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The Orioles return from their off-day to begin a four-game series against the Astros at Camden Yards, with questions lingering about a couple of players who weren’t available Tuesday night in Boston.
Infielder Jordan Westburg exited Monday’s game in the first inning with discomfort in his right ankle after stumbling as he rounded second base. He hadn’t received X-rays and the club intended to reevaluate him today.
Triple-A Norfolk infielder Vimael Machín is on the 24-hour medical taxi squad again, in case Westburg goes on the injured list for a second time. Machín has played in 105 games with the Tides and is batting .287/.346/.475 with 25 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs and 70 RBIs. He was 7-for-13 with three doubles over three games before going 0-for-5 on Sunday.
Machín, who’s hitting .297/.352/.505 against right-handers, also was on the medical taxi squad Aug. 6 in Philadelphia due to Tyler O’Neill’s right wrist soreness. He hasn’t played in the majors since 2022 with the Athletics.
The Orioles have 39 players on the 40-man roster. Three catchers are part of the 26-man active roster with Rutschman joined by Samuel Basallo and Alex Jackson.
Sixty-two players have appeared in a game this season, tying the franchise record set in 2021. But the total ranks as the most before September.
Tyler Wells made what’s expected to be his penultimate rehab start today with Norfolk and threw 85 pitches (58 strikes) in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs and six hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Charlotte’s Will Robertson hit a leadoff homer in the first.
Wells started for the fourth time with the Tides after one appearance with Double-A Chesapeake. He’s allowed a combined five runs and 16 hits in 19 innings, with five walks and 19 strikeouts.
Chayce McDermott replaced Wells and is appearing in back-to-back games. The Orioles clearly are thinking about bringing him up in a relief role.
Albert Suárez starts Friday night. Kyle Bradish is expected to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list next week after starting yesterday.
Brandon Young is on the mound tonight at Camden Yards. He carried a perfect game into the eighth inning in Houston in his 11th major league start and retired the first 23 batters before former Oriole Ramón Urías reached on an infield single. Young earned his first victory in seven decisions.
What can he do for an encore?
The Orioles are trying to move seven games below .500 for the first time since July 11. They’re eight back for the last Wild Card with six teams ahead of them.
The Astros are starting right-hander Jason Alexander, who has a 2.63 ERA and 1.088 WHIP in seven games after the Athletics waived him. He faced the Orioles in his last start and allowed two runs and three hits in six innings, with no walks and six strikeouts.
Dylan Carlson hit a two-run homer off Alexander, who’s held opponents to a .115 average in three starts this month, the lowest in the majors in a minimum 15 innings.
The Astros have lost four in a row, getting swept in Detroit before arriving in Baltimore, and lead the Mariners by 1 ½ games in the American League West. The Orioles won two of three in Houston and had a pair of shutouts.
Houston hasn’t scored in four of its last six games. The Astros broke a streak of 31 consecutive innings without a run in the fourth inning Tuesday against the Tigers, their longest stretch since April 19-22, 1991, per STATS.
The Orioles won 7-0 and 12-0 in Houston. According to STATS, the only other time that they had multiple shutouts by seven or more runs in a road series was against the Rangers in July 1992.
Update: The 40-man roster is full after the Orioles claimed left-hander Josh Walker on waivers from the Phillies and optioned him to Norfolk.
The Phillies acquired Walker from the Blue Jays on May 29. He made three relief appearances with Toronto and allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings and struck out eight batters. He appeared in 24 games over two seasons with the Mets and owns a 6.59 ERA and 1.720 WHIP in 27 appearances. Walker has struck out 31 batters and walked 14 over 27 1/3 innings.
Most of the 2025 season has kept Walker at the Triple-A level – 23 games with Lehigh Valley and 11 with Buffalo. He has a 4.11 ERA in eight minor league seasons.
