Showalter on Hess, catching decision, Bundy (O's lead 6-3)

David Hess is making his first major league start today with a chance to also make a lasting impression. The kind that keeps him with the Orioles beyond the doubleheader.

Manager Buck Showalter provided another reminder that Hess isn't required to be optioned as the 26th man. He can stay with the club while someone else comes off the 25-man roster.

He can move into the rotation.

"Yes," Showalter said. "That's the way it works. You pitch good ... Yeah. This isn't something that's going to take a lot of great baseball acumen. Watch it and ...

"We've had some games pitched here, I call them 'ambush games.' It's 3 o'clock, it's 2 o'clock, it's the first game of a doubleheader. I don't want to say there's some sleepwalking going on, but sometimes it's a really good environment to pitch in. There's shadows.

"You've got to take all those things (into account). Then, all of a sudden, the next time they pitch you go, 'Geez, where's that guy that had six shutout innings last time out?' But what do you want them to do, pitch bad? Yeah, there are other parts of evaluation besides just numbers, but I think you'll be able to tell today with David. He's excited."

Hess' family is here today to watch his debut.

"There's another guilt trip if I go out there and take him out," Showalter quipped. "Where are they sitting?"

The Orioles could choose to stick with the current roster for Game 2. They'll need to make a move afterward to get back down to 25 players.

Hess, 24, is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in six starts and opponents are batting .189. The Orioles selected him in the fifth round of the 2014 amateur draft out of Tennessee Tech.

"Four-pitch mix," Showalter said. "I think he'll have a lot of extra juice. In fact, we wish one thing for him is to get through the first inning clean and kind of get his feet on the ground. Big day for him. We made sure he came over yesterday and got acclimated a little bit. Moved in his locker, uniform fit. All the things. You don't want him to walk in at noon today for the first time. Try to eliminate as many first-time things.

"Some things working in his favor today. I'd really like to see him get his feet on the ground early. But we're prepared. David's pitching as well as anybody down there in Triple-A and he deserved the opportunity.

"I'm looking forward to watching him pitch. I know what I'm expecting if he has the command that he's capable of having."

Showalter had a choice of catchers. Go with the veteran to guide the kid or the one who's caught him in the minors. Showalter decided on the latter, putting rookie Chance Sisco in the lineup instead of Caleb Joseph.

"I think either one of them would have fit today. I would have been fine with it," Showalter said. "I try to stay away from personal catchers if I can, but sometimes it's just glaring and you do it.

"I think Chance and him know each other real well. Be one less challenge for him. Not that Caleb couldn't. And I like Caleb with (Alex) Cobb."

Another factor was how the Rays are starting right-hander Matt Andriese in Game 2. He's more of a reverse-splits guy and "you're doing him a favor running left-handed hitters out there."

According to STATS, the last time before today that the Orioles had a rookie catcher behind the plate for a pitcher making his major league debut was Aug. 4, 2009, when the battery was Brian Matusz and Matt Wieters.

Dylan Bundy gets the start for Sunday's series finale after failing to record an out on Tuesday. He's allowed 19 earned runs and 22 total in his last three starts, spanning nine innings.

Bundy had a good bullpen session and Showalter expects better results. Why?

"Because it's Dylan," he said.

"May not be different, but there's a lot of things that, not keeps you up at night, but Dylan bouncing back from things like that doesn't keep ... We know he's healthy, we know he feels good. It's just a matter of time. Maybe it's June. We're going to be the calendar as June in his locker maybe. I don't know.

"I just have a lot of confidence in Dylan. I was out there for his workday because there were some things I wanted to see. I told you, I asked him, 'How do you feel?' And he goes, 'Fresh.' He said, 'I only threw 28 pitches.' Believe me, he takes it very seriously."

Showalter won't get into specifics, but he said Chris Davis has made some adjustments at the plate that make him look "more hitterish." I just wanted to leave you with that word. I'll try to work it into more stories.

Update: Hess gave up back-to-back one-out singles to C.J. Cron and Joey Wendle and a three-run homer to Matt Duffy. The Orioles trail 3-0 and have been outscored 57-16 in the first inning this season.

Update II: Jonathan Schoop homered on the first pitch thrown to him by Chris Archer in the bottom of the second inning to reduce the lead to 3-1. Hess retired the side in order in the top half on 13 pitches.

Update III: The Orioles scored again in the second on Mark Trumbo's single and Chance Sisco's double off the top of the left-center field fence to cut the lead to 3-2. Sisco and Jace Peterson, who walked with two outs, executed a double steal to tie the game.

Update IV: Manny Machado and Schoop went back-to-back in the third on consecutive pitches to give the Orioles a 5-3 lead.

Update V: Trumbo doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to increase the lead to 6-3. Hess has allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, with no walks and three strikeouts. Tanner Scott is warming with Hess at 78 pitches, 56 strikes.