Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman reported no problems after the first of three scheduled bullpen sessions Saturday at Camden Yards, and manager Buck Showalter said the session was “real encouraging” for the club’s veteran starter.

“It went really well, and he feels good today,” Showalter said Sunday. “Plus, he liked throwing inside because when guys throw inside, the mitt makes a louder noise. It looks like you’re throwing hard. ... I think he might be on his way. You guys have got that schedule. He’s right on it.”

Tillman’s spring was hampered by shoulder soreness that lingered from last August through the offseason, and he was already this far into his comeback before discomfort shut him down and required a cortisone shot in mid-March.

He has two more bullpens scheduled — today and Wednesday — before he’s scheduled to fly back to Sarasota to throw a live batting practice Saturday and an extended spring training game April 11.

Tillman said Saturday was a different feeling from the previous bullpens he threw before receiving the shot.

“My bullpens down in Sarasota went well — no pain, no nothing,” he said. “I felt like this one was better — everything. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself and say we’re great, because the other ones were good too, but I felt pretty good yesterday.”

Now, he said, it becomes a matter of knowing how to manage the shoulder throughout the season — something he said he is prepared for.

Tavarez returned to Red Sox: Returning Rule 5 outfielder Aneury Tavarez to the Boston Red Sox, which the Orioles were forced to do Sunday, was a decision the team agonized over but couldn’t avoid, team officials said.

Executive vice president Dan Duquette said the Orioles “exchanged a number of names” with Boston as possible trade pieces, and “under different circumstances, we might have given up more in the trade to acquire him.”

“We tried to work out a trade and didn’t want to really trade Manny [Machado] for him,” manager Buck Showalter said. “I’m just kidding, but we looked a lot. We liked him, just like we did when we took him in the Rule 5, and tried to make every step possible up until eight or nine o’clock this morning, Dan and I were looking at ways to keep him. But I think with a couple emergences of some things, we must have talked about six or seven variables to that. And one was how you would acquire him.

“We felt strongly that he had a chance, and still do, and Boston does, too, because they took him back. You aren’t always able to keep him. We’ve probably been way ahead of the curve. We’ve still got one of them and we felt like coming out of the draft, we’d end up keeping one of them. [Anthony] Santander is still very much a part of it. We like him.”

Tavarez hit .292/.382/.396 with a home run and eight stolen bases in spring training, but the team’s major league outfield situation couldn’t accommodate him, even in a limited role.

The team will open the season with seven outfield possibilities — Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, Seth Smith, Hyun Soo Kim, Joey Rickard, Trey Mancini and Craig Gentry. However, Duquette said the presence of a comparable player in the minor leagues, outfielder Cedric Mullins, made a Tavarez trade less appealing. Mullins will start the year at Double-A Bowie.

“He might be able to do the job that we had in mind for Aneury Tavarez later in the season,” Duquette said. “You never know.”

Lineup to be fluid: Showalter said he had a “good idea” of how his lineup would shake out for Opening Day, and didn’t caution against reading into the one he used Friday in Norfolk, when outfielder Seth Smith batted leadoff against a right-handed pitcher.

Smith has leadoff experience in his career, and is known for having on-base capabilities, something Duquette said was an area the team hoped to address.

“It looks like we’ve got a pretty solid lineup,” Duquette said. “We should hit a lot of home runs. Hopefully, we get some guys on base a little bit more this year so we can leverage that and have guys on base when we do hit our home runs. Seth Smith is a good on-base man. Joey Rickard is back, he’s a good on-base man.”

Drake glad for opportunity: Reliever Oliver Drake, who secured one of the final bullpen spots on the roster, said he’s looking forward to erasing his difficult spring and working toward keeping his job for the entire year.

“I’m just excited to be able to get out there and help out when I’m called upon,” Drake said. “Now is when it really matters, to go out there, get people out and get the offense back out on the field.”

Drake, who is out of minor league options, had an 8.78 ERA in the spring. He hopes to return to his form from September, when he had a 1.59 ERA in nine outings.

Around the horn: Trumbodidn’t hit any home runs in spring training, a year after leading the majors with 47 homers. “I’ve done it before,” Trumbo said of going homerless in spring. “I hit 34. I think we’ll be OK.” … Showalter said reliever Darren O’Day is close to 100 percent after a bout with the flu. … Showalter said he hoped for a better reception for outfielder Kim than the one he received last Opening Day, when some fans booed him for not accepting a minor league assignment. “I don’t know how much he’s expecting this, that, whatever, but I think he’ll get a different response.”

jmeoli@baltsun.com