Showalter on injuries: "It's part of the gig up here" (O's down 6-0)

Edwin Jackson will throw two to three innings and around 50 pitches Tuesday and Friday at extended spring training. He's getting close to an assignment at Triple-A Norfolk.

Anyone feeling angst over Hyun Soo Kim's lack of playing time can rest easy, with the Rays starting three straight right-handers in the upcoming series.

"Obviously, I need to get Kim back out there tomorrow," said manager Buck Showalter.

Triple-A Norfolk's outfield today includes Henry Urrutia in left (and leading off) and Pedro Álvarez in right. Center fielder Logan Schafer will cover as much ground as possible.

Asked about the reports on Álvarez, Showalter said, "Swinging the bat, a threat. Just like we thought. The outfield's a challenge for him, but he's working hard at it. But it's something that he and we wanted to do, and we're going to stick with it for the time being. He's learning on the job down there."

Álvarez began the day batting .193/.324/.368 with three home runs, eight RBIs, 11 walks and 16 strikeouts in 57 at-bats in 15 games. Two home runs came in the Tides' first game.

Mark Trumbo is in right field again today for the Orioles, with Trey Mancini serving as the designated hitter. Trumbo seems to have settled in as the right fielder, though Mancini has proven to be competent at his new position.

Trumbo has started in right field in his last seven games.

"Just a little better feel there," Showalter said. "We'll see how the health is with everybody tomorrow. It just works better for us right now.

"You try to be careful, and sometimes it's unavoidable, with a young player, throwing a lot of challenges at him. The guy's swinging the bat pretty well, making a contribution. We'll pick our spots when he plays out there.

"It's a tough place to, I don't want to say 'experiment,' but I don't want to do anything that ... Of course, Trey's pretty strong mentally, it seems like. I don't think what happens in the field is going to bother him. Glad to be able to get him the number of at-bats that we have. On paper it was a challenge going into it out of spring."

With Chris Tillman, Zach Britton and Joey Rickard at various stages of their progressions from injury, the Orioles are getting close to having their full team together for the first time. But Showalter doesn't dwell on it or seek pity.

"I don't look at it that way at all," he said. "It's part of the gig up here. Nobody wants to hear you talk about it. That's why your depth is so important. I found that once somebody, say Rickard, comes back, it seems like something else happens. Zach comes back, something else happens. So really, over the course of the season it's how you handle those things and how you survive through those times.

"Everybody makes this big deal, and I guess rightly so, in spring training breaking camp with the 25. We all know how much that's going to change and how important what's going on at Norfolk and Bowie is to us. It's very important that (Alec) Asher pitched well against Toronto. It's very important that (Jayson) Aquino pitched well last night. It's very important that some of our guys continue to develop and get more trustworthy in roles, whether it be a (Donnie) Hart or a (Mychal) Givens or, hopefully, a (Stefan) Crichton, and we continue to have what-if pieces."

The Orioles seem to be more comfortable with their depth than in previous seasons under Showalter.

"On paper, probably," he said. "But it's kind of, you can have pitching depth but do you have pitching quality depth? We've got a lot of irons in the fire. You see an Edwin Jackson there starting to make ... He's a guy who could help us in a lot of different roles. Some guys that we picked up and we've just gotten an inch or two better. And sometimes you graduate from situations. Been given plenty of opportunities and it just didn't work out, and you've got to graduate and try some different personnel sometimes.

"What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Sometimes, you've got to shuffle the cards a little bit. Dan (Duquette) is good at that."

Craig Gentry turned out to be a wise minor league signing in spring training. He started slowly at the plate, but he has four hits in 12 at-bats, including a home run, and seems to make an impressive catch in every game. He also stole a base as a pinch-runner and moved up twice on fly balls in a game last weekend in Toronto to score the tying run.

"Craig finds a way to impact us every night somehow," Showalter said. "Hopefully, when Joey gets back we'll be able to use him even more selective. The weapon he can be off the bench. It's kind of nice when Joey plays and Craig's able to come in and we can pick our spot with him where we know he can impact a game.

"We get out of the division a little bit, hopefully at some point, there's some people I'd like to give some blows to when we get into May. Whether it be Adam (Jones) or even Schoopie (Jonathan Schoop). Everybody. I'd like to kind of start moving things around. But in April we knew how important it was to stay engaged in the competition."

Schoop has been charged with only one error, but he's failed to come up with ground balls that have touched his glove. It happened again last night as he tried to backhand a ball. He also took a step to his right on a ball that scooted past him to the left.

"He's spoiled us with a high level of play there," Showalter said. "It seems like every little thing, especially when you're playing such good offensive teams at this level, when 90 feet are gained when they didn't earn it, it's ...

"Jon's having some plays that are scored as hits that he thinks he should make. I think that's probably what he's frustrated about. He's still turning the double play as good as anybody you want to see, but Jon's had some plays that he felt like he should have made. He holds himself to a pretty high standard. So, I know what he's talking about.

"I like the ball going out toward him."

Update: Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer off Kevin Gausman in the first inning and Hanley Ramirez crushed the next pitch to give the Red Sox a quick 4-0 lead before they made an out.

It took only eight pitches.

Gausman left the bases loaded in the second and has thrown 45 pitches.

Update II: Mitch Moreland homered off Gausman in the fifth to increase the lead to 5-0, and Andrew Benintendi had an RBI single off Stefan Crichton in the sixth.

Gausman allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, with three walks, four strikeouts and three home runs. He threw 98 pitches, 62 for strikes, and is sporting a 7.50 ERA in 24 innings.