NEW YORK – Clarity came to the Orioles rotation this afternoon only if TBA counts as a parting of the clouds.

Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann made today’s start against the Yankees and exited with four unearned runs in 4 1/3 innings in a sloppy 10-5 loss that completed the sweep. Who follows this weekend might not be revealed until Friday, and perhaps in daily increments.

Spenser Watkins’ next turn plops him into the series opener versus the Red Sox at Camden Yards. Veteran Jordan Lyles would pitch Sunday. But the Orioles could push back Watkins and use someone else Friday night.

The same night that Kyle Bradish is listed as Triple-A Norfolk’s starter in Gwinnett.

It’s important to stay on your toes while tracking who might be handed the ball.

NEW YORK – The Orioles are trying to avoid being swept today in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2017.

The 10-day road trip wraps up in the Bronx cold with left-hander Bruce Zimmermann on the mound and Ryan Mountcastle still on the bench.

Mountcastle was scratched yesterday with neck stiffness.

Cedric Mullins is the designated hitter, Ryan McKenna is in center field and Trey Mancini is playing first base.

Zimmermann has a 1.20 ERA and 1.133 WHIP in three starts and averages 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings. He faced the Yankees on April 17 and shut them out over five innings.

NEW YORK – The Orioles aren’t celebrating baseball’s reduction in rosters from 28 players to 26 beginning May 2. They want the extra bodies after a truncated spring training, and with their rotation requiring additional support.

They’re expected to carry 14 pitchers after learning this week that the limit has been raised, but there’s room to be flexible. Don’t get too attached to the math.

There could be a game or series that screams for a fourth bench player, and the club is willing to listen.

“It’s nice that we’re going to at least have the option,” manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday. “I think we’re going to see where we are from a pitching standpoint on that day and throughout the month. Tyler Wells is in our rotation and he’s not pitching that many innings, so it’s kind of, we’re carrying an extra guy there. We’re playing some really good offenses. … We’ll see where we are.

“It’s going to be a series-to-series decision. Hopefully, our starters can get some length and we can possibly keep an extra position player. We just don’t know right now.”

NEW YORK – The one pitch that Tyler Wells wanted back tonight traveled 417 feet.

The rest of his start carried the former reliever a little farther into his transition back to a starter’s life. It was a pretty sweet ride.

Wells made his deepest dive this season with five innings and 72 pitches in the Orioles’ 5-2 loss to the Yankees in The Bronx. He retired 13 of the last 14 batters after Giancarlo Stanton homered in the first.

Stanton became the seventh-fastest player to reach 350 home runs with his two-run shot off Wells. Aaron Judge singled with one out, Anthony Rizzo flied out and Stanton launched a 94 mph fastball over the fence in left-center field, the exit velocity 108.6 mph, per Statcast.

Wells retired 10 of the next 11 batters to get him through the fourth, matching his previous high on April 16 versus the Yankees at Camden Yards. Manager Brandon Hyde sent him back out for the fifth, and Wells responded by striking out Joey Gallo on a 94 mph fastball and coaxing ground balls from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino.

NEW YORK – Ryan Mountcastle was scratched from tonight’s lineup with neck stiffness. Anthony Santander moved from right field to the designated hitter spot, and Ryan McKenna is playing right.

Manager Brandon Hyde stopped by McKenna’s locker to pass along the update.

“He’s getting treatment right now on the side of his neck,” Hyde said, adding that Mountcastle should be available off the bench.

Reliever Paul Fry wasn’t available in Anaheim because of a similar ailment.

“What’s up with the pillows?” Hyde said. “We’re staying in a nice hotel. These beds are super comfortable. I don’t know. They’re not used to the bed or pillow or something, but we’ve had two stiff necks in the last week.”

NEW YORK – John Means underwent ligament-reconstructive surgery this morning on his left elbow, a procedure that executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias described as “successful” in an update shared on a video call with the media.

Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery in Dallas.

Means already has been discharged from the hospital and will begin his rehab immediately. He’ll return to Baltimore and meet with the Orioles’ medical and athletic training staffs.

Elias is hopeful that Means can return to the Orioles in the first half of the 2023 season, though the surgery obviously doesn’t bring any guarantees.

Elias didn’t dismiss Triple-A Norfolk’s Kyle Bradish as a possibility for the rotation this weekend. Saturday’s spot remains TBA.

NEW YORK – The Orioles don’t have a confirmed starting pitcher for Saturday night and their options at the major league level seem to be dwindling.

Alexander Wells was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk, removing him from the taxi squad, and threw 34 pitches last night in relief to finish a 12-8 loss to the Yankees. And while his outing could be construed as similar to a bullpen session prior to a start, there’s an intriguing possibility one level below.

Kyle Bradish, the No. 9 prospect in the system per Baseball American and No. 10 according to MLBPipeline.com, no longer is listed as tonight’s starter with Norfolk. He’s replaced by Blaine Knight, who moves up from Thursday’s scheduled assignment.

Kevin Smith was supposed to start Friday, but Bradish has been pushed back to that spot.

