SARASOTA – Shane Baz is bringing back the slider.

Baz ditched the pitch last June and introduced a cutter. He threw it seven times this afternoon against the Astros and got whiffs on all four swings.

“Stuff felt really good,” Baz said after allowing two runs and three hits with two walks and five strikeouts over three innings. “Super happy with that, happy with the locations for the most part. Definitely could have located the fastball a little better. And yeah, obviously the walks I don’t love.

“Happy with the slider for sure.”

Baz lost his feel for it last season with the Rays and has gone with a cutter grip, which enables him to achieve better command. He manipulates it based on what he wants in a particular scenario.

“I can get it down when I want. I can still throw it up when I want,” he said.

“Worked on that this offseason, just having the kind of different shapes with it and stuff like that. Just figured out with the staff here that I have a really good feel for it and it kind of comes naturally that I can manipulate it, so that’s nice. And so we just decided to run with that.”

Baz tossed two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third.

Riley Unroe led off with a single, César Salazar walked and Brice Matthews grounded a 96.4 mph fastball into right field with one out for an RBI single. Baz struck out the next three batters with his cutter, slider and curveball, but two runs scored when Jack Winkler fanned and the ball got past catcher Adley Rutschman for a wild pitch.

Not sure I’ve seen that happen before. Baz felt the same.

“It’s probably partially my fault, too, just not being at home, but right now I’m not looking to get some spikes in my leg today,” Baz said.

“Regular season there hopefully will be a play at home there after the throw, but that was just a really, really tough pitch to handle. I think it might have bounced in the grass, so probably took a little too much off it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”

Baz threw 49 pitches, including 28 in the third. Thirty-one were strikes.

Matthews saw three different pitches and struck out in the first inning, the last a 95.8 mph fastball.

Joseph Sullivan swung at a 96 mph fastball and the bat flew out of his hands, cleared the netting and landed in the second tier of seats behind the first base dugout.

Baz retired the side in order in a nine-pitch second, getting a fly ball and strikeout with his curveball and a groundout on a 96.8 mph fastball.

The outing went sideways in the third.

Baz tossed 2 1/3 scoreless and hitless innings in his debut against the Pirates in Bradenton.

“Body feels good, so that’s always the No. 1 thing in camp is just getting out of camp healthy and getting the feel for the zone, stuff like that,” he said. “I feel like with Trey (Wiedman) and the strength group I’ve made some good strides and just some little adjustments here and there.”

Closer Ryan Helsley worked the fourth and retired the side in order, striking out two batters. He hasn’t allowed a run in three innings.

Tyler Wells retired the side in order in the fifth on a fly ball, strikeout and grounder. He returned for the sixth, his first multi-inning appearance, and coasted again with a groundout and two strikeouts.

That’s five scoreless innings for Wells, who’s allowed one hit, walked none and struck out eight.

Coby Mayo lined a changeup into left field for a two-out single in the second, making him 7-for-13 this spring. Pete Alonso had walked and stolen second base, and he was an easy out at home plate.

Colton Cowser singled in the third and fifth innings. Alonso singled in the sixth.

*The Orioles reassigned infielder Aron Estrada to minor league camp. The spring training roster is down to 68 players.

*Zach Eflin makes his first exhibition start Thursday afternoon against the Rays in Port Charlotte. Chris Bassitt starts Friday against the Cardinals in Sarasota.

*Vance Honeycutt can’t be stopped.

Honeycutt came off the bench today, fell behind 0-2 in the eighth inning and hit his fourth home run in four spring at-bats. The ball left his bat at 110.7 mph and traveled 471 feet to center field.

Weston Wilson led off the inning with a line drive home run to left field at 109.6 mph and Honeycutt followed by destroying a fastball from Miguel Ullola.

The Orioles lost 4-2 but the outcome didn’t matter. Wilson is trying to win a utility job. Honeycutt is trying to play like a first-round draft pick after a disastrous summer at High-A Aberdeen.

He’s one of the best stories of camp, and he isn’t on the major league roster.  He is, however, baseball’s home run leader.

“It’s fun to watch, I’ll tell you that,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “Everyone was joking about it in the dugout. ‘Let’s get Honey up.’ That was a great two-strike swing. He smashed that thing.”

Honeycutt’s eyes widened when told the distance on his homer.

“Is that how far it went? Yeah, I got it good. That one felt good,” he said.

“I feel good. Just trying to see it and hit the ball on the barrel, honestly. But we talked about it. Trying to just continue to work in the cage early and put myself in a good spot in the game.”

Honeycutt said teammates are giving him “some grief,” and it’s good.

“They’re messing around with me in the dugout and saying some things here and there,” he said. “It’s been fun. These guys are great and it’s good being out here.”

Honeycutt hit five homers last season in 101 games with Aberdeen. He also posted a .171 average and .559 OPS and struck out 178 times.

The failures didn’t break him. They just made him work harder over the winter.

“Just trying to get athletic, trying to clean up some stuff and put myself in a good hitting position,” he said. “Try to be simple, try to be athletic and powerful.

“I just think it builds confidence. Did some good work in the offseason and coming out there, things going well, I think that’s important. It’s a confidence builder, so continue to build on it. Just try to keep working.”

Ethan Frey homered off Keegan Akin in the seventh to give Houston a 4-0 lead. Dietrich Enns struck out the first two batters in the eighth and stranded James Nelson after a triple.

The bat also flew out of Nelson’s hands and spiraled into the seats beyond the visiting dugout.

Wells impressed again with his two scoreless innings and three strikeouts.

“That was awesome to see from Tyler,” Albernaz said. “Changeup was on full display and he was throwing strikes.”