Before this month's four-day break for the All-Star Game, shortstop J.J. Hardy was playing as if he needed one. The rehabilitation from his fractured foot had brought him back to the heart of the Orioles infield, but he wasn't fresh after the relentless work it took to come back.

In the third-to-last game before the break, Hardy committed errors on back-to-back plays and worried that he was getting into a funk.

Hardy began to come around at the plate before the break, but since that time away, he has thrived. With two hits in Friday's 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians and two more in Saturday's 5-2 win, Hardy has four straight two-hit games and nine in his past 15, raising his batting average to .280.

He has hit .306 (34-for-101) since returning June 18, and manager Buck Showalter said Hardy has been an important part of stabilizing the lineup in July.

“I think, very quietly, J.J. Hardy has had some big hits and been in the middle of a lot of things for us,” Showalter said. “I know it kind of gets pushed under; he's hitting [.280] now and, very quietly, has just really been in the middle of a lot of things for us here lately.”

O'Day pushing for return: Reliever Darren O'Day said he hopes Friday's rehab outing at Double-A Bowie is the last he'll have to make as his absence from a high hamstring strain suffered in May stretches into its eighth week.

“I think my delivery is in a good place,” O'Day said Saturday, a day after he threw 16 pitches in a scoreless inning, allowing one hit and striking out two. “I was making a lot of good pitches, and everything was moving like it should. Hopefully, I'm back in the next couple of days.”

O'Day reported nothing but positives about the outing in Bowie, save for the jersey, which was a tribute to the late musician David Bowie.

“Wore a pretty bad jersey — probably the worst jersey I've ever worn,” he said. “But the outing was good, I felt good. I got to execute most of my pitches. It felt good to get back out there. I had a base runner, so that was good. I've got to remember what that's like, pitching with guys on base, working through counts. It was altogether positive.”

Showalter said the decision of when to activate O'Day would be a “baseball thing,” with the options being activating O'Day today or letting him pitch another rehab outing before being activated Monday.

O'Day, who signed a four-year, $31?million contract this offseason, had made 22 appearances before the injury, with five home runs allowed in 20 innings causing his ERA to rise to 3.15 before he went on the disabled list.

September a goal for Rickard: Outfielder Joey Rickard, who went on the DL on Friday with what he called a high-grade tear of a ligament in his right thumb, said he'll avoid surgery because the tear wasn't complete and that he hopes to return before the season is over.

Showalter had said the injury typically takes four to six weeks to heal before Rickard can resume baseball activities, and Rickard said he hoped it would be sooner.

“Just as soon as possible,” Rickard said. “My goal is to beat whatever they told me by whatever I can. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”

Rickard suffered the injury when he jammed his hand into the wall while trying to field a drive in the first inning of Wednesday night's game at Yankee Stadium, and played through it, waking up unable to open his hand Thursday morning.

“It's part of it,” Rickard said. “You never wish this upon anybody, but it is what it is. I'll be back there sooner than later to help out.”

Wieters targeting Monday: Catcher Matt Wieters was out of the starting lineup Saturday for a sixth straight game after being hit in the foot with a pitch Monday in New York against the Yankees, and Showalter said he's targeting Monday's series opener against the Colorado Rockies for a return.

Showalter said Wieters was improving and that he wasn't having any further tests done, indicating the diagnosis hasn't changed since an X-ray came back clean.

“I think they've done the MRI,” Showalter said. “They've done everything. They know what they're dealing with. I'll be frank with you. I'm hoping Monday. I was really hoping to not have to do that night game-day game with Caleb [Joseph on Saturday and today], but we'll see. If I have to put him in there emergency, then we may look at it differently, depending on how he feels.”

Around the horn: Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, who hasn't pitched since July 8, was at the hospital Saturday night with his wife, who is eight months' pregnant, Showalter said. About 20 minutes before the game, the club placed Jimenez on the paternity list and called up right-hander Tyler Wilson from Triple-A Norfolk. … Showalter said left fielder Hyun Soo Kim (hamstring) will play two rehab games before being activated. He is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment today at Bowie, which would put him in line to come back Tuesday, when he's eligible to return.

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