The Orioles are able to put first baseman Chris Davis in their lineup for tonight's game against the Marlins at Camden Yards. However, shortstop José Iglesias is listed again among the reserves.
Davis hasn't played since Friday due to some knee soreness. Iglesias hasn't started at shortstop since Wednesday due to a sore left quadriceps muscle, but he's come off the bench in the past few games and is 10-for-19 this season with five doubles and four RBIs.
Austin Hays is back in the lineup...
			
			
	
	The Orioles and Marlins have gone back into a holding pattern.
Four postponements between the clubs due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among the Marlins has delayed the two series to this week at Camden Yards, with the Orioles serving as hosts for half. Tonight's game is supposed to begin at 7:35 p.m., but it's in jeopardy.
The tarp remains on the field, the players' lot is practically empty and umpires have been turned away from the ballpark.
Media wasn't granted access until 4 p.m., which is...
			
			
	
	The Orioles have a fresher bullpen today and renewed concerns about the Marlins arriving at their ballpark.
Whether or not they'd admit to it.
They're trusting the extensive safety measures that have reduced the level of worry beyond how a team forced to shut down due to a COVID-19 outbreak could compromise them.
Welcome to Camden Yards. Just don't touch anything.
The Marlins are piecing together their roster via waiver claims and trades after a bus transported the quarantined group from...
			
			
	
	The Orioles have added three prospects to their alternate camp site in Bowie, including left-hander Bruce Zimmermann, who would have started the season at Triple-A Norfolk and vied for a promotion to the majors.
Zimmermann is joined by outfielder Ryan McKenna and right-hander Kyle Bradish.
The 60-man player pool has increased to 57.
Zimmermann, of Ellicott City, made 18 appearances with the Baysox in last summer and registered a 2.58 ERA and 1.204 WHIP in 101 1/3 innings. Earning a late...
			
			
	
	The weather may have the final word this week, but the Orioles learned when they're supposed to play the Marlins at Camden Yards.
This is pure 2020.
The games on Tuesday and Thursday will begin at 7:35 p.m. However, the Orioles will be the home team for the first and the Marlins for the last.
In between are a pair of seven-inning games in a Wednesday doubleheader. Its first game starts at 5:05 p.m. and the nightcap begins approximately 30 minutes after the last out.
Here's where it gets...
			
			
	
	The last ounce of certainty is lost for the Orioles today.
They don't have a game. Everyone knew about the open date on their schedule that Major League Baseball handed to them over the weekend.
But what happens next is a puzzle.
The Orioles are supposed to play four games against the Marlins over the next three nights, which requires a doubleheader in order to make the math work. They haven't been told when it's happening or provided any start times.
Tropical storm Isaias is expected to...
			
			
	
	Renato Núñez lined a sinker from Rays starter Yonny Chirinos into the left field seats today, rounded the bases and did the social distance celebration.
Every team has its own versions of it.
Núñez was greeted at the dugout steps by a teammate who mimicked a chest bump, hand slap and spike tap. The high fives were more like waves.
The Orioles would be thrilled to hold more air celebrations through the rest of the season. It's like splashing in an empty pool.
Tommy Milone shut out...
			
			
	
	Rio Ruiz has been scratched from the lineup today for unspecified reasons. He was supposed to play third base and bat cleanup.
Pat Valaika, who delivered the walk-off single last night in the 11th inning, has replaced Ruiz at third.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde is sitting Austin Hays today, a decision based on performance rather than health.
The center fielder isn't in the same category as first baseman Chris Davis and shortstop José Iglesias, who are out of the lineup again due to...
			
			
	
	Chris Davis and José Iglesias remain out of the Orioles' lineup this afternoon as they go for their first series sweep since August 2018.
Iglesias pinch-hit last night but didn't play in the field.
Austin Hays also is on the bench today, with Hanser Alberto leading off. Cedric Mullins is playing center field.
Rio Ruiz is batting cleanup and Andrew Velazquez is the shortstop. Renato Núñez replaces Davis at first base.
Chance Sisco is the designated hitter.
Left-hander Tommy Milone is...
			
			
	
	The Orioles chose to walk off the field after last night's 5-4 win and leave their roster alone. They didn't execute a post-midnight trade and spring a Zoom conference call on an unsuspecting media.
How boring.
Digesting a Richard Bleier trade requires multiple stomachs. Only cows got it right away.
My surface reaction went something like this: "What?"
Bleier was a trade chip for sure and July 31 made sense in a normal season, but not necessarily in 2020 after six games. A team in desperate...
			
