Zach Britton said he is not concerned about his left shoulder

Zach Britton is not concerned about his left shoulder, that is the good news. He was put on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with a left shoulder strain. Britton said it is just a case of inflammation and he feels certain he could pitch Tuesday as scheduled, but for now, he will rest a bit before he resumes throwing in a few days. "I wasn't happy with it (going on the DL), but I think it's in the best interests for both sides, so just kind of make the best of the time that I got," Britton said. "It feels OK. It was never an issue of not being able to pitch. I've kind of been pitching through it and I could easily throw Tuesday. That's just not what we're looking at. "We're looking at trying to just calm whatever's going on down and they feel like maybe I've been overdoing it a little bit trying to figure some stuff out in the bullpen. I'm kind of going through a rough stretch, so I'm really trying to figure some stuff out and maybe I overdid it a little bit, and it's just, trying to back me off, give me some time off and get going for the rest of the year." Britton was asked how long he has had some shoulder discomfort. "At the start against St. Louis (on June 28), we had I think it was a rain delay that we were going through and I kind of felt it tighten up a little bit, and I've been icing it and taking medication on my own, just keep maintaining it and it'll kind of go away and then come back," he said. "After that started, it didn't feel great and I went in and just talked to Richie to see if there was any other exercises I could do for the rest of the season. He wanted me to get it looked at by the doc. The doc felt like it was the inflammation and there wasn't anything to lose sleep about, but it's something to where Buck was like, 'Hey, let's just kill it right now before anything bad happens.' " Britton felt he took some steps forward when he pitched in Kansas City on Thursday, but also there is plenty of room for improvement. Right now, he said, he is not getting the consistent sink with his fastball that he had early in the year. "It could do with the fatigue, or it could've been something in my shoulder, too, that had been hindering me from finishing. But the word I'm getting from the doc is where they see the inflammation is probably affecting the extension on my pitches, so it will affect the movement. Maybe it wasn't a mechanical thing, maybe it was something in there I needed to get out, the inflammation, stuff like that. I think it's a mixture of just kind of being tired and then overdoing it in the bullpen," Britton said. So for now, he is on the DL but the Orioles hope he can resume pitching on the 20th when his DL stint ends. "Rest (for now)," Britton said. "I will start working into some strengthening exercises and then some throwing. There is not a whole lot I need to do to get ready, I'm already ready to pitch. Probably get back throwing in the next five days."