Zach Britton to DL with Shoulder Inflammation

The Baltimore Orioles placed starting pitcher Zach Britton the 15 day disabled list before last night’s game against the Blue Jays.  Britton is dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder.

In what seems to have been more of a precautionary move, Britton will be given some time off to allow the shoulder to recover.

"“Some inflammation there in [Britton’s] shoulder, in a good spot, so to speak,” O’s manager Buck Showalter said. “I don’t think he’s real happy about it. It wasn’t anything he said he couldn’t pitch with. This stage, I don’t like to take a chance there at all, so I think with this DL period we’ll be able to clear it up completely and hopefully not have it be a challenge for him the rest of the season.”"

Britton pitched a night before the move was made in what was one of his worst outings of the season.  Facing the Kansas City Royals, Britton surrendered 12 hits and 6 runs over 5.1 innings of work.  The underwhelming performance left Britton with a season ERA of 4.66.

After replacing teammate Brian Matusz in the Orioles’ rotation, Britton hit the ground running in his rookie season.  The 23 year old maintained an ERA under 3 over 11 starts between April and May, but hasn’t been able to keep up the pace as the summer’s continued.

Over his last 10 appearances, Britton has struggled to an earned run average of 8.  The lefty’s gone 1-7 over that span.

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