Wrapping up a 4-2 win and three-game sweep

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said no tests are scheduled for Adam Jones and he remains hopeful that the center fielder will return to the lineup on Friday for the series opener against the Rays at Camden Yards.

Jones is bothered by discomfort in his rib area. The Orioles will check him again after he arrives at the ballpark.

"Right now we're in pretty good shape," Showalter said, "but we'll see what tomorrow brings."

Showalter wasn't going to use closer Zach Britton, Brad Brach or Mychal Givens tonight. He got seven innings and 106 pitches out of Ubaldo Jimenez, a scoreless eighth out of Dylan Bundy and a save from Darren O'Day, who struck out the side in a 4-2 victory over the Twins that completed a three-game sweep.

Bundy was warming in the seventh, but Showalter stayed with Jimenez.

"I want Dylan to get plenty of time to warm up," Showalter said. "There might have been a point in that seventh inning where he came into the game. He's still kind of learning about the bullpen. But I did talk to Ubaldo between innings. He felt good. He's always been a guy who's been real trustworthy with that stuff. I thought he deserved to go out there. He felt good. He had gone further than anybody in the spring. He's probably the most equipped to go there.

"It was a good crisp night. His tempo and rhythm were good. I thought he deserved an opportunity to go back out there. He was the key to the game. You can go through a lot of different things in that game, but Ubaldo was the key. He was solid."

Not in the beginning, when Joe Mauer homered in the first and Jimenez was down 2-0 through the second. The Twins had six hits in three innings.

"I thought he was crisp early on and wasn't getting a return for it," Showalter said. "His tempo, and how many guys did he walk? Zero? His command was good and the split was there for him.

"You can make a case for him being our most consistent starter last year. And one thing about him is he posts up and he pitches. He never does not want to be out there competing. I was kidding with him after the seventh. I go, 'One more?' And he said, 'I think that's it.' He was good.

"Dylan was 1.2 to the plate on the (attempted) stolen base. Two years ago, three years ago ... He came out of Oklahoma and he was 1.7 to the plate because he never had anybody on base. I was talking to him between innings. You talk to guys about it when they first start playing or come up here and make them realize how important it is to the game.

"Somebody was telling me it's been 1,292 days since he was in the big leagues. So I'm sure there was a lot of emotion floating around there."

Caleb Joseph threw out two runners attempting to steal, including Eduardo Nunez to end the eighth.

"Anytime you can get a throw down to second in 1.8 ...," Showalter said. "Two really good tags. I was looking at one of them. So many guys cheat in front of the bag. They got a good jump.

"The first one, Caleb got a really good pitch to throw on. Cheated in the proper place to pick up some time. We're very fortunate, depth-wise. Good to have Caleb and Matt (Wieters)."

Nolan Reimold made his first appearance of the season and had a single and double in his first two at-bats. He also cut off two balls near the left field line that otherwise would have gone for extra-base hits.

"I thought Nolan had a good game coming off not being in there the first couple of games," Showalter said. "He was on base two or three times. I thought he played real well in left field. He made some good plays, held some guys to singles."

Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard led off for the first time tonight and homered in the eighth. Power isn't supposed to be one of his tools, but he's doing everything now and fans are loving it.

"I think he hit six or seven home runs in winter ball in a short period of time," Showalter said. "If you look at the kind of progression of him, at 23, 24, he's starting to figure out who he is. I've got a pretty good idea of how they're going to try to pitch him, but he can make some adjustments. I don't think anybody pigeon-holed him into what he can do and not do.

"I'm happy for him. I'm really impressed with how he's handled the good things that have come his way these last couple months."

Showalter sees no reason to tell Rickard that this run won't continue and tough times lie ahead.

"No. Why can't it?" he asked. "You don't take that away from somebody. I think he already knows that if you look at where he's been. When you're learning your trade and plying your trade and you're willing to go to the Dominican Republic to keep plying it, that's probably one of the biggest recommendations we got. We'll see what the 159 games have in store for us. We have a lot of roads to cross."

Rickard had a few steps to climb tonight as fans kept chanting "Jo-ey, Jo-ey" until he finally waved to them. It took a couple batters after his home run to coax him out of the dugout. Or at least part of the way out.

"Somebody did. I saw (Mark) Trumbo gave him a little nod," Showalter said.

"He's so respectful of trying to do the right thing. He did the right thing."