Gallardo feels good after 45-pitch simulated game
RHP makes progress in return from injury
CLEVELAND — Orioles righthander Yovani Gallardo took a significant step in his return from right shoulder tendinitis, facing live hitting for the first time in more than a month as he pitched a three-inning simulated game before the Orioles played the Indians on Saturday.
Gallardo, who last pitched April 22 in Kansas City before going on the disabled list, threw all of his pitches during his 45-pitch simulated game.
“I feel good,” he said. “The most important thing is [my pitches have] that life. The fastball, my fastball and breaking stuff is late in the zone. That’s very important. Commandwise, it’s getting there.”
Gallardo will have a workday Monday or Tuesday, and if that goes well, he is scheduled to begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment Thursday with the High-A Frederick Keys against the Potomac Nationals. He would be scheduled to go four innings (about 60 pitches).
“It’s encouraging,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “We’re trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves. That’s about as far as I’m going to go, but we’ve got a plan if everything goes well.”
Orioles infielder Paul Janish, one of the three hitters Gallardo faced in Saturday’s simulated game, said Gallardo was impressive.
“Honestly, I thought he looked pretty sharp,” Janish said. “He looked like he was throwing freely.”
Gallardo, who had a 7.00 ERA in four starts before going on the DL, spent the first three weeks of his recovery strengthening his shoulder. He said Saturday that he could tell his arm was stronger than when he began the season.
“It feels very good, actually,” Gallardo said. “Every pitch that I throw feels like it’s coming out with that life, late in the zone, right before it gets to the hitter. You can just feel the difference coming out of my hand.”
Kim makes fourth consecutive start: South Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim was in the Orioles lineup for the fourth consecutive game Saturday, starting in left field and batting second.
Kim has taken advantage of his recent increase in playing time. He made just four starts in the entire month of April after struggling through spring training and refusing an assignment to the minor leagues to open the season.
But with rookie Rule 5 draft pick Joey Rickard slumping, Showalter is giving Kim more of an opportunity. Kim and Rickard were in Saturday’s starting lineup, with Rickard starting in right.
“I just think he kind of brings some things we kind of need, some selectivity and kind of slow things down here and there,” Showalter said. “First of all, the guy’s going to have to get below .400 before you take him out. I’m not stupid. I don’t care how many at-bats or what kind of hits they are. At some point you go, ‘OK, let’s see.’ Like I told you, nobody really knows who he is or how good he can be.”
Even though he was hitless in three at-bats Friday night, Kim scored a run after he was hit by a pitch on his left foot in the first inning. On Saturday, he went 1-for-5, dropping his average to .386. Showalter defends Machado’s aggressive base-running: Despite a four-hit night in Friday’s 6-4 win in Cleveland, shortstop Manny Machado ran the Orioles out of a potential rally when he was thrown out attempting to extend a fifth-inning leadoff double into a triple.
Machado’s decision came in a tie game, and it marked the latest in a number of base-running miscues this season.
But Showalter said he doesn’t want to discourage Machado’s aggressiveness on the bases.
“There’s been a lot of times where he’s done something that may not be conventional, but it works out real well,” Showalter said. “I don’t want to take that away from him. It’s one of those things where you talk to him.”
Around the horn: Center fielder Adam Jones’ seventh-inning double Saturday tied him with Melvin Mora for 11th place on the Orioles’ all-time hit list with 1,323. … Catcher Matt Wieters extended his hitting streak to eight games with his double in the sixth inning. He is hitting .441 (15-for-34) over that span. … Right-handed pitcher Franderlin Romero, who was acquired last week in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds for two international bonus slots, allowed one run on four hits over six innings, striking out five and walking one in his Orioles organization debut Saturday pitching for High-A Frederick. … Triple-A Norfolk manager Ron Johnson managed his 626th game with the Tides on Saturday, passing Gary Allenson for the franchise record. Johnson entered Saturday with a 311-314 record in five seasons at Norfolk.