WASHINGTON - Darren O’Day closed out the Orioles’ 4-1 win over the Nationals tonight, leading to more speculation over Zach Britton’s health.

Britton blew a save Sunday against the Rays after O’Day was called upon to get the last three outs in the series opener. Britton explained tonight that he’s bothered by a sore left lat muscle and basically is day-to-day at this point.

The discomfort surfaced during the previous series against the Red Sox at Camden Yards.

“At this point in the season, everyone’s dealing with something,” said Britton, who has recorded 34 saves in 38 opportunities. “Right now, we’re just trying to nip something in the bud. I have a little lat problem going on. Happened before Tampa. Tried to come back and pitch in Tampa and it just kind of fired up again.

“The thing with Buck (Showalter) and Dave (Wallace) and Dom (Chiti) is they maintain the health of their pitchers probably better than anyone in the game. He doesn’t want to risk my health or anybody’s health right now at this point in the season. We’re coming in every day expecting to be able to pitch and just kind of going day by day. What Richie (Bancells) and (Brian) Ebel got for me, seeing how it reacts to certain things. But it’s been a little bit of a challenge the last few outings to kind of get it to where I want it to be. So trying to nip it in the bud.

“It shouldn’t be anything that lasts for a long time. Everything we’ve heard from the doctors is it’s just a couple days. Kind of go day by day, really. It could just disappear the next day. Just be prepared to throw every day and go off of there. Buck’s doing a good job of trying to maintain the health and not let this turn into a big thing. So credit to Buck and Dave and Dom for slowing me down a little bit, because I want to get out there and pitch. But they know that there’s other things that are a little more important right now, and that’s the health of the lat.”

O’Day notched his fourth save tonight and the Orioles overcame three errors to win for the ninth time in 13 games.

“They just felt like it was better right now to give it a few days, and Darren’s capable of pitching the ninth,” Britton said. “When you have that, it makes it a little easier for me to take my time. I want to be out there, but Darren can pick up the slack. He could be closing for a lot of teams.”

The game included Ubaldo Jimenez’s 100th career win and Manny Machado’s 500th career hit. Jimenez is one of 11 Dominican-born pitchers to reach the milestone.

“It means a lot because it’s not easy to come to the stadium and get a W every five days,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how you look at it, it’s not easy. You have to go through a lot of tough times, a lot of good times and times you’re probably going to enjoy a lot. Once you get that number, you take a break and you look back and it seems like yesterday when I got to the big leagues. I already have eight years and 100 wins. It’s been a really enjoyable moment.”

Jimenez has two more starts left and could reach 14 wins, quite an achievement after his nightmarish 2014 season.

“It means a lot because my whole career, I never give up,” he said. “When things are going the way I never expected them to be, I always find a way to keep it going. I never lose my faith that I’m going to be able to come back and recover and be there for the team.

“It was really tough last year, but I was like, I’m just going to forget about everything and that’s what I’ve been doing my entire career. In baseball you have to forget quick, because this is a game that can really eat you alive if you think too much.”

Jimenez contributed an RBI single tonight.

“That was fun,” he said. “You don’t get to do that every day. Every time you have the chance to help the team out and get it going, it’s really neat. It’s really nice. You have to enjoy every hit you can.”

Jimenez held the Nationals to an unearned run and three hits over six innings, but he also walked five batters and threw 110 pitches.

“I think in the beginning of the game, I was walking a lot of guys from the windup,” he said. “That was my trouble. It was the first guy I faced every inning. Once I got to the stretch, I was able to throw strikes and able to throw good pitches. After that I was able to figure it out because my fastball was too short. I’m talking about getting to the plate, everything was down. I was bouncing everything, the split and the fastball, so I was able to throw a little bit up so it was able to be a strike.”

Machado’s milestone came on a single in the fifth inning.

“It’s awesome. It’s a great accomplishment,” he said. “Just to get that many hits in the big leagues, it’s an honor. It’s something that I’m just blessed. It’s just an honor to be able go out there and play every day, to be able to go out there and perform and get that hit.”

No. 500 came at 23.



“It’s great,” he said. “It’s great that it came. I worked hard to get here. It’s been a great season so far. Hopefully, I’ve got many more hits to come. Right now, it’s just keep playing baseball. If more hits come, just gonna help the team in whichever way possible. Hopefully, I can get more of them.

