Wieters having elbow examined on Wednesday (updated)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Matt Wieters is serving as the designated hitter tonight in the Orioles' series opener against the Rays, and the decision is tied to his right elbow. I can confirm that Dr. James Andrews will examine Wieters' elbow on Wednesday, as first reported by Yahoo! Sports. There's apparently a growing concern that Wieters tore a ligament. Caleb Joseph was scratched from Triple-A Norfolk's lineup tonight and is headed to Tampa. Keep in mind that the Orioles outrighted infielder David Adams to Double-A Bowie and created an opening on their 40-man roster, which Joseph could fill by having his contract purchased. Wieters missed a game in Toronto due to soreness in his right forearm. The Orioles were off yesterday and he's restricted to batting tonight against the Rays. He's thrown out only one of 12 runners attempting to steal. Naturally, Wieters lined a single into center field in the second inning. He was a career .336/.388/.568 hitter in 75 games against Tampa Bay before tonight, with 18 doubles, 15 homers and 54 RBIs in 271 at-bats. He was batting .356/.396/.503 with seven doubles, five homers and 16 RBIs in 39 games at Tropicana Field. Wieters had six multi-hit games in his last eight games before tonight. Among American League catchers, he led in batting average (.337), home runs (five) and slugging percentage (.570), ranked second in RBIs (18) and hits (29) and was fourth in on-base percentage (.372). Manager Buck Showalter may be able to provide more information on Wieters' examination following the game, which the Orioles trail 2-0 after Evan Longoria's two-run homer off Chris Tillman in the first inning. Longoria is 11-for-25 with two doubles and five home runs lifetime versus Tillman. Third baseman Manny Machado misplayed Matt Joyce's bouncer with two outs, but it was scored a hit. He committed an error in the second inning - his second in the last three games. Nick Markakis singled in the top of the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He's hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games. Markakis is 18-for-50 (.360) during the 13-game streak. The three-game series represents the Orioles' only scheduled games versus the American League East between April 25 and June 8, a span of 40 games. Update: Steve Pearce hit his first home run leading off the top of the third inning and J.J. Hardy lifted a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth to tie the game. The Orioles had runners on second and third with one out, but Steve Clevenger struck out and Pearce bounced out. Tillman has thrown 37 pitches in three innings.