After watching Jake Arrieta get hit around by the soft-hitting Phillies last night from section 9, I thought for sure the Orioles would announce that he would work on his mechanics down at Triple-A when they brought up Tommy Hunter for today’s start.

Arrieta allowed one run in the first and six in the second, putting the Birds in a 7-0 hole before they had even put a runner on base. Sadly, this has become the trend with Arrieta, who has lost his last four straight games and five of his last six.

Baltimore decided this afternoon that rather than send him down to work on these issues, they would instead option Miguel Gonzalez, a move that many in Baltimore have questioned.  “Some people tell you it’s kind of the old fashion way, where guys work out their problems in the bullpen,” Buck Showalter told Roch Kubatko.

The Birds hope to stretch out Gonzalez in Norfolk’s rotation and will use Arrieta out of the bullpen as they will not need a full five man rotation for another week.

Confidence issues have reportedly become a concern for Arrieta and the hope is that these sessions and appearances will help him regain his form.