The Orioles lost Chris Bassitt to a lower-back injury but are encouraged by Dean Kremer’s progress from a right quadriceps strain.

Kremer is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session later this week, which moves him closer to a rehab assignment. Kremer has made two starts with the Orioles, the most recent on April 18 in Cleveland.

Starter Cade Povich (left elbow inflammation) is scheduled to start throwing bullpen sessions this week. Reliever Yaramil Hiraldo (right shoulder inflammation) began throwing in the bullpen last week.

The club is getting a second opinion on Bassitt, who exited Wednesday’s start after three innings with tightness in his back.

Asked earlier today whether he’s hopeful that Bassitt will be ready after the minimum 15 days, manager Craig Albernaz replied, “Too soon to know right now.”

“It’s one of those things where he’s looking at his options and kind of see what the best course of action is,” Albernaz said.

Bassitt flew back to Baltimore for an examination before rejoining the team in Toronto. At that time, the options appeared to be making tonight’s scheduled start or going on the IL.

Perhaps the discussion has moved to whether Bassitt should receive a cortisone injection.

Samuel Basallo is on the bench tonight after Albernaz sent up Leody Taveras to pinch-hit for him yesterday. Basallo grabbed his left wrist and was checked out by an athletic trainer two innings earlier after making a late tag at the plate.

“He’s fine,” Albernaz said. “What I mean by that is, there’s like a bony growth in his wrist, so it’s one of those things where it’s going to be uncomfortable and it’s something he’s always had, and just like we talked about with young players, development’s messy, and one of those things with Sammy is knowing his body and playing through some things and knowing that he can play.

“It’s just one of those things where, we’re gonna have to learn on the fly. And the thing with Sammy that he’s shown is like, the talent, the skills, the impact he can make with us, it’s real. And this is another step in his development is knowing how to play through some pain and not being 100 percent all the time.”

The current minor league structure makes it harder for players to attain this skill. Teams don’t play on Mondays and travel is light through the week.

“Trips through the night, different cities, you kind of learn how to deal with that,” Albernaz said. “Right now it is difficult for young players to deal with that, and that’s why we have the coaches we have, the support system we have, the trainers and everybody else in there to help all of our players. And it’s not just Sammy. All of our guys, they learn like, each year is different, right?

“Each year it’s a different body part that’s banged up and it’s, how’s it going to affect my game? If I compensate, is it going to be a trickle down effect? So not just Sammy. Every player has to deal with that. For Sammy, it’s just another learning step for him and we’re all here to support the (crap) out of him.”

Albernaz added that the bony growth probably won’t require a surgical procedure.

Yesterday’s controversial play in the Blue Jays’ five-run sixth inning, with Ernie Clement allowed to create his own basepath to second as Gunnar Henderson fielded the ball, isn’t completely in the rearview mirror. Albernaz was asked about it again this afternoon and confirmed that the Orioles followed up on it with Major League Baseball.

Albernaz tugged on the bill of his cap, smiled and said, “Um … there were some conversations. Yeah.”

Any outcomes that he can share?

“No, probably not. I don’t think so,” Albernaz replied.

“It’s one of those plays where it happened, the umpire made the call. I disagree with it. I think we all disagreed with it. Great conversations afterward. And at the end of the day, the call was made and you can’t change the call. It can’t change the result of what happened. You can’t change he result of the game. It’s one of those things where, that’s why baseball is the greatest game, but also, I think it’s mental warfare and you just have to move on and get over it and focus on Seattle, and that’s what our guys are doing.

“There’s nothing that any of our guys could have done differently. The call was made and that’s that.”

Albernaz isn’t second-guessing Henderson. A more demonstrative tag attempt likely would have resulted in the runner being safe at first base. The Orioles needed to get at least one out.

“I think Gunnar did it the proper way, where he put his glove out to make an attempt,” Albernaz said. “He saw how far out of the line (Clement) was and assumed that the guy was gonna be out, and then you have to continue to play and get the next out, in which he did. So it was a great play by Gunnar.”