SARASOTA, Fla. — Baltimore Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis was scratched from the starting lineup for Sunday afternoon’s Grapefruit League game against the Philadelphia Phillies after he woke up with neck spasms.
“We’re just going to be careful with him,” Manager Buck Showalter said. “He never had it before. He got better as the day went on. He’s got some muscle relaxers and all that stuff, and we’ll see where we are in a couple of days.”
With Monday’s off day and Tuesday’s road game in Dunedin against the Toronto Blue Jays — veteran starters don’t often make road trips this early in camp — Markakis will get an additional two days off. But Showalter said the injury was not a spring training precaution, and that Markakis would have missed the game had it occurred during the regular season.
Markakis, who played in at least 160 games in four of the past five seasons heading into 2012, missed 58 games last season with a litany of injuries.
He had three surgeries over the calendar year, including a season-ending surgery for a broken left thumb in early September after he was hit by a CC Sabathia fastball against the New York Yankees. He also had abdomen surgery and a procedure to remove the hamate bone from his right wrist.
Showalter often says that Markakis isn’t a player who needs many at-bats to get ready for the season. But Showalter wants to be careful.
“We’ll see,” Showalter said. “I don’t want to take it lightly. The doctors checked him out and I don’t think there’s any structural issues [with his] back or disc or any of that stuff, but once he’s completely recovered, we’ll see.”
Bundy pushed back
Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy, who was scheduled to pitch in Sunday afternoon’s Grapefruit League game against the Phillies, was moved back because of muscle spasms in his groin. Additionally, he is scheduled to participate in the team’s biomechanical testing Tuesday.
“It was nothing he couldn’t pitch with,” Showalter said of the spasm.
That means Bundy, the game’s No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, won’t pitch until at least Thursday, eight days after his last spring outing Feb. 27 against the Yankees in Tampa.
Showalter said Bundy and Kevin Gausman will not be sent to minor league camp, which holds its first pitchers and catchers workout Monday, but the Orioles could send three or four other pitchers down to minor league camp this week.
Injured Reimold improves
Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold, who left Friday’s game against the Pirates after just two innings with a sore right shoulder, said his throwing shoulder is feeling better.
Showalter said he hopes to have Reimold be the designated hitter on Tuesday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin.
Reimold said he hasn’t hit since the injury and has given his whole upper body time off. He’s optimistic he can return to the lineup Tuesday following Monday’s off day.
“I had a lot of time off,” Reimold said. “I had neck surgery. Everybody’s got their kinks to work out, myself included, so it’s just a kink I’ve got to work out. If I’m doing something incorrect or my body’s not responding the right way, it’s better to get ahead of it and fix it and go on from there than keep playing and letting it get worse. . . . I’ll be fine.”
Tillman takes step forward
Despite allowing a wind-aided, two-run homer to Michael Young in his third inning of work Sunday against the Phillies, Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman said his second start felt much better than his first.
“A little bit of everything [was better],” Tillman said. “My timing was better. I had a little more command of my pitches. The first time out, I felt a little awkward. I felt much better this time and I’m happy with that.”
