SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles have dumped two more infielders into their camp competition over the past few days by claiming Bryan Ramos on waivers and signing Thairo Estrada to a minor league contract.

Gunnar Henderson is just trying to keep up with the changes.

Henderson is healthy this spring after straining an intercoastal muscle last February and beginning the season on the injured list. He’s watched second baseman Jackson Holliday report with a broken right hamate bone that required surgery, and third baseman Jordan Westburg with a strained right oblique.

It got worse for Westburg, who received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow last week after being diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. He won’t be back until May at the earliest.

A concrete unit is crumbling.

“Definitely some different faces, but we’ve molded in pretty well,” Henderson said. “That’s what spring training is for is getting comfortable with all the guys and you never know when your name’s gonna be called, so they’ve been doing great and really enjoy playing with them so far.”

Henderson trained with Westburg over the winter. They’re aren’t just teammates, they’re good friends. The injuries that keep knocking down Westburg also hurt Henderson.

“It sucks,” Henderson said. “He works his butt off. I hate it for him because I know he just wants to be out there on the field. That’s all he wants to do, playing out there with the guys. Praying the shot works and he gets out there soon.”

Luis Vázquez is trying to make the club in a utility role – he’s a plus defender at multiple positions – and he stroked a two-run double in the fifth inning to tie the score at 2-2. The Orioles didn’t have a hit until Dylan Beavers’ double, which came after Hunter Stratton drilled Ryan Mountcastle with a pitch.

“He’s looked really comfortable out there, even when he came up in the big leagues last year, and that’s continued into this year,” Henderson said of Vázquez. “He’s looked great. He looks super comfortable, swinging the bat great, and super happy that he’s with us.”

Henderson is leaving camp on March 1 to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He started the first two exhibition games to ramp up, trying to get his body ready for intense competition.

“I feel like I’ve been taking the right steps day in and day out to do that and I feel like I’m ready to play every day,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot.”

Left-hander Cade Povich joined the other Orioles starters with two ups today, and they were scoreless. He allowed one hit, walked one and struck out one.

Brewer Hicklen fanned on the last of Povich’s 34 pitches, a 90.9 mph fastball.

Dominic Smith singled with one out in the first and Eli White grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.  

“Overall, very pleased with it,” he said. “I think for the most part in the offseason I’ve been in a good spot with where movement, velos and stuff has been. Being in games, just trying to get back in the routine of batter to batter, filling up the zone, getting ahead early and mixing my pitches.

“Overall, the goal today was just to kind of get a feel for the zone, mix everything and just keep it easy and try to kind of ramp up each inning, and then each outing in the future.”

Povich liked the fastball movement he was getting today, which is important if he isn’t going to blow the pitch past hitters.

“I think from what I heard in the dugout from (Drew) French and from Rutsch (Adley Rutschman), very pleased with how it’s been,” Povich said. “Very pleased with the feedback I’ve gotten from hitters, as well, during lives, especially throwing it in. I think that can kind of open things up with two-seams away or even if the movement stays the same when we go arm-side, maybe some backdoor stuff.

“So still kind of playing with it with French and Plass (Mitch Plassmeyer) and the catchers and trying to figure out usage and how we can use it. I think going back to the last couple of games last year when we made that adjustment, we’re finally in a spot where I think we’ve got a good feel for it, and the velo’s following it. So I think we’re just toying around with it in spring training and seeing where we can go with it.”

A deeper staff increases the competition, and Povich is in the thick of it after making 20 starts and a pair of relief appearances behind an opener.

“We’ve got a lot of great guys in the rotation and the bullpen,” he said. “I think when you’re deep and there’s a lot of guys running for a starting role or a bullpen role, that just tells you you’ve got a lot of good guys on the staff and a good team overall.

“My goal is just to try to go out there and cheer the guys on, learn from them. A lot of them have a lot of experience. Just try to give my best effort to find a spot where I can fit in.”

That might have to be in the bullpen.

“It’ll continue with talks with them,” he said. “Whatever they come to me with, if they say, ‘We think this is gonna help the team the best,’ I’m all for it.”

Smith won a left-on-left battle with Keegan Akin in the third, lining a two-out single into right field to score Aaron Schunk. White followed with a double into left-center field for a 2-0 lead.

Akin tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his spring debut against the Yankees.

Rico Garcia went 1-2-3 with a strikeout in the fourth to give him two scoreless innings this spring. Jose Espada got three fly balls in the fifth, retiring former Orioles Chadwick Tromp and Jorge Mateo.

Enoli Paredes was charged with three runs in the sixth and Cohen Achen, who arrived from minor league camp, was charged with four earned and five total without retiring a batter. Achen hit Tromp on the helmet with a 91.5 mph fastball and Mateo followed with a grand slam to right-center field. The Braves led 10-3.

Tyler O’Neill drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. Taylor Ward walked before O’Neill came to the plate, his second of the day to go with a 104.4 mph lineout to left-center field.

Mountcastle made a nice play in the second inning to save Blaze Alexander from a throwing error. Mountcastle leaped to catch a high throw and came down with his foot on the bag to retire Nacho Alvarez Jr. Alexander made a lunging stop before firing across the diamond.

Former Orioles third base coach and interim manager Tony Mansolino brought out the Braves’ lineup card. He’s the new bench coach.

Update: Jhonkensy Noel had a run-scoring double to left field in the seventh inning at 106.1 mph and an infield single in the eighth, and 2024 first-round draft pick Vance Honeycutt hit a two-run homer in the eighth in the Orioles’ 10-7 loss to the Braves.

Eight-run innings are hard to overcome.

Noel reached in the eighth but rounded the bag and was called out. He gets credited with a hit.

Honeycutt made the trip from minor league camp. He needed a confidence boost after batting .171 with a .559 OPS and 178 strikeouts in 101 games with High-A Aberdeen.

Eric Torres retired the side in order in the eighth and struck out two batters.

Here’s manager Craig Albernaz on Povich: “He looked really good. He looked crisp down the mound. It was good to see he got his off-speed going. He looked good coming down the mound. His tempo was really good, throwing strikes. It was encouraging for Povich.”

On Alexander’s good defensive plays: “Really good. He’s such a good athlete and that’s something that’s been standing out all camp.”

On Akin: “He looked good. Talking with the pitching guys, obviously watching him, the fastball quality was there. He said he felt really good. It’s a slow ramp up for spring training, so building off his last outing. He’s right where he needs to be and see where he goes next.”

On Honeycutt: “Oh, that’s awesome. You know, having the kid come up and getting into one, it was really cool. Seeing him run around the bases to score right there. Buck (Britton) with an aggressive send, which I love to see. It was good for Honey. I’m sure it had to feel good for him to do that.”