Showalter, Machado and Castillo on WBC and 3-2 win

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles scored twice in the seventh inning today to take the lead, with Paul Janish lifting a sacrifice fly and Logan Schafer lining into a fielder's choice that plated the go-ahead run, and the bullpen shut out the Phillies down the stretch in a 3-2 win at Ed Smith Stadium.

Darren O'Day and Donnie Hart each retired the side in order in their respective innings, and Parker Bridwell stranded a runner in the ninth after a two-out walk to record his first save.

Mike Wright collected six ground balls and a strikeout against the first seven batters, an error by Ryan Flaherty allowing Cameron Perkins to reach, and the run he allowed in the third came in part because of a César Hernández grounder up the middle that deflected off the bag.

"That was a solid outing by Mike," said manager Buck Showalter. "He was down, had finish. Threw a couple of good changeups. That was good to see. If the ball doesn't hit the bag, he's got a double play and he's out of there unscathed."

Left-hander Jayson Aquino tossed two scoreless innings before Cameron Rupp homered off him with one out in the sixth. Aquino has allowed one run and three hits in seven spring innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts.

"Aquino's been impressive," Showalter said. "I'm hoping that's going to present itself as a depth piece as a starter."

Seth Smith is 0-for-9 this spring, but he reached on an error and walked twice today as the leadoff hitter.

"I don't care where he takes them," Showalter said. "Those are good, the walks and the patience. I think he'll be a little later in the spring-type. Just looking at some of the background and watching him, I think he's a little bit more of a later in the spring guy, but he's always going to be patient at the plate regardless of where he hits in the order.

"It's funny, I've talked to them a lot about preference of where they hit in the lineup. It's not a big deal to them. I know people make a big deal of it. The players don't.

"It's tough for them to say I should be hitting in front of that guy or that guy. You can make a case for a lot of guys."

manny-machado-looks-up-white.jpgShowalter said his goodbyes to Manny Machado and Welington Castillo, who came out of the game and left camp for the World Baseball Classic. Machado is 3-for-18 with a double and home run, and Castillo - who exited after a leadoff walk in the seventh sparked the rally - is 5-for-15 with three doubles and two RBIs.

Adam Jones and Mychal Givens head out on Monday to join Team USA. Givens may travel to Lakeland first to pitch against the Tigers.

"Won't see them for a while. That's not a lot of fun," Showalter said.

Does Showalter send his WBC-bound players a message?

"Yeah, come back healthy," he replied. "And I'd like to wish you good luck, but I'd like to see you as soon as possible, except for the American players. I should say that, right?"

Players could be out of camp until the third week of March, depending on how far their respective teams advance. Showalter has checked the calendar.

"They need a break from me," he said. "I try to look on the positive side of it. Get a chance to look at a lot of guys we wouldn't be able to."

Machado came off the field for good after bouncing to the mound.

"It's been fun," he said. "It's been a great spring getting ready for this classic and I'm excited about representing the Dominican and representing the Orioles in the right way."

Is he ready?

"I don't know," he said. "We'll see. I know I did everything I could to prepare myself in the offseason and in spring training to get ready for it. I'm just excited to get into some real games and get some real at-bats under your belt. The lights turn on and it's a different story, so we'll see on Thursday if we're ready or not."

Machado said Showalter and the coaches haven't offered him much advice. Just the light surface stuff.

"No, not really," he said. "Have fun, enjoy yourself and take it in. This is a cool experience and a cool moment overall. They're just excited for me as much as I'm excited to go to it. I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be fun."

The enjoyment really will hit Machado on Tuesday when he faces Kevin Gausman at Ed Smith Stadium.

"Is it? Is it Gausman?" he asked, his eyes widening. "I'm going to have to try to look at the scouting report and see what he throws. It's a little different when you're behind him. But it's going to be fun to come out here and play in front of the crowd in a different jersey across the way as a visiting team instead of putting on the home uniform. It will be pretty interesting and fun."

Machado will be detached from the Orioles, but he won't ignore them. He plans on following how they're doing in the Grapefruit League.

"One hundred percent," he said. "This is my team. I've got to stay in the loop. I've got to see when J.J. (Hardy) is coming back. I know he's trying to do something this week.

"This is my team. Of course I'm going to be checking up on them, and I know Buck and Bobby (Dickerson) and (Wayne) Kirby are going to be texting us throughout the way, checking in on us and seeing how we are and giving us reports on how the team is doing.

"My main priority is always going to be the Orioles and this team. Just for a couple weeks I've got some other priorities as well. We're going to be enjoying ourselves out there and paying attention to what we've got here, too."

Machado is playing for the Dominican to honor his mother and grandparents. He could have chosen Team USA, of course, but decided against it.

"My family was born in the Dominican, so either way I knew I could play for both teams," he said. "I played for the USA in the past, as well, so it's not any new news. To represent the USA is an honor. It's always an honor to represent your country. I was born and raised here. I would love to play for the USA one day, hopefully.

"It's the circumstances. This opportunity that came up. I've always tried to give something to my family, to show them that my Dominican roots are always there. To put that uniform on, I know they're always going to be excited, as well. It's two birds with one stone."

Castillo struck out looking and had an RBI double before drawing his walk and heading to the clubhouse.

"I got enough work with the pitchers, so I have a really good idea about what those guys have," he said. "It would be better if I stayed here and spent more time with them, but I feel like I'm in good shape with them.

"I'm pretty excited. It's a little sad, but at the same time a little bit ... I don't know how to say the word, but to leave camp with a team and new pitchers, but I'm really excited to go there and represent my country and play for them. I'm going to continue to do my best, my work, and get better.

"Everything that I'm learning here and what J.R. (John Russell) has been teaching me and told me about my catching skills, I'm going to continue doing that out there. Just go out there and compete and have a good experience."

Castillo is more inclined to concentrate only on his duties with the Dominican team before coming back to the Orioles.

"You know what? I think I'm going to be focused 100 percent on the WBC," he said. "I cannot just be focused on two teams because I'm not going to be doing each one, but I hope everything goes fine here and hopefully the time goes fast and everything goes fast and I can come back here healthy and come to help my team win."

Learning a new pitching staff will be an ongoing process for Castillo, but he seems to be a quick study and his teammates have praised him.

"I talked to a lot of pitchers the last few days and they've been very upbeat about Welington. It was good to hear. I was talking to Darren a little bit today," Showalter said.

The wind robbed Jones of at least one home run today and he settled for going 0-for-3. He's 6-for-17 with two doubles, two home runs and four RBIs in six games.

"He's pushing the envelope," Showalter said. "Of course, Adam's always competitive. He doesn't like to ever ... He looks at it like as, not embarrassing, but he takes a lot of pride in the way he presents himself effort-wise and everything. And it's why we like Adam. He wants to be there. It's quite an honor to be the center fielder for the national team from America and he takes it very seriously.

"He's really pushing. You see what kind of shape he came in from the get-go. It's the best I've seen him look physically in a long time at this time of the spring. I think he's been one of those guys who kind of plays his way into it. Adam realizes he's not 25 anymore and he really has to stay on top of things, and he has. He hired a chef and some other stuff. He's really been taking good care of himself."




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