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Cedric Mullins is out of the Orioles’ lineup today, with Dylan Carlson getting the start in center field.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino kept Mullins and Jackson Holliday on the bench Saturday in Game 2 and said, “Just over the course of the season, there’s little nick-nack things that kind of happen. We were doing the best we could to stay away from them.”
Mullins started Sunday.
Holliday is leading off today, followed by Ramón Urías as the designated hitter. Gunnar Henderson is third.
Ryan Mountcastle is batting cleanup, Ryan O’Hearn is in right field and batting fifth, and Heston Kjerstad is in left field and batting seventh.
Maverick Handley is catching after pinch-hitting yesterday for Adley Rutschman.
The Orioles say that they’re “going through the process” with Rutschman, which could lead to his first stint on the injured list or keep him day-to-day after Rafael Devers’ foul ball yesterday slammed into his mask.
Rutschman slumped to his left momentarily while on one knee. He reached for his mask, gathered himself, and caught the rest of the third inning and the entire fourth before Handley replaced him.
“If I could do it over again, I would have went out there myself, but it didn’t look like much, initially” Mansolino said. “And we still feel like it might not be much, so there’s no assumptions that it’s anything more than a foul tip at the moment. But it’s hard to tell sometimes.”
Head athletic trainer Scott Barringer, hired by the Orioles in December, checked on Rutschman in the dugout and made the decision to remove him from the game. New bench coach Robinson Chirinos offered his input as a voice of experience.
“Every medical staff in baseball, and especially ours, they’re on top of it,” Mansolino said. “They’re very aware of what those are and what it is, and we happen to have Chirinos, who had a history of it himself as a catcher in the big leagues. So we are hypersensitive to it. Scott was all over it. So we’re aware.
“We sit there, we look at it, we use our professional judgement, and we kind of go from there.”
Utility player Cooper Hummel opted out of his Yankees contract, signed with the Orioles yesterday and can serve as a third catcher.
“It’s part of the conversation right now,” Mansolino said. “I mean, he’s caught in the big leagues. … That’s part of him being here is almost an emergency third catcher type, so it’s part of the conversation.”
Catcher Chadwick Tromp is on the medical taxi squad after batting .254/.338/.413 in 20 games with Triple-A Norfolk. He appeared in two games with the Braves this season before signing with the Orioles on April 13.
Catcher David Bañuelos was on the taxi squad on the road trip and remained with the club this morning.
The Orioles are trying to win back-to-back Memorial Day games for the first time since claiming three in a row from 2013-15.
For the Orioles
Jackson Holliday 2B
Ramón Urías DH
Gunnar Henderson SS
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Ryan O’Hearn RF
Emmanuel Rivera 3B
Heston Kjerstad LF
Dylan Carlson CF
Maverick Handley C
Charlie Morton RHP
Update: The Orioles selected Tromp's contract. He's wearing No. 41. Utility player Cooper Hummel was designated for assignment one day after he signed.
Rutschman remains on the active roster.
