Updating Davis and injuries, Jones as MVO (O's down 2-1)

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis isn't expected to play this weekend, which shuts him down over the final week of the season and ensures that he's going to finish with the worst average among qualifiers in baseball history.

Davis has a .168/.243/.296 slash line in 522 plate appearances, his last start coming on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Rob Deer and Dan Uggla shared the record at .179.

The decision to sit Davis isn't based on his health.

Starters Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb and reliever Evan Phillips remain shut down and won't pitch this weekend. Reliever Miguel Castro isn't expected to pitch, further handcuffing manager Buck Showalter as he tries to navigate through the last four games of the season.

The media has voted Adam Jones as winner of the 2018 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award, with the ceremony to be held before Sunday's game.

Jones enters tonight's game batting .281/.313/.419 with 33 doubles, 15 home runs, 62 RBIs and 54 runs scored. He ranks third among American League outfielders in three-plus hit games (17), eighth in multi-hit games (43), tied for eighth in hits (159) and tied for ninth in doubles (33).

The five-time All-Star leads the Orioles in batting average, hits, doubles, RBIs and multi-hit games.

"It's not his first one, right?" said manager Buck Showalter. "That's why I have so much respect for people who do things from a team standpoint when they were expected to do them, delivering the expectations. Adam is such a consistent effort guy. He's always firing.

"It's like he told me the other day in the dugout, 'What makes me good also is what makes me not good sometimes,' and he's right. There's been a lot more good than the other. He's deserving for a lot more than just statistical stuff.

"He's always firing and they know it. He knows how they're going to pitch him. But the other day he ambushed a guy for a home run. He's always firing. He never gets off the fastball. Sometimes, he does. But that's why he's kind of turned into a reverse-split guy. But he makes adjustment. You may see a tendency one year or month and then you'll see him completely turn that around.

"He's not afraid to attack his weaknesses. Kirb (Wayne Kirby) has never had to look for him to get his work done in the outfield. He's in a routine, so he's very easy to trust."

Showalter has managed Jones more than any other player in the majors. Jones joined the Orioles for the 2008 season and Showalter was hired in the summer of 2010.

"I feel sorry for him," Showalter quipped.

"What do they say? Friends are people who know all about you and still like you. You're around somebody as long as we've been around each other, it goes a little bit farther than ... We've had some real private conversations through the years. Some at my house, the backyard. I've said this before, you get to see him evolve as a husband, a father. When I first got here, the way he was thought of and perceived a little bit compared to where he is now.

"A lot of people talk the talk, but don't walk it as far as community involvement and stuff. Like all of us, none of us are not without our faults, but Adam's always stood up to anything that he's being critiqued about. Sooner or later you know he's going to talk about whatever the subject matter is.

"I'm actually very entertained by a lot of his takes on things - worldly, globally and nationally. He bring levity to it, but his intensity is always there."

Teammates have a tendency to reference Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. while reviewing Jones' stature in the clubhouse and the community. Showalter thinks it's a natural connection.

"Think about what they have in common," he said. "They post up, they play, they've been here for a while. I wasn't here obviously with Cal, but he grew up with this organization. You know it meant something to him. Adam and I really share - it's painful, this season, because you know what it can be and has been and hopefully will be again.

"Certainly, that's lofty and people might scoff at that, but why not?"

Vote totals for MVO are calculated on a 5-3-1 basis. Only players currently on the team were eligible and ballots were collected on Sept. 5.

Other players receiving votes - and there are always some head-shakers - include Cashner, Cobb, Richard Bleier, Dylan Bundy, Mychal Givens, Trey Mancini, Cedric Mullins, Mark Trumbo and Jonathan Villar.

Jones wasn't a unanimous choice.

Update: Jones gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a double to right field that scored Villar.

Update II: Josh Reddick homered off David Hess with two outs in the sixth to tie the game 1-1.

Update III: Tanner Scott loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and Marwin Gonzalez singled to give Houston a 2-1 lead.