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Associated Press 18y

O's send Benson to Baltimore for elbow examination

Kris Benson

Benson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Orioles right-hander Kris Benson returned to Baltimore on Wednesday to have his sore elbow examined.

Benson pitched six innings, allowing four runs, three earned, and eight hits, including two home runs, and walking three in a no-decision in a 7-5 loss at Kansas City on Tuesday night. Benson is 0-4 with a 6.52 ERA in five starts this month.

"Kris has complained a little bit about his elbow hurting the last couple of months," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. "We've got him in Baltimore right now as a precautionary measure just to make sure that it's nothing more than a little inflammation. We just want to see what's up, where he's at.

"He says he's had it every year but has been managing it pretty well. He complained a little bit last night so we thought we would err on the side of caution and just get it checked out. We feel like it's just minor tendinitis that hasn't been allowed to totally calm down," Perlozzo said.

Benson, who is 9-9 with a 4.71 ERA in 21 starts, is scheduled to pitch again Sunday against Chicago, but that is subject to change as the Orioles are waiting on the test results.

The Orioles are also looking for a starter Saturday against the White Sox after removing Russ Ortiz from the rotation. He was 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA in four starts.

"We're working on a plan to fill that spot," Perlozzo said. "We might need a starter Sunday also. We've got some ideas, we've still got Russ, we've still got [Bruce] Chen. We may have to go down and get a minor-league guy."

Chen is 0-6 with a 7.03 ERA in 23 games, including 10 starts.

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