What does it all mean?

NEW YORK – The Orioles will consider it a win if they reach a point in their season where the rotation isn’t a daily topic of conversation and ripe with intrigue.

Who’s out, who’s in, who’s hurt.

The highly anticipated and loudly demanded arrivals of prospects Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall will prevent the rotation from becoming stagnant, especially with the Orioles spreading out their debuts rather than delivering them in a cluster. Bradish should be the first to reach the majors, with Rodriguez behind him and Hall third.

The equation isn’t complicated.

Bradish is 25 and has made 24 career appearances in Triple-A. Rodriguez is 22 and has made four.

NEW YORK – The lineup was loaded with prospects, the future put on display for fans to admire as if shuffling through a baseball museum, pausing to stare at the most attractive pieces. Except the most valuable also were the newest.

This is what happened in Aberdeen, where the Orioles’ high Single-A affiliate stole the major league team’s thunder on a rainy night with catcher Adley Rutschman’s first injury rehab game.

The Orioles stepped into the third series of their road trip and were flattened early by Luis Severino, who retired the first 14 batters and didn’t allow a hit until Jorge Mateo singled in the sixth inning in the Yankees’ wild 12-8 win in the Bronx.

A different vibe entirely, though entertaining in their own way.

A familiar comeback attempt, with the Orioles again falling behind by six runs before fighting back. Twice. But unlike Sunday’s game in Anaheim, they couldn’t get even.

NEW YORK – An Orioles rotation missing its No. 1 starter is forced to fill another opening with the season less than a month old.

Chris Ellis was placed on the 10-day injured list this afternoon with right shoulder inflammation, the same condition that shut him down last September.

Alexander Wells was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk, a simply and logical transaction with the left-hander on the taxi squad. He already had a locker inside the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.

Ellis faced only five batters Sunday in Anaheim and didn’t retire anyone. He walked three, hit one and surrendered a two-run single.

Mound visits from pitching coach Chris Holt and later head athletic trainer Brian Ebel preceded his removal from the game.

NEW YORK – Austin Hays is in left field tonight and Anthony Santander is in right, as the Orioles open a three-game series against the Yankees.

Jorge Mateo is the shortstop and Ramón Urías is playing third base.

Jordan Lyles is making his fourth start. He’s allowed six runs and 18 hits with six walks in 15 1/3 innings, but only one run in his last two starts over 10 1/3 innings.

Lyles held the Yankees to one run in 5 1/3 innings at Camden Yards.

Right-hander Luis Severino has made three starts for the Yankees this season and allowed only three runs in 13 innings. He’s surrendered 14 hits, walked four batters and struck out 14.

The Orioles are in New York for a three-game series that wraps up a long road trip. Three cities, one terrible piece of news regarding ace John Means and one significant update on catcher Adley Rutschman.

Rutschman is in Aberdeen tonight, where the high Single-A IronBirds open a six-game series against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. The usual Monday off-day is followed by six more home games against the Brooklyn Cyclones.

It’s highly unlikely that Rutschman sticks around for a dozen games, but the Orioles aren’t laying out an exact plan. He’s going to dictate how quickly he moves through his injury rehab assignment.

DL Hall also is reporting to Aberdeen this afternoon, but he isn’t returning from a recent injury. The Orioles have him on a progression after he made only seven starts last summer with Double-A Bowie due to a stress reaction his left elbow.

Hall already proved that he made a full recovery by firing fastballs at 98-100 mph in Clearwater while retiring the Phillies in order with two strikeouts. He’ll get back to Double-A Bowie, eventually pitch at Triple-A Norfolk and, assuming he stays healthy, debut with the Orioles this summer.

Given the stretch of injuries that are hitting the Orioles at practically every turn, on their own roster and especially in the minors, they must have braced for the worst when a pitch ran in on Hudson Haskin’s hands during his first at-bat of an April 13 game in Binghamton.

Haskin was hit and headed to the clubhouse. Lineups posted for Double-A Bowie excluded him until six days later, with one exception – when a separate health issue caused him to be scratched.

In what’s started out as a special 2022 season for the Baysox outfielder, Haskin singled twice before the errant pitch and went 3-for-5 with a home run and six RBIs immediately upon his return.

Haskin, 23, collected two more hits the following night and his average dropped. That’s a hot start.

The ball that sidelined Haskin struck him on the bottom of the left hand, “that little fragile area,” said Baysox manager Kyle Moore. No broken bones, but some anxiety that ran through the organization.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde praised his bullpen before today’s game in Anaheim. He noted how the staff stepped up collectively as the club lost ace John Means and bulk reliever Dean Kremer to injuries. Miss your teammates, but not a beat.

Hyde didn’t intend to grab the phone so early this afternoon, or to talk about another physical issue that struck his rotation.

Chris Ellis faced five Angels batters, retired none and left the mound with head athletic trainer Brian Ebel. The team announced later that Ellis had right shoulder discomfort.

Ellis walked three batters, hit one and surrendered a two-run single to Jared Walsh – leaving after only 21 pitches, six for strikes.