			
	
	The Orioles almost made it through tonight's game without committing an error, perhaps because they've gotten so good at handling everything thrown at them.
Players are lost to injury or trade. Opponents change unexpectedly and games are rearranged like furniture. Manager Brandon Hyde puts out fires and jokes about dressing for the part.
This team is only interested in staying hot.
The Rays scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game, taking advantage of Shawn...
			
			
	
	The Orioles have selected catcher Bryan Holaday's contract from the alternate camp site in Bowie, and he replaces reliever Richard Bleier on the 30-man roster.
The move gives the Orioles 39 players on the 40-man roster. They're now carrying three catchers on the team.
Bleier, 33, was traded to the Marlins late last night for a player to be named later. His production and leadership must be replaced.
"Rich was one of our older players. We don't have a ton of them," said manager Brandon...
			
			
	
	Shortstop José Iglesias remains out of the Orioles lineup tonight with a sore left quadriceps muscle. Chris Davis makes the start at first base.
Dwight Smith Jr. is batting cleanup. He's 4-for-8 lifetime against Rays starter Tyler Glasnow.
Chance Sisco is catching and Andrew Velazquez is the shortstop.
Glasnow has made three career starts against the Orioles and allowed three runs with no walks and 20 strikeouts in 18 innings.
Renato Núñez has a career .311 average (32-for-103)...
			
			
	
	The message that Orioles manager Brandon Hyde keeps preaching to his relievers about throwing strikes right away and getting ahead in counts is heard by everyone on the staff. The words bounce off the walls.
It's the execution of that message that varies. And failures that make him want to bang his head on those same walls.
Hyde was thrilled with Shawn Armstrong's outing in Wednesday night's series opener against the Yankees. Six up and six down. Only 20 pitches thrown in two innings. Only...
			
			
	
	Alex Cobb thought he had a strikeout tonight to close the top of the first inning. He took a couple of steps toward the dugout and catcher Pedro Severino stood to join him. But plate umpire Ryan Additon said the split-changeup missed high, an opinion that replays and pitch charts disputed, and Yoshi Tsutsugo lined the next offering into the gap for a run-scoring double.
The Orioles put two runners in scoring position with no outs in the bottom of the first and stranded them.
These are the times...
			
			
	
	Now that Chris Davis has rejoined the Orioles after a two-game absence, he's likely to make it back into the lineup Saturday night against Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow.
Davis is on the bench tonight and available to play. And the speculation that swirled while he stayed home can be grounded.
He didn't test positive for COVID-19 or opt out.
"He feels good," manager Brandon Hyde said on his daily Zoom conference call. "Been texting with him the last couple days, also. It just sounds like...
			
			
	
	Chris Davis is out of tonight's lineup, but he's back with the Orioles.
Davis confirmed in a Zoom call this afternoon that he had had a low fever due to a sinus infection. He underwent about eight tests for COVID-19 in the past few days that came back negative.
Davis is on the bench against Rays left-hander Blake Snell. Shortstop José Iglesias remains day-to-day with a sore left quadriceps muscle.
Pat Valaika gets the start at first base tonight and Andrew Velazquez is the shortstop.
DJ...
			
			
	
	The Orioles might be back to a full roster for tonight's series opener against the Rays at Camden Yards after playing a man down for the past two games.
Chris Davis could be cleared to rejoin the team after being kept at home for precautionary reasons, according to an industry source.
Davis hasn't tested positive for COVID-19, but he ran a low fever Wednesday morning and the Orioles placed him in the protocol.
From what I've heard, the fever was related to his sinuses and he's undergone...
			
			
	
	Very little about the 2020 baseball season is going to approach normal, let alone fit the description like an oiled glove.
Having John Means start for the Orioles tonight came pretty close. At least the moment that the bullpen gate swung open and he walked onto the field.
The strict pitch count and expectations that he'd work three or four innings lent an unusual twist to the story, but the staff ace was back on the mound. Order restored to the rotation in the most literal sense.
And then the...
			
			
	
	First baseman Chris Davis remains away from the Orioles as they finish their two-game series against the Yankees at Camden Yards. He also was absent from the ballpark last night.
Manager Brandon Hyde isn't allowed to provide specific information on Davis, who's likely under COVID-19 protocol. The Orioles haven't replaced him on the active roster.
"C.D. is still unavailable today," Hyde said during his Zoom conference call.
"I'm going to leave it at that."
Davis worked out with the team...
			


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