How much longer can the Orioles afford to stick with Ubaldo Jimenez?

12:55 AM ET

BALTIMORE — Before the game, Mike Wright lost his spot in the Baltimore Orioles’ starting rotation. Ubaldo Jimenez might be next.

Just hours after Wright, who got shelled by the Red Sox on Wednesday, was sent down to the minors, Jimenez took the hill for the series finale against Boston. Along with him on the mound was a whole bunch of baggage — the emotional kind that comes with knowing that an entire fan base questions your very existence on the roster. On Thursday, he didn’t do anything to change that.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. Early on, Jimenez — who entered Thursday ranked last among American League starters in WHIP (1.87) and third-to-last in ERA (6.36) – managed to stymie baseball’s best offense, going six-up, six-down for the first time in over a year and limiting Boston to one hit and a walk through the first five innings. At one point, he struck out Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts back-to-back-to-back, finishing off Bogaerts with an 85-mph split-fingered fastball that danced so much, it looked more like a spitter than a splitter.

“Ubaldo was as good as you’ve seen him for five innings,” manager Buck Showalter said.

The strong beginning was so surprising that when the crowd rose to its feet following a strikeout of Betts to end the third inning, it was hard to tell whether the standing O was because Jimenez fanned the blue-hot Betts, who’d homered five times in the previous two games, or simply because he made it through three …

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