Showalter on Mullins, Mancini, trade deadline and more (O's up 7-0)

The Orioles were able to get Cedric Mullins back into their lineup tonight for the series opener against the Blue Jays. However, manager Buck Showalter can't be certain that Mullins' hip flexor won't become an issue again. Roll out the rookie and keep a close eye on him.

There's only the assumption right now that Mullins is healthy again.

"You're familiarizing yourself with players," Showalter said. "Brian (Ebel) and him were out there running and hitting and moving around. We think, but we'll see. The speed of a major league game, I don't know for sure. But we think so.

"I was talking to some guys in our system who have had him a lot today and just trying to get a feel. Some guys are real up front and frank with you, some guys might mask some things. Just trying to get a feel from people who have had him for 100-plus games, just so you make good decisions on things like that. I think so, but we'll see."

Trey Mancini is serving again as the designated hitter, as he did last night in the series finale against the Yankees. He started at first base in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader.

Jace Peterson is in left field again tonight, but Showalter said Mancini is fine physically. It's more of a breather, and also allows for the evaluation of other players and a more flexible bench.

"I want to take a look at some guys," Showalter said. "Also need to keep the infielder in case we have a (health) issue. There's one guy I'm a little concerned about and I'd rather have him move from the outfield as opposed to DH. I thought about DHing (Renato) Núñez today and playing Pete at third, but the problem with that is it puts our infield in harm's way if we have the infielder DHing.

"We've got a feel for what Trey is as far as left field/first base, and the things we're not sure about we're going to try to look into those, especially in September."

Mancini failed to make a couple of plays at first base Saturday night, charged with an error and also making a wide throw to the plate. Showalter hasn't lost confidence in him, however, and Mancini could return to first base this week while the Jays start left-handers Thomas Pannone and Ryan Borucki in the last two games of the series.

"I think Trey, if he ever approached it from Day One in spring training ... he's efficient," Showalter said. "He had as rough a day as he'll ever have. I thought about playing him today to try to get that out of his taste, but probably happen the next day or two. That's what decision we came to when we were doing the lineup.

"I think Trey would be fine over there. He positions himself well, he's always engaged. There's a certain fluidity and comfort that you get from being over there every day."

The Aug. 31 deadline is approaching for teams to acquire a player who's passed through waivers and eligible to be placed on the postseason roster. The Orioles have been busy in past years, but there isn't much of a buzz surrounding them this week.

Danny Valencia was released, Mark Trumbo is on the disabled list and contemplating knee surgery and Adam Jones still holds his 10-5 rights. Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb reportedly have cleared waivers, but so have the vast majority of players.

"We've got, what, five days?" Showalter said. "It's just like the other deadline, people don't really show their hand until right at the end. It might be the same thing here. But usually this time of year things are affected by health. Someone has something.

"I was talking to Dan (Duquette) today about some things that he's looking into and thinking about, but you can have something with a club that you think really should match up and is great, and you call them and here it is and they go, 'No.' It's just as simple as that."

The Orioles did the heavy lifting last month by moving Manny Machado, Zach Britton, Jonathan Schoop, Kevin Gausman, Brad Brach and Darren O'Day.

"We traded some really good players, so there's been a lot of movement," Showalter said. "I just don't know. I don't want to know and he doesn't need to tell me. I've got my hands full here. But there's a lot of things I'm sure are going on and close or not close. It doesn't help anybody to know all that stuff.

"I can't really handicap between now and the end of the month. I know for our guys who are here who might be involved in that, personally, I'd love to see them, if they're going to be traded, get there before the first so at least they're eligible for the postseason. But that doesn't mean somebody still won't take them to try to get there."

"We traded some really good players.

The Orioles will try to prevent Kendrys Morales from tying the major league record with home runs in eight consecutive games. But it isn't as simple as pitching around him.

"We didn't want to be that guy last time," Showalter said, referencing the four home runs Morales hit against the Orioles in Toronto as part of the streak. "You know what's funny, if you go back through the pitches they hit for home runs, I guarantee you of the seven, look at how many are not strikes. So, it's so easy to sit there and go, 'Listen, just don't throw him anything.'"

Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. share the record of eight games in a row with a home run.

"Donnie was telling me that all but one of the pitches that he hit for a home run were balls," Showalter said.

"It's hard to pitch around them, quite frankly, because their range with the bat at times when they're in the zone is really good. I think the last two home runs (Morales) hit off us were balls, but they were up and in a bad count where he wasn't worried about anything else."

For the Blue Jays
Curtis Granderson RF
Billy McKinney LF
Kendrys Morales DH
Justin Smoak 1B
Randal Grichuk CF
Aledmys Díaz SS
Russell Martin 3B
Luke Maile C
Devon Travis 2B

Sam Gaviglio RHP

Update: Chris Davis broke a scoreless tie in the sixth by grounding into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded. Mancini followed with a three-run homer to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead.

Update II: Mancini has tied his career high with five RBIs, including a two-run double off Danny Barnes in the seventh inning. Mancini scored on Tim Beckham's single to give the Orioles a 7-0 lead.