Wrapping up a 5-1 loss

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles have signed their remaining non-arbitration eligible players to 2016 contracts.

Everyone on the 40-man roster is under contract, a list that includes pitchers Parker Bridwell, Odrisamer Despaigne, Oliver Drake, Jason Garcia, Kevin Gausman, Mychal Givens, Chaz Roe, Andrew Triggs, Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright, Chris Jones, Chris Lee and T.J. McFarland; catchers Caleb Joseph and Francisco Pena; infielders Jimmy Paredes, Jonathan Schoop and Christian Walker; and outfielders Dariel Alvarez, Joey Rickard and Henry Urrutia.

The travel roster for Wednesday's game against the Phillies in Clearwater will include Joseph, Schoop, Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo and Hyun Soo Kim.

Despaigne allowed a run and two hits in the sixth, but his fastball was up to 95 mph.

Ed-Smith-game-vs.-Red-Sox.jpgLee came out of the game after only two-thirds of an inning because he forgot to wear his protective goggles. They were in the clubhouse.

Lee allowed a leadoff double to Boston's Mookie Betts in the fifth, retired the next two batters and was replaced by Nick Additon.

"He somehow got to the mound without them and I was not going to take a chance with him pitching without them," manager Buck Showalter said after a 5-1 loss to the Red Sox. "He's not going to pitch for the Orioles again without them. We do infield drills, batting practice, everything we do, he's got to have them on.

"I asked him, 'Are your goggles in the dugout?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Are they in the bullpen,' and he said, 'No.' I asked, 'Where are they?' and he said, 'In the clubhouse.' And I said, 'Well, then we can't let you pitch.'

"I probably should have taken him out as soon as I saw it. I noticed it after the first hitter. And let Additon spend the whole time ... he can spend as much time as he wants. Looking back on it, I wish I had taken him out right away when I noticed. I let him go another hitter.

"It's just what's right. He's got some challenges that won't keep him from pitching well in the big leagues for as long as his arm will allow him that he needs to be aware of. It's nothing mean or vindictive. But from a safety standpoint, I'm not going to take that chance with his eyes."

Miguel Gonzalez allowed one run and three hits in 2 2/3 innings, an improvement over his spring debut.

"Better," Showalter said. "Stuff was better, a little crisper. Getting there little by little. I know he felt a little better. Velocity was a little better, kind of what you'd expect."

J.J. Hardy singled, tripled and scored a run. The wind robbed him of a home run yesterday.

"J.J.'s swinging the bat well," Showalter said. "He's moving around good. He was telling somebody this is the best he's felt in spring in a long time and you can tell. He's running good and swinging the bat with a lot of freedom."

Hardy scored on Rickard's grounder to the right side with the infield playing back.

"Rickard had a good professional at-bat there," Showalter said. "It was good to see. Those are the kind of things you take out of it. That was good.

"He throws the ball to the right base, he hits the cutoff man. So far so good. But nobody can say for sure it's going to continue in the big leagues if we kept him and he made the club. I know he's leading us in plate appearances because these are very fleeting looks. This will be a big decision in a few weeks that affects not only him, but a lot of players, so we want to make a good educated guess."

The wind robbed Adam Jones of a home run to center field this afternoon.

Matt Wieters, catching on back-to-back days, threw out Travis Shaw trying to steal in the third inning.

"You can tell it's about baseball now," Showalter said. "It's not about how he feels. He's playing with that certain controlled recklessness. There's no tentativeness there at all. That's good to see.

"I wouldn't say it's new this spring, it's just something I didn't notice last year. I wish there was a better word than 'recklessness.' It's just, 'Let it rip.' You can tell he's not thinking about it.

"There was just a little edge of tentativeness last year, especially when the games were close together and he didn't have that recovery time. There's definitely a different feel to it this year, a different look."

Showalter hasn't come up with a targeted number of starts for Wieters and Joseph.

"I haven't really put numbers on it," Showalter said. "We're fortunate to have someone like Caleb, who's done well. The pitchers, we're very lucky. It probably happens on very few teams where the guys don't really care between those two who's catching.

"We're taking each week as it comes and kind of map it out. I don't think we're going to go into it with a firm number. I've got in the back of my head where I think it will end up. It could be less than that, it could be more than that."




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