Updates on Tillman, Britton, Bundy and more (O's down 5-0)

NEW YORK - Chris Tillman and Zach Britton will stay on their respective injury rehab assignments.

Tillman will join Triple-A Norfolk and pitch Tuesday night in Charlotte. Britton will stay with Double-A Bowie and throw another inning on Sunday.

The Orioles considered letting Tillman pitch at Bowie or Single-A Frederick, but decided to bump him up to the International League.

"Talking to Chris, the best competition, the best facility. That will be good for him," said manager Buck Showalter.

"I just think it's the whole experience. And that's a real hitter-friendly ballpark. They've got a lot of left-handed hitters.

"Chris and I were talking about pitch sequences and stuff with those hitters, especially at the lower levels, a lot of time it's tougher than any of them. He told me he threw a curveball strike (in Potomac), he threw a changeup in the dirt and the guy swung and missed, and then he went with a high fastball that the guy took like he knew it was coming. He threw one higher than high and he tomahawked it out of the ballpark, and he's on the mound going 'What?' But physically, I think one more start and he should be fine."

The Triple-A level offers Tillman a better read on his progression from a sore right shoulder. He gladly would have started for the Orioles on Tuesday, but they don't want to push him.

Tillman has made two starts with Bowie and one with Frederick and allowed eight earned runs and 15 hits in 11 1/3 innings. Most important, he feels good.

"If you're waiting around for someone to pitch a shutout or strike out the side as a relief pitcher, they don't happen on rehab," Showalter said. "It's more about 'How do you feel physically?' and their command, and they're very close to that."

Britton worked two-thirds of an inning last night in Bowie. He served up a solo home run and walked two batters before coming out with his pitch count at 28.

Britton told Showalter later that he felt "a little rusty."

"Hopefully, another outing will knock some of that rust off," Showalter said.

Britton is expected to join the Orioles in Boston and could be activated on Tuesday.

Dylan Bundy is scheduled to start Monday night at Fenway Park and the Orioles will need a fifth starter for the following game, with Alec Asher and Jayson Aquino the prime candidates.

"He felt really good on his work day," Showalter said. "He had a little trouble getting loose the last outing until the third outing, but he felt good after that and he felt a lot better on his work day than he did the last one."

Showalter would like to keep a five-man bench after adding Britton and Tillman.

"I think it's important and I'm going to continue to try to keep it, but something could change where we have no choice," Showalter said. "It's going to take some imagination staying ahead of the schedule and who's pitching down at Norfolk and who's pitching here in order to do it."

The Orioles considered a roster move today to bring up another reliever, preferably a left-hander to back up starter Ubaldo Jiménez, but decided to stick with the current group.

Caleb Joseph is behind the plate today after Welington Castillo caught 10 innings and way too many pitches last night. Castillo will catch left-hander Wade Miley for the first time on Sunday.

Showalter is interrupting the Wiley-Joseph pairing in part because Castillo is a career .286/.350/.484 hitter against left-handers and the Yankees are sending Jordan Montgomery to the mound.

"Very quietly, over the last year or two, I think he's one of the leaders against left-handed pitching," Showalter said. "I want to get him in the lineup for Sunday. And physically he's beat up.

"He's a good catcher, and nobody knows that more than Wade Miley, and there's going to be some days where Caleb isn't available. I told you all before that's a dangerous thing to get into because all of a sudden something happens physically and ... We have two good catchers and we're happy to have them.

"If he had a real easy, fresh game last night I may have considered it today, but he got pretty beat up last night. And I really like him against left-handed pitching, even though their guy for Sunday is a neutral-split guy."

Update: Leadoff hitter Brett Gardner has homered twice off Jiménez in the first two innings and driven in four of the Yankees' five runs. He was batting .188 with no home runs or RBIs before today.

Jiménez threw 11 pitches in the first inning and 30 in the second.