that are tough to do. We want to keep our commodities healthy. You just can't go out and buy another one."

Showalter agreed that in giving Ynoa the Friday start, he is giving the right-hander another chance to not only help now but audition for a chance to be in the starting mix next year.

"Of course," Showalter said. "Obviously, we are looking (for starters). It's been a challenge for us. He's still 23, 24 years old and has a good arm. Statistically, he didn't have that good a year, if you look at the entire body of work. But the last month, I thought he pitched well. Each opportunity, as we go forward, to make good decisions in the offseason, we have to take it. Even though we know March and September are the big fooler months. You have to be careful. He presented himself well the first time and we'll see if he can do it again."

O's score first: The Orioles took a 2-0 lead on right-hander Marcus Stroman in the top of the first. Adam Jones drilled an RBI double to left and Trey Mancini's triple to center scored Jones for the 2-0 lead. Toronto got one back in the last of the third off Kevin Gausman. Teoscar Hernandez and Richard Ureña doubled to cut into the O's lead at 2-1.

The O's missed a chance to add to the lead in the fourth. They loaded the bases with no outs, but Stroman struck out Smith and Caleb Joseph bounced into a double play.

Gausman good again: Darren O'Day replaced Gausman with the O's leading 2-1 in the eighth. Gausman went seven innings, allowing six hits and one run on 106 pitches. He has an ERA of 2.53 over his last 10 starts, allowing two runs or less eight times. O'Day pitched a scoreless inning and the O's took the 2-1 lead to the ninth.