MINNEAPOLIS — Zach Britton was activated from the disabled list and will start for the Baltimore Orioles against the Minnesota Twins on Monday.

Britton has been on the disabled list since Aug. 5 with a left shoulder strain. After winning five of his first six decisions, the 23-year-old lefty hasn’t won since June 8 and has lost eight of his last nine.

Baltimore also recalled infielder Ryan Adams from Triple-A Norfolk and sent reliever Jason Berken to the 15-day DL with a right shoulder strain.

Adams hit .217 in seven games with the Orioles earlier in the season. He was playing second base and hitting ninth on Monday.

Berken was 1-2 with a 5.80 ERA in 35 games.

Orioles infielder Josh Bell was optioned to Norfolk after Sunday’s game.

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Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) – The Baltimore Orioles activated pitcher
Zach Britton from the 15-day disabled list and placed pitcher Jason Berken on
the 15-day DL with a right shoulder strain Monday.

Britton was placed on the disabled list on August 5 with a left shoulder
strain.

The 23-year-old rookie will start Monday’s contest against the Minnesota
Twins, and is 6-9 with a 4.66 ERA in 20 starts for Baltimore this season.

Berken has made 35 appearances out of the Orioles’ bullpen this year and
carries a 1-2 record with a 5.80 earned run average.

To replace Berken on the roster, infielder Ryan Adams was recalled from
Triple-A Norfolk.

The Sports Network

BALTIMORE — Tommy Hunter, the Baltimore Orioles’ starting pitcher on Friday night, hadn’t pitched in that capacity since last October, when he was with the Texas Rangers and started Game 4 of the World Series.

Baltimore’s starting second baseman, Cesar Izturis, hadn’t appeared in a big league game in more than three months.

Mark Reynolds made his third start of the season at first base and Josh Bell made his first start at third. With first baseman Chris Davis and shortstop J.J. Hardy unavailable, Manager Buck Showalter’s bench consisted of three players.

This is what things have come to for the Orioles, who lost another game, this one by a 5-4 margin to the Toronto Blue Jays in front of an announced 18,770 at Camden Yards.

Meantime, another key pitcher went on the disabled list. The status of Hardy (sore left ankle) and Davis (undisclosed matter) is uncertain. But rookie starter Zach Britton is on the disabled list with a left shoulder strain. His absence will continue to force Showalter and pitching coach Rick Adair to find a combination of five starters capable of giving the Orioles a chance to win.

That task has been elusive. Hunter, the burly right-hander whom the Orioles acquired from the Rangers last Saturday along with Davis for reliever Koji Uehara, will get an extended look in the rotation. In his first opportunity, Hunter allowed four runs on eight hits and a hit batter over four innings in taking the loss.

The Orioles (43-66) took an early two-run lead on Adam Jones’s career-high tying 19th home run in the first inning, but that was one of their lone highlights as they lost their third straight and their 12th in 17 contests, and fell to a season-worst 23 games under .500.

After dropping the first game of a 10-game homestand, the Orioles are now 3-7 against the Blue Jays (57-55) this season and 6-22 against them over the past two years. They’re also just 13-30 against American League East foes this season.

— Baltimore Sun

Vladimir Guerrero of the Baltimore Orioles heads to the disabled list with a hand injury. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Orioles designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a broken bone in his right hand.

The move, retroactive to July 11, was revealed by Baltimore manager Buck Showalter after Saturday night’s game against Cleveland and made official on Sunday.

Guerrero has not played since being struck in the hand by a pitch from Boston’s Kyle Weiland on July 10. He’s batting .279 with seven homers and 31 RBIs.

Showalter hopes to have Guerrero back on July 26 against Toronto.

In other moves, the Orioles optioned left-hander Pedro Viola to double-A Bowie and recalled outfielder Matt Angle and pitcher Troy Patton from triple-A Norfolk. Angle, who hit .266 with the Tides, was to bat leadoff and play left field Sunday against the Indians.

