Tommy Hunter says he's 100 percent and ready to rejoin the Orioles

O's right-hander Tommy Hunter passed his final test with his left groin strain last night when he pitched an inning for Single-A Delmarva. Now he's ready to return to the Orioles roster and will be activated off the disabled list in time for today's game. Hunter threw 11 pitches in a scoreless second inning for Delmarva last night. He fanned two batters and hit one, but that runner was thrown out trying to steal. "I felt good," Hunter said this morning. "Able to throw the ball over the plate for the most part except for the last guy. I was happy with it. Was able to throw some pitches where I wanted them. It was good. Yeah I feel like I'm 100 percent, ready to go. Get after them today." Hunter is 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA with 11 saves in 14 games. His last game for the Orioles was May 20. Now he will work to avoid another setback with his groin injury. "Just have to do a few things here and there. Continual maintenance," he said. "Once you get hurt, you are bound to hurt it again. There's a 50 percent greater chance of hurting it again and this is like the fourth time with it. Keep stretching and beyond, not really much you can do." Now that he's healthy, Hunter will try to make his ERA and stats look better, too. Over 16 1/3 innings, he's allowed 25 hits and a .368 batting average against. He pitched to an ERA of 9.39 with a .412 average against in May. Hunter was asked what he needs to do to get back to the form he showed in 2013? "I don't really want to live in the past," he said. "It's a new year. So you are going to have make different adjustments than you did last year. "I just think keep throwing the ball, man. Things are going to start bouncing your way eventually. They have to. It's baseball and it will all even out by the end of the year and you guys won't be asking me those questions." As a final note, he let reporters know he upheld a frequent tradition last night in Salisbury. Often, when a big leaguer pitches or plays in a rehab game in the minors, he will pick up the tab for a nice food spread in the clubhouse for the kids who are trying to get through on limited dollars. "I actually purchased two spreads, not just one," Hunter said. "You can either do one really good spread or, in my case, I did two decent spreads. So we had Panera pregame and Chipotle postgame."