masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgMiguel Gonzalez had a nice little 11-pitch inning in the top of the first, retiring the Mariners in order on a line drive, popup and ground ball.

Robinson Cano is now 2-for-25 against Gonzalez after his roller to second.

Mariners left-hander James Paxton came off the 60-day disabled list to make tonight’s start. He hasn’t faced major league hitters since April 8.

Manny Machado followed Nick Markakis’ leadoff walk with a double to left field, and Adam Jones’ ground ball gave the Orioles a…Miguel Gonzalez had a nice little 11-pitch inning in the top of the first, retiring the Mariners in order on a line drive, popup and ground ball.

Robinson Cano is now 2-for-25 against Gonzalez after his roller to second.

Mariners left-hander James Paxton came off the 60-day disabled list to make tonight’s start. He hasn’t faced major league hitters since April 8.

Manny Machado followed Nick Markakis’ leadoff walk with a double to left field, and Adam Jones’ ground ball gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

Machado is 27-for-74 (.365) in his last 19 games since July 5.

Chris Davis is on the bench again tonight after missing the Tuesday and Wednesday games due to an illness, pinch-hitting on Thursday and starting last night at first base.

On “Crush Davis Action Figure” night?

“I didn’t want to put extra pressure on him,” Buck Showalter quipped.

“He’s still coughing up a lot of stuff,” Showalter said. “He’ll be back in there tomorrow. He’s a nice weapon off the bench.”

Davis did some early hitting in the cage today, and it’s probably no coincidence that former coach Terry Crowley is here. Crowley does some scouting for the Orioles and occasionally works with hitters at the major and minor league levels.

“Chris knows,” Showalter said. “We talk every day. Do you know how frustrating it must be? Can you imagine how frustrating it must be for him? As much he cares and what a good teammate he is?”

Showalter doesn’t think the Orioles should have extended Davis’ stay on the disabled list while he recovered from a strained oblique muscle.

CardiacScottFirstPitchTall.jpg“I feel confident in the diagnosis,” Showalter said. “If you’re thinking about it, if you’re not feeling it, that’s a factor. If you have an oblique, you can hardly get out of bed. It hurts to cough. It hurts to field. It hurts to take a pitch.

“I always think every day is the day he’s going to get going. He’s had two- or three-day spans where we all said, ‘OK, here we go,’ and he can’t get consistent with it.

“We keep looking for that key to unlock it. We keep looking for that key to unlock it because we all know it’s there. This guy has great off-the-field habits. Sometimes there is no reason, much as we all search for it.”

Before the game, our own Scott Fahs (CardiacScott) threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Kevin Gausman. I don’t care what anyone says, it looked like a strike to me.

Well done, Scott. As if we needed another reason to be proud of you.