Os pitching for NY

There’s some confusion about the O’s pitching for the New York series next week, so let’s clarify.

Chris Tillman will start Tuesday’s opener. Jake Arrieta will pitch Thursday’s finale, leaving rookie Zach Britton to pitch the first game in the Cleveland series on Friday. The thought is Arrieta has pitched at Yankee Stadium before and Britton –who faced the Yanks several times this spring — would be a better option for next weekend’s opener.

Wednesday’s starter will be either Chris Jakubauskas on three days’ rest or Brad Bergesen, who was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk yesterday. The team would prefer to let Bergsen get back on track in Norfolk and using Jakubauskas (who threw three innings last night) would be the easier route roster-wise. But that depends on the state of the bullpen among other factors.

If the O’s recall Bergesen they will use the spot freed up by shortstop J.J. Hardy, who is all but headed to the disabled list. Hardy will have an MRI and is expected to join pitcher Brian Matusz in extended spring training on Monday.

If the team goes with Jakubauskas they can call up another reliever or a position player, perhaps another catcher in Craig Tatum.

Jake Arrieta and Jake Fox were clearly not on the same page last night. It was the first time Fox had caught Arrieta, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s also his last.