Wrapping up a 9-3 loss

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles will make two or three roster cuts Friday morning before their game against the Blue Jays in Dunedin.

There's no update on Gabriel Ynoa's MRI because it isn't scheduled until 5 p.m. He's bothered by shin splints.

Kevin Gausman will throw a simulated game Friday morning on Field 4, just as Andrew Cashner, Dylan Bundy and Chris Tillman have done the past three days.

The home-and-home series began today with the Orioles losing 9-3 at Ed Smith Stadium. Catcher Andrew Susac picked off a runner on third base in the top of the ninth inning and hit a two-run homer in the bottom half.

Rule 5 left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. allowed three runs and six hits in three innings to raise his spring ERA to 6.43 in three starts. Manager Buck Showalter didn't hammer him in his postgame session with the media.

"I thought his changeup got a little better as he went," Showalter said. "Got fisted a couple times on some balls that didn't quite get in there far enough. A couple wind-blown things. Great hitter's day today. Everything's flying.

"Some things to like. You can see why he's had some success. You asked yourself, 'OK, if the lights were on and the wind's not blowing and people are aggressive.' You've got to be careful about putting too much in spring training, but where he's concerned that's kind of what you're going by."

Cortes needs to be precise with his pitches "and he's trying," Showalter said.

"He's not in midseason form, but he came in in good shape and ready to go. This is a club they brought over here with a split-squad that's hacking and moving the ball a little bit. You try to put everything you get into perspective. I think he's going to throw it over, I think he's going to bring a lot of other things. Just whether or not his stuff and the repertoire he has is going to play."

Cortes knows what's at stake with one spot open in the rotation. He can't let it weigh him down and influence his performance, but Showalter wants the importance to stick with him.

"I want it to because that's the way it is up here," Showalter said. "This isn't instructional league. This is the major leagues and you're trying to take people who can help you win baseball games. This is trying to take the 12 best pitchers. That's one of the challenges of the Rule 5 draft."

Asked when he begins to watch these outings from the rotation candidates and separates guys in his mind, Showalter smiled and said, "Kind of did that the first week and so did you all.

"Let's be honest, we all kind of look at it. You're looking for certain common things that you've seen in successful pitchers over the years. It's funny, when people start moving out of the locker room and there are cuts starting to be made, you see some different pitchers, some different players and they know it's getting to be that time. There's empty lockers.

"Without naming names, you can see a little different result sometimes, just approach. You get to see why some of them have had trouble sticking and impacting the big leagues. So, when you start seeing some empty lockers, you sometimes see some different looks out there."

The Orioles sent out pitcher Perci Garner this morning after he tossed three scoreless innings, walking two batters in his final outing.

"Good arm," Showalter said. "His arm strength, one of the things when I have these exit conversations with Roger (McDowell) and Alan (Mills), we know there's more arm strength there. I looked at his velocity charts when we were pursuing him and he started like this last year, and once he got going ... It's an interesting path when he was with Philadelphia and when he was with Cleveland. I wanted to know what went on in Cleveland when he first got there that made him so successful those years.

"Let's face it, he had the wrist injury, he had the knee, he had a lot of things the previous year. He was a very coveted six-year guy this past offseason, but his arm strength isn't where it's going to be. This guy's a hard sinker and one of the challenges has been his command. It looked like he had gotten over the hump before he got hurt last year, so we're taking a chance that, even at 29, this is a strong, athletic guy who's got a lot of things behind him. I think he's got a chance.

"It's tough. Some guy's arm strength is just not there yet. It will be, but it's not there now, so I want him to know that we know it's going to come if the last four years, if he follows the same path."

Anthony Santander had a single today, was robbed of a hit and made a diving catch.

"He started out in spring getting some hits, but not hard hit. There were some flares and broken bats, whatever," Showalter said. "His last two or three games, I've been impressed the most by the way he's gotten after the defensive side of the ball. He's come in here in shape. He's only lost two or three pounds, but has a different ... He's moving a lot better, he's throwing better.

"This is the first time really he's been healthy at the start of spring training in a long time. He really got after it in the offseason. His body fat went down a lot. You can tell he really worked on some things we were talking about. You look at him and you think he's lost 10 or 12 pounds, but he just barely lost a couple pounds. He's moving good. I'm real happy with the way he's going about things.

"He may be more than a guy that ... It's a perception that, 'Oh, here's some guy you've just got to keep for (44) days.' It could be a lot longer than that. I hope so."