BALTIMORE, June 6 (UPI) — Brian Matusz notched his first win of the season in his second start Monday, keying the Baltimore Orioles’ 4-2 win over Oakland.

Matusz (1-0) was activated from the disabled last week after sustaining a left intercostal muscle strain in spring training. He gave up one run over 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision against Seattle Thursday in his first start.

The left-hander was sharp again Monday in a 5 1/3-inning effort, yielding two runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out three as the O’s took the first of three games against the A’s.

Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara combined for 2 2/3 frames of scoreless relief and Kevin Gregg logged his 11th save with a 1-2-3 ninth for Baltimore.

Matt Wieters led the O’s offense with an RBI single in a three-run, second-inning outburst.

Gio Gonzalez (5-4) absorbed the loss, a season-high seventh straight for the A’s. Gonzalez allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits over seven innings.

Adam Rosales, just called up from the minors before the game, smacked a two-run homer for Oakland.

The Baltimore Orioles decided they would rather pitch to Adam Lind than Jose Bautista. When that did not work, they tried to pitch Lind tougher.

That blew up like an exploding cigar.

In his second game since coming off the disabled list, Lind went 4-for-4 with two home runs, boosting the Toronto Blue Jays and Jo-Jo Reyes to a 7-4 win.

After hitting singles behind Bautista walks in his first two times up, Lind took off-speed pitches over the right-field wall for his eighth and ninth homers of the season.

Reyes posted his second straight victory after going winless in 28 consecutive starts over three years.

The Jays took two of three games from the Orioles in their first series of the season.

After walking Bautista twice, Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie retired him on a groundout in the fifth. But Lind yanked a changeup into the right-field bleachers to give Toronto a 6-2 lead.

Next time up, he drilled a splitter from Alfredo Simon into the same neighbourhood.

Lind went on the disabled list with back spasms on May 8. In his previous 11 games, he had batted .465 with six homers and 15 RBIs.

He went hitless as the designated hitter Saturday night, but returned to first base Sunday and revived the offensive punch he exhibited before his injury.

Bautista went 0-for-3 with two walks. He has not hit a home run in seven games, his longest homer drought of the season.

Reyes (2-4, 4.16 ERA) allowed three runs on five hits in 52⁄3 innings. He walked four but, after allowing two runs in the first inning, he retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.

Reyes walked two in the sixth but escaped after coaxing an inning-ending double-play grounder from Mark Reynolds.

Yunel Escobar’s seventh homer, a three-run shot, snapped a 2-2 tie with two outs in the fourth. Escobar’s blast continued a month-long offensive surge for the shortstop, who is batting .343 with 16 RBIs and 17 walks in his past 26 games.

Edwin Encarnacion, whose playing time seems destined to drop with Lind’s return, doubled twice and singled as the DH.

Manager John Farrell has said Lind and Juan Rivera will rotate between DH and first base for the time being to ease Lind back into playing defence on a regular basis. A defensive liability, Encarnacion would be confined to DH if Farrell sticks to his plan.

Meanwhile, the wait for Brett Lawrie’s arrival will continue at least until Wednesday. The third-base prospect, who is batting .354 at Triple-A Las Vegas, has been placed on the minor leagues’ seven-day disabled list, retroactive to last Wednesday.

Lawrie seemed on the verge of a callup when he was hit on the left hand by a pitch last Tuesday. Hours earlier, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said Lawrie had done everything the Jays had asked of him at Triple-A and was “close” to a promotion.

Farrell said a few days ago that Lawrie would play again in Las Vegas after recovering from his injury and insisted the Jays have no timetable for his call-up.

That would suggest that if a call-up is imminent, it may not come until the Jays return home Friday to open a six-game homestand.

Sunday’s game again underscored the club’s need for offence from the third-base position. Jayson Nix went 0-for-4 and is batting .109 in 13 games since he came off the DL.