Troy Patton is pitching well out of the Orioles bullpen

It took awhile in this 2014 season, but left-hander Troy Patton once again seems to be a key member of the Orioles bullpen.

Suspended for the season's first 25 games after testing positive for an amphetamine in violation of Major League Baseball's joint drug prevention and treatment program, Patton finally made it on the roster on May 1.

Since he gave up a run in 1/3 of an inning in his first appearance, he has thrown 4 2/3 scoreless innings over six games, giving up just two hits. Opposing batters are 2-for-14 against him in that stretch.

Patton recently worked on some changes to his mechanics to better repeat his delivery and speed up his arm action. He now pitches exclusively from the stretch position and, so far, he is getting the desired results.

He said the tweaks, which came about with the help of pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Dom Chiti, have helped him repeat his mechanics and produce a consistent arm slot.

"It helps get my arm moving faster," he said. "I was kind of falling toward the plate, trying to be quick. It's a little bit more of an athletic motion."

Patton takes the full blame for his suspension. But during those missed games, he said there were times of frustration.

"It was tough whenever I had really good stuff and knew I could help the team," Patton said. "When I had outings facing kids (in extended spring training games) that were overmatched and I'm throwing pitches that are very useful at the major league level, I was upset that I could not help the team then.

"Felt like a waste of good stuff some days. I threw well in Florida, but you couldn't really equate anything from it because of the competition."

Patton's role could be adjusted and/or expanded now that Zach Britton may be getting some or all of the Orioles' save chances. If that is the case, they'll need another lefty that can get key outs earlier in the game.

Patton has been solid during his O's career with a record of 5-1 and an ERA of 2.99 along with a WHIP of 1.13. He has averaged just 2.1 walks per nine innings with 7.3 strikeouts as an Oriole.

But will he continue to be an Oriole? About a week ago, a report surfaced that said the O's were actively looking to trade Patton. He said he had heard the rumors, too, but it didn't distract or bother him at all.

"I kind of assumed," Patton said during the last homestand. "When my suspension came out and I still got a deal from the team, I kind of thought my name might be circling around for a while. We'll see how that goes.

"It's not the first time since I've been here that this has been the case where I could potentially be gone. But there is nothing I could do about it, so we'll just kind of wait and see what happens. I'm aware of them, but there is nothing I can do, so I'm kind of waiting to see how it shakes out and what they decide to do. I feel good and I'll be happy to pitch wherever. We'll see what happens."

For now, he is pitching well and working his way back into pitching in key situations for the Orioles.

Starting with the starters: Let's take one blog off from the lack of runs by the Orioles lately to take an updated look at the recent run of good starting pitching.

* O's starters have allowed one earned run or less in four of the last five games, pitching 32 2/3 innings to an ERA of 1.93 in that stretch.

* After getting just five starts of seven innings or more in their first 32 games, the O's have now gotten six starts of seven or more innings over the last nine games. The starters' ERA is 2.73 over 59 1/3 innings in that span.

* Orioles starting pitchers have allowed three earned runs or fewer in 17 of the last 19 games with an ERA of 2.94.

Ubaldo Jimenez (2-4, 4.02 ERA) pitches against Kansas City's James Shields (5-3, 2.54 ERA) this afternoon in the series finale at Kansas City.