Jeremiah Jackson received the baseball from last night’s grand slam and presented it to Craig Albernaz. The infielder scribbled a message to his manager, who was hit on the right side of the face by his line drive into the dugout.

“Sorry homie.”

No hard feelings, especially after Jackson helped the Orioles to rally past Arizona 9-7 at Camden Yards. The slam was followed later by a solo shot in a career-best performance.

Albernaz didn’t speak to the media last night, but he wanted to sit at the table in the interview room for today’s session, with noticeable swelling and discoloration in his face. But also a smile.

He paused to let everyone snap photos, turning his head to accommodate the cameras. No concussion protocol for Albernaz, who was at a nearby hospital until around midnight after leaving the ballpark.

For the first time, had to provide an injury update on himself.

“I feel good, actually. I mean, considering everything,” he said.

“Medical team did a great job. They took care of me. That’s all you can ask for. Yeah, ball hit me pretty flush in the cheek. But feel good. Luckily, no surgery. I think all in all, it’s at least seven fractures in my cheek area, orbital, and then a broken jaw. But luckily, it doesn’t have to be wired, no surgery. I just have to eat baby food for six weeks.”

Able to maintain his sense of humor, Albernaz thought about his 2-year-old daughter and said, “Gigi will have a better diet than I do.”

Albernaz is fortunate that he turned away on the top step of the dugout. The ball squared him up, and Albernaz covered his face in case the damage was severe and his family might be watching on television. He also didn’t want his players to see it.

“That’s when I kind of took the steps down toward the dugout, get underneath the tunnel,” he said.

Head athletic trainer Scott Barringer rushed to Albernaz, who told him, “I’m fine, but I think my cheek is shattered.”

“The only part that was a little bit scary was when I took my hand off my face, I saw the blood on my hand. I had no idea where the blood was coming from. My fear was my eye, but medical team did a great job,” Albernaz said.

“I was trying to get back out there after the concussion protocol was fine, but they wanted to get a CT scan and I was trying to get it after the game, but obviously, medical team has better judgement than I do, so they wanted to do it then.”

The downtime enabled Albernaz to sneak into his office and make a video call to his wife Genevieve and his three children, who were listening to the radio broadcast after son C.J.’s baseball game and heard the gory details.

“Obviously, that kind of magnifies it a little bit, where everyone’s in the car, line drive in the dugout, hit someone and it’s their dad, their husband,” Albernaz said. “But we have such a great organization, such great people here, where immediately they were reaching out to Gen to give her updates. So even though I couldn’t talk to her, Gen was in the loop with the kids, but to get on FaceTime so they can see me was huge. I knew I was fine, but also they don’t know. So that was, I would say, a big moment for them to kind of put their minds at ease a little bit.”

Jackson, Dean Kremer and Kyle Bradish stopped in to check on Albernaz, and after they left his office, the Orioles loaded the bases while behind 7-2. Chris Bassitt rushed in to alert his manager about Jackson’s slam.

“It’s on a tape delay,” Albernaz said. “I heard the crowd and I was like, ‘You know what, (expletive) this. I’m going out in the dugout.’ And he did, hugging Jackson in celebration but also to prove again that he was fine.

“I wanted to be a part of it,” he said. “I was on the top step and I looked over and I saw Scott standing there, and he kind of looked at me like, let’s go. I was like, ‘Do I have to?’ He’s like, ‘Yes.’ So that’s when I had to go.”

Albernaz felt bad for Jackson, knowing how the incident had impacted him. The guy with the busted face was trying to comfort the player responsible for it.

“I can only imagine what he was going through,” Albernaz said. “Seeing it happen to other people in the dugout and on the field, your heart always drops for them and you’re always thinking about it, so never mind J.J. at the plate. The ball hits me in the face, and so it was great to just let him know, give him a hug, tell him that I’m fine, keep doing what you’re doing, everything’s OK, I’m fine. I just need to get it checked out.

“To me, just wanted to hug him, and then after he hit the grand slam, I definitely wanted to hug him for a variety of different reasons.”

Trying to talk last night was a painful endeavor, but there already was improvement today.

“I think it’s more of the peace of mind, knowing I don’t need surgery and stuff,” he said. “I can see the whole eating component could be really difficult, which makes sense about the baby food diet, so soft foods for a while.”

Albernaz was asked why he didn’t take a sick day rather than manage later tonight.

“Unlike you guys, I don’t have sick days,” he said, landing another playful jab while looking like a boxer.

“I kind of have to show up every day. We play every day, to work. This is what we’re here for. We’re here for the players. We have a game. I’m physically able to be here, so let’s go.

“Our players, they play through a lot. I think everyone that’s sitting in this room, everything they’ve gone through the last year and this year, it’s real. They go through a lot. If my jaw was wired shut, I’d still be here. You just strap on and go about your next day.”

Did last night remind Albernaz of his catching days?

“No, because I wore a mask,” he replied.

“I might wear a mask in the dugout today. I might grab that Ravens helmet that’s on my desk and bring it out there. If you guys remember (former NBA player) Rip Hamilton when he used to wear the mask, yeah. But no, I’ll be in the same spot in the dugout.”

A normal routine has its limits.

Albernaz can’t perform any strenuous activities for at least six weeks, which removes his duties as batting practice pitcher. He can’t blow his nose for six weeks because one of the fractures is where the orbital bone is located. It’s a small spot that “shattered pretty good,” he said.

“If I blow my nose, it’s going to go up into my eye,” he said. “I don’t know if you guys have ever seen an MMA fight. A guy gets hit in the face, they blow their nose, the eye just pops. That’s what would happen.”

The odds of his second ejection are lessened because of the injury. Shouting isn’t recommended.

Anything is possible, anything is possible, he said. “Yeah, medically speaking, yeah, I probably shouldn’t, but I think everything goes out the window when first pitch happens.”

The idea that last night’s liner brought the team together and fueled the comeback made for a nice storyline, but Albernaz isn’t necessarily buying it.

“No, I don’t think so, and the reason I say that is we’ve kind of shown this resiliency,” he said. “Every game we’ve been in, the guys keep fighting and don’t give away at-bats. Pitching staff’s been outstanding, bullpen. So to me, it was just one of those things where it was a matter of time where we had one of these wins. It was just great to see everybody collectively do it. Everybody had a big hand in it.”