Travis Lakins Sr. inherited a bases-loaded jam and served up a grand slam to Jo Adell for a six-run deficit, the Orioles battled back to tie the game in the seventh, and fell behind again in a 7-6 loss after Félix Bautista walked Taylor Ward with the bases full in the bottom half of the inning.

In parts of his five major league seasons, Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander hasn’t been able to post an on-base percentage higher than .315, a level attained in only 37 games in 2020.

Santander played in 110 games last summer and accumulated 438 plate appearances, missing a month with a sprained ankle and being shut down after Sept. 26 with a left knee sprain. He finished with a .286 OBP that again drew attention to his poor pitch recognition and struggles to stay patient in the box.

The Orioles are closing out their series in Anaheim this afternoon, and Santander has reached base in the first 15 games of the season to draw within three of his record. He ranks third in the American League and seventh in the majors with a .452 OBP.

Santander has walked 13 times to rank second in the league behind Seattle’s Jesse Winker. Ten more and he’ll match his total for last season.

The 21 percent walk rate puts Santander in the top two percent in the majors, according to Statcast data. He’s seeing 4.40 pitches per plate appearance, 10^th in the league, and his 273 total pitches seen put him second in the AL behind the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani (276).

The Orioles are owed some good news on the health front, and it’s arriving from the minors.

Catcher Adley Rutschman and pitchers DL Hall and Rico Garcia are joining the high Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds this week, with the first game played Tuesday night against Jersey Shore at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

Rutschman, the No. 1 or 2 prospect in baseball depending on which outlet is posting the rankings, and Garcia are on minor league injury rehab assignments. Hall, the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect, is continuing his progression.  

Most of the attention falls upon Rutschman, who recovered from a strained right triceps sustained early in camp. His major league debut is fast approaching, but he’ll need to stop at a few other affiliates.

Garcia underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 before signing a minor league deal with the Orioles.

Nothing that’s happened since John Means experienced tightness in his left forearm should be categorized as totally unexpected beyond perhaps the staff ace breaking his own news on social media.

The injury being to his elbow. The multiple MRIs and opinions. Confirmation that the ligament must be reconstructed and the 2022 season ends for him after two starts.

Additional tests aren’t usually run if the initial diagnosis is positive.

Means wanted to reach 200 innings this year. Of course he did. What starter aims low? It’s what 300 innings used to be back in the day.

Reaching that total seemed overly ambitious with the shorter leash in April, but stalling at eight is an unforeseen circumstance. And the surgery is expected to deny him a chance to be anointed the opening day starter for a fourth consecutive season – though he couldn’t fulfill it in 2020 due to shoulder fatigue.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – It was another night where an Orioles starter kept his team in the game and another night where that pitcher allowed two earned runs or fewer. That is an ongoing O’s team record.

But one pitching stat did take a hit tonight: the O’s staff had allowed just six homers in the first 14 games – tied for fewest in MLB with San Francisco. But they yielded three tonight – including a tie-breaking shot by Brandon Marsh in the sixth – as the Los Angeles Angels took a 4-2 lead.

But on this night, the Orioles had a comeback in them.

They scored three times in the top of the seventh off the Angels bullpen and won 5-4 in front of 43,883 at Angel Stadium. They improved to 6-9 overall and 5-4 in their past nine games.

The Orioles have won three of four and have won a series for the second time this season.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The news of Orioles left-hander John Means needing Tommy John surgery became official today as announced by the pitcher himself via Twitter. But in the Orioles clubhouse, it’s clear some, maybe most of his teammates had advance warning.

Still that doesn’t make it easier to take when someone they see as not only the best pitcher on the staff but a leader too and a valued close friend is going to miss the rest of the season.

“It’s something that, it’s obviously a blow,” manager Brandon Hyde said in the Orioles dugout. “It’s a blow to John, to our club. Not going to have John for a while and John’s a big part of our pitching staff, a big part of our team. Injuries happen but I feel bad for John. Not only what he brings on the field, on the mound, but the leadership he brings to our clubhouse. It’s going to be tough without him. But we have to have guys step and take different roles.”

Hyde said there was no reason to have a team meeting or anything of that nature about this news or to try and have any special words for his players.

“No, I think we all are professionals and these things happen. Injuries are part of the game. You know we lost our opening day starter and that hurts and I think we’re all aware too that it was going to be an extended time he would be out. We need to get John healthy and ready for 2023.”

An Orioles rotation that must proceed without ace John Means, who’s undergoing Tommy John surgery next week, finds Spenser Watkins back on the mound in the continuation of a road trip that’s produced two wins in five games.

Watkins earned another turn after holding the Athletics to one run and two hits in five innings.

The right-hander’s first major league appearance came in Anaheim on July 2, 2021, when he retired all three batters he faced in relief. He started against the Angels on Aug. 24 in Baltimore and surrendered eight runs in two innings.

Orioles starters have allowed two earned runs or fewer in 11 consecutive games.

Trey Mancini is in right field tonight and Anthony Santander is the designated hitter. Santander is the only player in the majors to reach base in each of the first 14 games.