masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSteve Pearce had his right wrist X-rayed and received a cortisone injection after being removed from tonight’s lineup.

The X-ray didn’t reveal any structural damage, but Pearce will take off a few days to allow the shot to ease his discomfort.

“I didn’t like some of the feedback I was getting from him with his right wrist during batting practice,” manager Buck Showalter said following a 7-2 win over the Red Sox before 43,015 at Camden Yards. “Took an X-ray just to make sure there was…Steve Pearce had his right wrist X-rayed and received a cortisone injection after being removed from tonight’s lineup.

The X-ray didn’t reveal any structural damage, but Pearce will take off a few days to allow the shot to ease his discomfort.

“I didn’t like some of the feedback I was getting from him with his right wrist during batting practice,” manager Buck Showalter said following a 7-2 win over the Red Sox before 43,015 at Camden Yards. “Took an X-ray just to make sure there was nothing structurally wrong and felt good about that. I know the doctor went ahead and injected it, where we are in the season. That’s a couple days thing to let that take its full dosage or whatever.

pearce-intense-black-sidebar.jpg“During the season, he’d probably play or taken a day, but we’re going to try to clear as many things up. That’s one of the good things about being able to know you’re in early is things like Nick (Markakis). During the season, we probably would have pushed it. Same thing with Stevie, J.J. (Hardy). We gave Adam (Jones) a couple days.

“I may give Adam tomorrow. We’ll see. I’m still thinking about that with a day game.”

Chris Tillman served up a two-run homer to David Ortiz in the first, but he retired the final 10 batters he faced and improved to 13-5 with a 3.26 ERA. He also surpassed 200 innings for the second consecutive season.

“It was command,” Showalter said of the early struggles. “He threw a couple pitches that were probably strikes the first hitter. Chris has had that some this year. A lot of good pitchers, it takes them a little while to get in step and after that, they’re pretty solid. He was getting better as the game went on.

“Maybe in 10 or 11 days, two weeks or whatever it is, he continues to pitch in that game. That’s why you take care of guys and take a lot of precautions so that you stretch them out when you have a need. He was working on one extra day, he’ll work on one extra day next time and work on an extra day next time out.

“Two-hundred innings is quite a milestone, getting that tonight. Two years in a row. The difference with Chris is, some people can somehow get to 200 innings just by pitching every fifth day. I don’t think that’s what drives Chris compared to some other guys who might have 200 innings. What drives him is being able to contribute to our club and be the winning pitcher. Pretty solid tonight after the first inning.”

Christian Walker hit his first major league home run in the fourth inning.

“You like to see them happen at 9 o’clock instead of 5 o’clock. We used to call them 5 o’clock hitters,” Showalter said. “What a big moment for him. I’m sure he may be a little more outward about it when he talks to you all, but I kind of liked the way he’s handled success so far.”

Another run scored on Jonathan Schoop’s squeeze bunt that plated Ryan Flaherty.

“Jon is one of our better bunters,” Showalter said. “Just kind of fit the situation and he and Ryan executed it real well. I have a lot of confidence in them to do that.”