masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette confirmed this afternoon that a CT scan on Hunter Harvey’s right fibula revealed a slight fracture.
Harvey will be on crutches for a month. The recovery time is expected to be four to six weeks, “and then it’s back to work,” Duquette said.
Harvey was struck by a comebacker yesterday during a minor league start against a Twins’ Single-A team in Fort Myers. Initial reports stated that the ball hit his right ankle, but the Orioles…

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette confirmed this afternoon that a CT scan on Hunter Harvey’s right fibula revealed a slight fracture.

Harvey will be on crutches for a month. The recovery time is expected to be four to six weeks, “and then it’s back to work,” Duquette said.

Harvey was struck by a comebacker yesterday during a minor league start against a Twins’ Single-A team in Fort Myers. Initial reports stated that the ball hit his right ankle, but the Orioles are saying that the fracture is to the lower leg.

An X-ray taken yesterday came back clean and manager Buck Showalter said earlier today that Harvey was walking around Twin Lakes Park as though nothing happened.

Harvey, a first-round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, is rated as the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect by Baseball America after going 7-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 17 starts. He struck out 106 batters in 87 2/3 innings.

Harvey, 20, was shut down in late July with a strained right flexor mass.

The Orioles reassigned Harvey to minor league camp on Monday after he allowed one unearned run in three innings. They wanted to monitor his innings in the minors early in the season to keep him available later this summer.

They hadn’t planned on a fractured fibula.

As for today’s game, Bud Norris threw 71 pitches in four innings by my count, including 41 for strikes, and was charged with three runs (two earned) and three hits. He walked four, struck out five and allowed a home run.

Norris, who retired the last six batters he faced, has surrendered 13 runs (12 earned) and 16 hits in 11 2/3 spring innings, with nine walks and nine strikeouts.

Tyler Wilson replaced Norris and allowed his first spring run after eight scoreless innings, as the Cardinals increased their lead to 4-2.

Adam Jones hit his second spring home run leading off the bottom of the fourth.

Update: Manny Machado had an RBI double in the fifth and Jones hit his second homer of the day, a three-run shot to give the Orioles a 6-4 lead.

Wilson tossed a scoreless sixth.