The unsettled status of the Orioles’ rotation broadened yesterday with Zach Eflin’s lower back tightness and disappearance after only one inning. The series against the Rays concludes today with Dean Kremer starting, and the current roster has Trevor Rogers, Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano lined up for the Rangers series in Arlington.
Eflin’s availability for his next start is up in the air, and likely to land before Jonathan Aranda’s home run ball. His turn arrives on the off-day and he could pitch Friday night in Atlanta if healthy. A trip to the injured list, and it’s premature to speculate, could return Brandon Young to the majors. He must stay down a minimum 15 days unless replacing an injured player.
Off-days Thursday and July 7 could prompt the Orioles to stick with a temporary four-man arrangement.
The next call isn’t going to left-hander Cade Povich.
Povich is eligible to return on Tuesday but the Orioles want to give him more work on his injury rehab assignment. He started for Triple-A Norfolk Thursday and allowed three earned runs and five total with seven hits, one walk and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 75 pitches
The Orioles put Povich on the shelf with left hip inflammation. He tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings against the Angels in bulk relief in his last appearance, lowering his ERA to 5.15 and WHIP to 1.500.
“It’s still a little bit up in the air,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. “We wanted to see how his hip responded. He didn’t go as long as we would have hoped in Norfolk the last time. His stuff and I think the way he pitched was better than the box score, but it’s possible that he continues to pitch down there. We’re kind of seeing how his hip’s recovering because it had been bothering him.”
Povich eventually could go back into the rotation or stick to long relief. The Orioles were challenged again yesterday to cover innings after Eflin’s early exit. Scott Blewett went 2 2/3 and allowed four runs, and Kade Strowd was called upon again after throwing 24 pitches in two innings the previous night. He allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings and 22 pitches.
Gregory Soto entered in the sixth, earlier than preferred but far from unprecedented with the Orioles.
They might have to make another roster move today to freshen the ‘pen.
“So we’ll sit down and figure this out,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “By throwing (Luis) Vázquez for the last two innings, it gave us a chance for tomorrow. So right now you have, Seranthony (Domínguez) got the day, (Bryan) Baker, (Félix) Bautista, Keegan (Akin). They got the day, so you feel pretty good about the bullpen going into tomorrow despite what we just went through.
“Will there be a roster move? I don’t know. We’ll talk it through in a second and see what it looks like.”
The reminders of how much this club misses Albert Suárez are plentiful. He’s playing catch from 90 feet and said he’ll move back to 105 this week following the latest MRI on his right shoulder. He could face hitters in two-to-three weeks.
How the Orioles use Suárez after he’s reinstated isn’t at the top on their list of meetings topics.
“Not yet,” he said when asked about any discussions on the subject. “If I’m like a swingman, I can build up to like three or four innings and I’ll be good to go.”
Norfolk’s roster yesterday had Jorge Mateo leading off and playing center field, Samuel Basallo at first base and David Bañuelos at second. Heston Kjerstad returned to right field and went 0-for-2 with two walks and two strikeouts.
(Dylan Beavers hit a grand slam and Mateo went 3-for-3 with a walk, two RBIs and two stolen bases. Yennier Cano retired the three batters he faced.)
Kjerstad is batting .175 with a .592 OPS since the Orioles optioned him on June 10. He spent a few days working with the hitting instructors before entering the lineup.
Appearing in a career-high 54 games with the Orioles, Kjerstad was 30-for-156 (.192) with six walks, 45 strikeouts and a .566 OPS. He also had a few mishaps in the outfield.
The Orioles made Kjerstad the second-overall selection in the 2020 draft and handled him with care early on after a diagnosis of myocarditis, which is inflammation of a heart muscle. His career was interrupted again last summer by a concussion.
Kjerstad will be 27 years old in spring training. He isn’t a kid anymore.
“It’s been a tough year for him,” Elias said. “Heston has been through a lot in his career and his life at this point and we have a lot of belief in him, and he’s shown he’s been able to handle a tremendous amount of adversity in the past, so I’m sure he’ll work through it. But it’s tough.
“He didn’t have a ton of plate appearances in the major leagues, just because he was kind of playing behind (Anthony) Santander those couple years. But the appearances he did have, he was productive, he had good numbers, but then sometimes in this league you get played more and the opposition figures some things out in terms of ways to attack you and kind of sets you back, and I think that’s where he’s at now.
“He’ll get it going in Triple-A and then hopefully he figures some things out about himself and his approach and he’s better in the big leagues next time.”