“You look at it, it’s something that’s always there, something that you hopefully want to be just close to it. It’s something that, Cal (Ripken’s) record and Eddie Murray’s, it goes on. I think you just want to want to have half the careers they’ve had, and kind of not really think about it. Just go out there and play and whatever comes your way is going to come.”

Machado was much happier about the achievement because it came on a night that the Orioles were victorious.

“Definitely,” he said. “It’s a lot better. It’s a touchy subject, but we came out with the win. We’re in a great position still to make things happen in this decision and we’re just going to keep playing.”

Asked how he feels that the team is playing, Machado replied, “I think the team’s changed. I think we have a lot of things going our way. I think everyone’s clicking, everyone’s doing what they need to do, doing their job. I think that’s what it takes to get to where we want to go.

“Everyone needs to chip in and be a part of it. If you need to drive in a runner, if you need to play defense, if you need to get an out, I think we all know what we need to be doing and that’s what we’re doing.”

Machado scored in the fifth on Chris Davis’ double down the left field line.

“It was pretty magical,” Davis quipped. “I don’t know what you want me to say. It was kind of an emergency hack - 0-0, good feeling. I’ve faced Gio (Gonzalez) I don’t know how many times. Obviously, he’s been coming in a lot the last couple times I’ve seen him. Just trying to see a ball out over the plate and put a good swing on it. It was just one of those ones that you’re lucky it was able to stay fair and rattle around in the corner.”

The Orioles committed three errors for the fourth time this season, but baseball doesn’t award style points. A win is a win.

“Absolutely, we made some bonehead mistakes, but we were able to kind of grind it out and score some runs and Ubaldo threw the ball really well, and obviously the bullpen came in and shut everybody down, so it was good for us,” Davis said.

Steve Pearce dropped a fly ball down the right field line for an error in the ninth, but he also scored Davis with an RBI double.

“It wasn’t pretty but we did what good teams do, we found ways to overcome it,” Pearce said. “We made mental errors, physical errors, but that’s part of the game. We just have to look to improve tomorrow.

“It’s just baseball. It was very uncharacteristic of us, but we put it behind us. Ubaldo pitched through it, O’Day pitched through it. It’s great to see when you do mess up and the pitcher bears down and gets you out of the inning.”

Pearce liked the pace that Jimenez set despite the walks.

“He pitched great. Great pace out there,” Pearce said. “That’s what we expect out of him. He’s a good pitcher. He can do a lot of things with a baseball and I look forward to it every time he gets out there on the mound.”

A key moment in the game occurred in the fourth when the Orioles committed two errors, but allowed only one run because they turned a 2-5-4 double play. Gonzalez was ruled safe at first after his bunt, but the Orioles challenged the call and it was overturned.

“It was huge,” Showalter said. “Not many second baseman would have made it there because the reason we could make a play at third, our catching people call it a ‘pull it play,’ where the catching goes out and ‘pull it.’ Manny’s been talking about it. Not many second basemen can get to first base can get that close to second when the ball is delivered. A lot of guys kind of give up on it, and catching that ball with Manny bringing it across the diamond is tough.”

Here’s more from Showalter:

On Britton: “I was not going to use Zach tonight. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I just didn’t think he was available tonight for a lot of different reasons. Darren was our best option, all things health-wise concerned. I felt like they didn’t have (Danny) Espinosa off the bench, either.”

On Davis’ double: “I don’t if Chris was trying to go that way or not. A month and a half ago, two months, Chris really concentrated on trying to stay in the middle of the diamond a lot. It’s really benefited him a lot. I’m not sure if he was trying to hit it down there or not, but it worked out well. Manny made a great slide.”

On Jimenez’s walks: “It’s just part of it. I’ve said it 100 times, his deception is part of his ability to get people out with a fastball. That’s how he creates it. You’re going to have to sometimes live with it. It’s a little bit more than normal.”



On Jimenez having a chance at 14 wins: “The thing about Ubaldo is he takes the ball every fifth day. He’s been a healthy pitcher. He takes care of himself, you never have to worry about him on the day he pitches. It’s a big moment for him, about where he fits on Dominican pitchers all-time. Sometimes we forget how long and good a career he’s actually had.”