JUPITER, Fla. – Most of the windows in the press box at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium were closed this afternoon, trapping the air conditioning on another scorching day, but Coby Mayo’s bat can’t be silenced.

Mayo lined a single into left field in the first inning at 111 mph, the sound piercing the glass enclosure. He tore into a Matt Liberatore cutter after back-to-back strikeouts from Blaze Alexander and Heston Kjerstad to start the game.

The result improved Mayo to 9-for-20 this spring before he grounded out twice. No one on the club has collected more hits than Mayo, who’s staying in the lineup Tuesday afternoon in West Palm.

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle is next on the hit list by going 8-for-24.

“A lot of consistency,” manager Craig Albernaz said of the duo. “I love the work they’re putting in before the game, which is a lot of unseen hours. A lot of failure and like pushing the envelope in the training side. To see that translate into the game is always awesome to see. And for me, I love the results as much as anyone else, but I think it’s the process of how they’re doing it.

“Like, their at-bat quality has been great, grinding out at-bats. Mounty’s last at-bat (Sunday) when he got the hit, I believe it was an eight-pitch at-bat. Fouled off a bunch of pitches. That’s a really good sign for me. So anyone when they control the strike zone and really do damage when the pitcher throws it into the strike zone, that’s the biggest thing for me to take away.”

These are two players who were subjected to constant offseason speculation about their ability to co-exist on the roster after the Orioles signed first baseman Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155 million contract. Mountcastle was a viewed as potential non-tender to add a little more spin to the rumor mill.

“It’s noise, right, and a lot of that noise is people making assumptions and trying to play GM who are not the GM, which is a real thing,” Albernaz said. “A lot of that is for them to know that they have their own development to do. And it’s any of our players. There’s no finished products, and so for these guys to block out the noise, if they did hear it – assuming they did – but also, that’s something we message to all our guys is that you can’t control anything outside of your reach and your spectrum. So it’s literally attacking each day as Day 1, having that Day 1 mindset approach of just trying to get better every day, and whatever happens happens in this game.

“There’s very few things in this game that you can control, but one of the things you can control is the work you put in each day, and that’s something, a credit to them, they’ve been doing that. Same thing with all our guys.”

The Orioles will put Jordan Westburg on the injured list after he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow, an attempt to avoid surgery to repair a slightly torn ulnar collateral ligament. Mayo is getting his starts at third base as the presumed replacement.

The results are mixed, with a few miscues but also some gems. The Orioles seem encouraged by his progress. The trust is building.

“The first thing is, I think Coby is a fine third baseman and I think everyone has areas of growth we need to work on, and he’s been working on them. And I am more than comfortable with Coby playing third base,” Albernaz said.

“That’s my opinion. And I think with everyone, we don’t want our guys ever to be satisfied with where they’re at, so we always want to turn the dial on where they can get better. And I think that’s the messy part of development is, once you check one box of getting over that hurdle, there’s always another hurdle. Sometimes, a big hurdle, sometimes a small, and I think that’s how guys play 10 years in the big leagues and that’s also how guys make a lot of money in this game. And we want that for our guys.

“So it’s always challenging them and always turning up the dial at the appropriate points of where they need to get better at, and Coby has been doing that and answering the bell with everything that we’ve been throwing at him, just like a lot of our guys.”

“I’d say last year,” Mayo said, “the opportunity was at first, so I did everything I could to be the best first baseman I could last year, and the opportunities kind of shifted this year to third and now I’m gonna do everything I can to make the most of it. And if tomorrow is left field, then I’m gonna do the best I can to be the best left fielder I can. It’s just trying to be where my feet are at and I’m just gonna work as hard as I can to try to help the team win games.”

Mayo hasn’t broke camp with the team in past springs and isn’t making any assumptions with only a few weeks left before Opening Day. He’s cautiously optimistic at best.

“Kind of just having the same mindset of trying to compete every single day,” he said. “Try to work as hard as I can to just be in the best spot possible by the end of the camp.”

The .409 average and .920 OPS are making it much easier for the Orioles to carry him on the roster.

“I think just swinging at the right pitches has been good so far, and not missing pitches,” he said. “I’ve missed some, and those at-bats kind of never work out in your favor when you’re missing good pitches to hit. Pitchers are too good to miss fastball that’s in a good spot to hit, and I feel like I’m just in a good mindset right now and just working.”

Mayo might be the designated hitter Tuesday, but it allows family and friends to watch him again. Mayo lives in Coral Springs and jumped at the chance to make the East Coast trip.

Albernaz gave him first dibs.

“It was nice to play in this park finally as a professional baseball player,” he said. “I was in Jupiter hundreds of times when I was growing up in high school and it was just a cool experience. Excited for tomorrow, as well.”

*Trey Gibson allowed only one hit this afternoon in four innings, a long two-run homer in the third. He walked two batters and struck out one.

Alexander started at shortstop again today and committed an error in the second inning while trying to field Ramón Urías’ grounder. He backhanded Yohel Pozo’s grounder and bounced a throw to second, but Thairo Estrada made a nice pick up and fired to first for the double play.

The shutout was gone in the third. Young walked Victor Scott II, got a fielder’s choice grounder and surrendered a 423-footer to Chase Davis for a 2-0 Cardinals lead.

Gibson finished by issuing a one-out walk to Urías in the fourth and getting a double play from Pozo.

“Super happy with that outing,” he said. “Made one bad pitch, but other than that, felt like Sam Huff and I behind the plate, we were on the same page and attacking hitters pretty well fro the most part.”

Gibson was named the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year after working with three affiliates and making his last seven starts with Triple-A Norfolk.

“That experience was great,” he said. “I think that month or so under the belt really opened my eyes to see what that next level looks like and go into the offseason taking that with me to train and come into spring with a better game plan of how to get better hitters out, pitch deeper in the ballgame.”

Leody Taveras tripled off Liberatore with one out in the fourth, hustling to third base on a ball hit into the left field corner, and he scored on Jhonkensy Noel’s bloop single to right.

Huff tied the game in the fifth inning with his second spring home run, but JJ Wetherholt’s two-run shot off Nester German in the sixth gave St. Louis a 4-2 lead.

Wetherholt drove a 94.8 mph fastball to left field with two outs, but only 350 feet.

Joshua Báez hit a two-run homer off German in the seventh and Davis followed with a solo shot for a 7-2 lead.

*The Orioles narrowed their bullpen competition yesterday by optioning right-handers Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez to minor league camp.

Both pitchers came to the Orioles over the summer in separate trades with the Mets and were placed on the 40-man roster after the season. They each tossed five scoreless exhibition innings.

“They impressed so much,” said Albernaz. “It’s refreshing and great to have guys of that caliber with us and on the roster. And I think it’s testament to our acquisition team identifying those guys in the trade, and they came as advertised.

“To me, obviously the stuff stands out and what they can do on the mound, but the way they went their business, like in the clubhouse and stuff, it was awesome. They were open, tried to talk to the veterans, tried to learn as much. They were model citizens.

“It’s always hard to send guys down. Like, it’s never easy. But those guys, they’re great, and we’ll definitely be seeing them at some point this year for sure.”

Update: Albernaz on Gibson: “Gibson threw the ball well. I love that he was utilizing his off-speed more, getting the sweeper going, getting that death ball … it was good to see him get that going.”

Albernaz on Mayo getting a hit close to home: “Good to be home for him. It was a great at-bat. Liberatore was really sharp and Coby squared that ball up pretty good. So yeah, that was a great at-bat. It was good to see Coby get that hit.”