Steve Clevenger on batting fifth and an update on Bowie pitcher Zach Davies

Precautionary X-rays on the right arm of Double-A Bowie pitcher Zach Davies were negative today and he's listed as day-to-day. Davies got the start this afternoon for Bowie at Akron. But he left the game in the last of the second when he was struck by a line drive on the right arm, specifically his pitching elbow according to the team's Twitter feed. Matt Bischoff came on to pitch. Over 1 1/3 innings, Davies gave up two hits and one run with two walks and one strikeout. He threw 26 pitches. In his first career Double-A start last Sunday, Davies gave up five hits and two runs over five innings against Harrisburg. The 21-year-old right-hander is the Orioles' 11th-ranked prospect, according to Baseball America. Davies is in his first Double-A season after going 7-9 with a 3.69 ERA for Single-A Frederick last season. Garabez Rosa went 4-for-4 for the Baysox today, but Bowie lost 6-5 at Akron to fall to 6-4 on the season. Meanwhile, here at Camden Yards tonight, Baltimorean Steve Clevenger will catch and bat fifth for the Orioles against Toronto. Clevenger has hit fifth before in the big leagues. "In Chicago, yeah," he said. "I feel comfortable there. It doesn't matter where you are in the lineup. You still have to look for good pitches to hit and drive the baseball." Clevenger was 2-for-19 with the Cubs in four previous starts batting fifth. Today he is hitting behind Chris Davis and Adam Jones and ahead of J.J. Hardy, so he's got a pretty good idea which of those four hitters the Blue Jays will attack the most. "With those guys in front of me, they will probably in key situations go after me more than they would those guys," he said. "So I'm going to get good pitches tonight to hit and I feel like I'm in a good spot." For those of you used to seeing the backup catcher play on Sunday, manager Buck Showalter gets the lefty-hitting Clevenger in against right-hander Drew Hutchison tonight and Matt Wieters will start against lefty Mark Buehrle tomorrow. For the kid from Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, it's yet another chance to play in front of the home folks. "When you are here. just have to go out and play and not worry about where you're from," Clevenger said. "But like I've said, I feel very honored to play for my hometown team, the one I grew up watching and rooting for." Clevenger is a career .208 hitter in 231 major league at-bats. But he hit .472 this spring for the Orioles and is 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the regular season as he makes his second start tonight. "If you can hit, it might keep you in the big leagues. But during spring, my main focus was on catching. Past two years I've struggled in the big leagues hitting, but hit well in the minors. It's something I need to adjust to, to stay here. When you hit .200, you don't have too many years behind you." He'll work with right-hander Bud Norris here tonight. Norris gave up five runs over five innings in his first start at Detroit. "I think we are going to focus more on his tempo, throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters," Clevenger said. "For us, it's very important as a defensively sound team that our defense is alive out in the field. So our main focus will be on tempo."



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