Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he’s inching closer to considering left-hander Zach Britton for the closer role once again after Britton bookended the All-Star break with a pair of crisp outings as he works his way back from a left forearm strain.

“I’ll tell you, his last two outings, that’s Zach,” Showalter said.

Britton allowed a single in the eighth inning of the Orioles 9-8 loss Friday night but held the Chicago Cubs off, his second scoreless outing in a row. An inning later, Brad Brach gave up a home run to shortstop Addison Russell that decided the game.

Brach has been the closer since Britton’s return, and kept the late-inning role as Britton worked his way back, but Showalter said Britton could soon resume his old role.

“We’ve got multiple options there that I feel comfortable with,” Showalter said. “There’s a part of it that says, ‘Jeez, you can mix and match really great with guys like Brad and Zach and a couple other guys on top of their game. It doesn’t really matter.’ But it allows me not to overuse somebody, which we haven’t done and won’t do. I think he’s very close to being capable of doing that again, from what I’ve seen.”

Britton has allowed two runs in four innings since his return, and his activation gave the Orioles probably their best bullpen of the season. Richard Bleier, Darren O’Day, Mychal Givens, Britton and Brach combined for six innings of strong relief Friday, allowing a run on three hits.

Showalter said that until Britton becomes the closer again, with a back-to-back outing his next obstacle, they’ll try to keep him as active as possible.

Progress for Sedlock, Harvey: Right-hander Cody Sedlock, the Orioles’ 2016 first-round draft pick who is on the disabled list at High-A Frederick with a right elbow strain and hasn’t pitched since June 26, threw a 30-pitch bullpen session Saturday and came through it strong, Showalter said.

“He feels good,” Showalter said. “That was good to hear.”

Sedlock, 22, has a 6.46 ERA in 13 starts for the Keys, with 53 strikeouts in 622/3 innings and a 1.66 WHIP.

Right-hander Hunter Harvey, whom Showalter said is likely to make a rehab start Wednesday at an undetermined minor league stop, could soon join him in Frederick.

Harvey, the team’s 2013 first-round pick who underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery last summer, has been throwing simulated games at the club’s complex in Sarasota, Fla., and hasn’t pitched in a minor league game since July 16 for Short-A Aberdeen.

His elbow problems first developed in July 2014, in the midst of a breakout season for Low-A Delmarva, and he also dealt with a sports hernia and a fractured leg.

No answers on Gausman: Showalter said he has opinions on what ails young right-hander Kevin Gausman, whose ERA climbed to 6.39 after he allowed four homers in three innings Friday.

“It’s very frustrating but some of it’s just execution,” Showalter said. “Some of it is ability. Pitchers throw a ball to a target at different speeds for a living, with different movements. The guys who get the ball where they’re throwing it consistently have success. Kevin’s not doing that right now. He’s not throwing the baseball where he’s aiming to throw it. That’s pretty simple, but that’s kind of it in a nutshell. We have a lot of thought about why, but there’s periods where it happens, then it goes away.”

Showalter didn’t shoot down the idea that Gausman could be sent to the minors to figure it out, but didn’t seem to like that idea, either.

“I have my own thoughts and we listen to a lot of people and if something like that was a possibility that we were thinking about, he would hear about it,” Showalter said.

Around the horn: Showalter said he’s considered Bleier as a starter, but doesn’t want to mess with the success he’s having so far. Bleier has a 1.39 ERA this season. … Right-handers Mike Wright (shoulder) and Stefan Crichton (shoulder) are each slated for rehab appearances on Monday, Showalter said.

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