Zach Britton's second straight rough outing obviously wasn't much fun to watch, but neither Showalter nor Britton thinks it's a sign hitters are making adjustments to Britton's arsenal.
"He went into the fifth inning giving up one earned run," Showalter said. "I like our chances there. If you look at it, his last two outings, he's really just been defined by two pitches. ... I don't think hitters are making adjustments. His command hasn't been what he's capable of in his last two starts."
Britton's especially not locating the ball well in difficult situations recently, and that was never more obvious than on J.P. Arencibia's grand slam in the 5th inning.
"You take that away, it's a totally different ball game. It's a big blow for them," Adam Jones said.
The pitch didn't look that bad. It was out over the plate, sure, but it was sinking hard and Arencibia golfed it over the left field fence. But Showalter brushed off that line of thinking.
"Just because it doesn't look like a bad pitch doesn't mean it's not [into] his strength," he said.
Britton said after the game if Arencibia hadn't swung at it, "it probably would have hit the ground." But Britton was trying to throw the ball so that it tailed away from Arencibia, and instead it just dropped, and the Blue Jays catcher crushed it.
"That's some of the growing pains young pitchers go through," Showalter said. "This is a guy how has spent half a season in Triple A. He's going to have some nights [like this]. Hopefully he learns from them and doesn't repeat them often. ... Obviously he's pitched very well for us this year, and he's very close to having a lot better statistical return his last two outings than he should be. But it works both ways."
The Orioles and Blue Jays actually had the same number of hits (10), but as Showalter said after the game: "It certainly didn't feel like it."
Showalter said he wasn't going to comment on whether or not he thought Mark Reynolds should have been charged with an error on a second inning ground ball hit by Arencibia that went off his glove. The official scorers charged Reynolds with an error, which led a pair of unearned runs.
"I don't think Zach or Mark want to hear me debating whether something is a hit or an error after we got beat 8-4," Showalter said. "I know I don't want them to be."
