Tillman to receive cortisone injection in hip as precaution

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman will receive a precautionary cortisone injection in his left hip this afternoon following his morning bullpen session.

Tillman didn't have any discomfort in the hip and manager Buck Showalter was pleased with the results. Showalter stayed back in camp to watch the bullpen sessions, which also included Yovani Gallardo.

"Chris was good and Gallardo was good," Showalter said. "We had a lot of sides back there we wanted to see before we came over, so that was a good day.

"I think Chris is still going to get the injection today just to stay on the safe side. He had a 2 o'clock cortisone injection they were going to do. I think they were going to follow through and do that. That was Wally's (Dave Wallace's ) thinking.

"It's just to make sure the healing process takes place."

Showalter said if "everything goes well," Tillman and Gallardo probably will pitch on March 9 against the Phillies in Clearwater or March 10 against the Yankees in Sarasota.

Mike Wright will go two innings today against the Braves if his pitch count allows it.

Tyler Wilson will pitch in relief today and he may go only one inning before possibly making a start in his next appearance.

Hyun Soo Kim is a projected regular who's in today's lineup, playing left field against the Braves. He's also expected to start Wednesday against the Braves at Ed Smith Stadium.

"It's probably a big deal to him, but we have a long way to go," Showalter said. "It's good to see something through his eyes a little bit. He's been in Sarasota. He gets to see another side of it now. I'd like to expose him as much as I can to that. If he goes north with us, a least a lot of that stuff will be behind him.

"I'm trying to take him as often as I can without doing too much. These opportunities are going to be fleeting and I want to expose him as much as I can."

Kim played in Sunday's intrasquad game, which was "a start," Showalter said.

"We're trying to give him some space. This guy's played a lot of baseball on a lot of big stages. We think in America we have a corner on all this stuff. When you're playing that if you win, you don't have to have military service in Korea, that's a big deal, all right? He's done it three times now.

"I try not to over-evaluate it. I think it's been a pretty seamless fit in and that's a tribute to our players. They made it pretty seamless so far. I like that fact he laughs easily. We've done a lot of background work on him. A lot of people consider him the best player over there last year. I like the fact he plays the games and walks a lot.

"Everybody's got some curiosity, whether it's going to play out over here. We'll see. It's going to be fun to watch."