Tillman's turn in the rotation

Chris Tillman will be facing the Tigers tonight on five days' rest with Jeremy Hellickson joining the rotation and no one coming out of it.

This can be construed as good and bad news, based on track records and history.

Let's start off in a positive direction.

Tillman is 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.023 WHIP in nine career starts against the Tigers over 58 2/3 innings, and he was on the mound for Game 1 of the 2014 American League Division Series, which the Orioles swept. Tillman was charged with two runs over five innings and struck out six batters.

Only three of the nine regular season starts have come at home, most recently last year when he tossed seven scoreless innings and struck out seven batters on May 13. The other Camden Yards outings occurred on Oct. 1, 2010, when he allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, and April 7, 2011, when he allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Over the past three seasons, he's surrendered a combined two runs in 22 1/3 innings at Comerica Park. The July 18, 2015 start was a beauty, with no runs and one hit in eight innings.

Victor Martinez is 6-for-20 (.300) with a double and home run against Tillman. Jose Iglesias is 3-for-16 (.188) with a double.

Tillman is 1-6 with a 7.65 ERA and 1.979 WHIP in 14 starts, with 96 hits allowed in 64 2/3 innings. He's walked 32 batters and struck out 50. This isn't how anyone wants a final season to play out before free agency. This isn't how anyone wants any season to play out.

A sore shoulder, the disabled list and now this, all of it conspiring to bring down Tillman, who's allowed 11 runs and 15 hits in his last two starts over 9 2/3 innings. The two walks and 11 strikeouts bring a modicum of comfort.

Tillman's July 22 start against Houston, when he allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings, marked the only time this season that he hasn't issued a walk.

A six-man rotation, however temporary or enduring, provides extra rest for Tillman. However, he's 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA and 2.518 WHIP this season in five starts over 18 2/3 innings while working on five days' rest.

This is the bad part that I warned you about.

In his career, Tillman has posted a 4.69 ERA in 50 starts on five days' rest, a 4.51 ERA in 105 starts on four days and a 3.38 ERA in 37 starts on six days or more.

The Orioles are seeing another left-hander tonight in Detroit's Matthew Boyd, who's registered a 5.30 ERA and 1.621 WHIP this season in 14 starts over 74 2/3 innings. He's made one career start against the Orioles, allowing seven runs and eight hits over 2 1/3 innings on May 16 in a 13-11 loss at Comerica Park.

J.J. Hardy homered off Boyd, but he remains on the disabled list. The active Orioles are 6-for-13 against him.

Left-handers and right-handers are batting .308 against Boyd this season.

Boyd has made three starts this month and all of them qualify as quality, with a total of nine runs allowed 19 1/3 innings.

It's Welington Castillo's turn to catch tonight. Caleb Joseph was behind the plate last night and hit a two-run homer.

Joseph has six hits in his last 17 at-bats, including two home runs. He's batting .300 (12-for-40) with two home runs and 15 RBIs with runners in scoring position.

"Fortunately, we've got really deep depth," said manager Buck Showalter. "Having those two guys back there, pitchers don't really care about who they throw to. They're both on the same page and they're both offensive threats, which is unusual for two catchers like that."

Trey Mancini is batting .365 (35-for-96) with eight doubles, two home runs and 13 RBIs against the American League Central.