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Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (pictured) was on his way to his second strong performance in a row when he grabbed at his side and exited Sunday's game with a right oblique strain. That's very bad news for a team that already has called on four Triple-A starters to fill in the fifth slot in the rotation and replace injured Miguel Gonzalez. It was a tough week already, after so-so outings by Jason Hammel, Freddy Garcia and Steve Johnson, and that was reflected in the combined numbers. The rotation posted a 2-2 record with a 6.03 ERA and averaged just five innings per start. Even though the team managed to go 4-2 in those games, this is starting to get scary.
Grade: D (Hannah Foslien / Getty Images /May 12, 2013)
SARASOTA, Fla. -- Orioles left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada has overcome a significant hurdle in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.
Manager Buck Showalter said Thursday that Wada has completed the rehab portion of his return and will now work toward getting game ready.
“Now he’s going to progress to baseball function ability,” Showalter said after watching Wada throw a bullpen session on Thursday morning. “The breaking ball is going to start. It’s exciting watching him throw. Now we can move to the next part of it, which is the baseball part of it – locating his pitches, spinning the ball. It’s more, ‘I’m working on something that helps me get people out’ as opposed to, ‘Am I healthy?’”
Wada, who signed a two-year, $8.15 million deal before the 2012 season, has yet to pitch in a regular season game for the Orioles. He was limited to just five spring training innings last season because of elbow soreness and needed Tommy John surgery following a rocky one-inning rehab outing in April. He had the season ending procedure done on May 11.
“He’s ready for the next step,” Showalter said. “And that’s getting ready to pitch in baseball games for us.”
