The Orioles didn’t make it out of the dugout tonight before losing catcher Adley Rutschman to a left ankle injury. His replacement in the lineup, Ryan Mountcastle, stumbled after lining a double into right-center field in the second inning and exited with left foot pain. They have MRIs scheduled Sunday at the same time.

It seemed too bad to be true.

Needing a jolt of positivity, anything that didn’t create angst, the Orioles scored in three straight innings against Giants starter Logan Webb after falling behind early and returned to .500 with a 6-2 victory before an announced 29,444 at Camden Yards.

Chris Bassitt came within an out of qualifying for the win, but his 4 2/3 innings represented his longest start as an Oriole. He was charged with one earned run and two total with seven hits. Grant Wolfram replaced him after 89 pitches and stranded two runners.

Gunnar Henderson hit his sixth home run, and fourth in five games, to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead in the third inning. He’s on a serious heater and it’s thrust him into the major league lead. Jeremiah Jackson belted his first homer leading off the seventh to increase the team’s total to 11, and he came within a triple of the cycle.

“Obviously, I haven’t been playing like I want to, but to come through and help the team, get a few RBIs, yeah, it felt good,” Jackson said. “For me, it’s just about having good at-bats and doing my part. Happy we came out on top and played our brand of baseball.”

They did it under less-than-ideal circumstances.

“Any time anybody goes down, it’s tough. But yeah, the way we reacted and went out there and played our brand of baseball, it’s just what we’ve got to do,” Jackson said.

“Obviously, it sucks, but it’s kind of part of the game, and we’ve got to pick each other up.”

The Orioles broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth on Coby Mayo’s RBI fielder’s choice and Jackson’s opposite-field double that scored Mayo from first. Third base coach Buck Britton made an aggressive send and Mayo finished with an awkward slide into the plate, appearing to reach for his knee and causing manager Craig Albernaz to take a step out of the dugout. Instead, he just had a large red mark on his thigh.

Mayo stayed in the game and delivered a two-out, run-scoring single in the eighth to remove a save situation for Ryan Helsley. The Orioles couldn’t have handled another injury.

Rutschman was a late scratch and goes on the IL for the third time in two seasons. And the timing is horrible with way he’s played and his overall importance to the club.

“That was yesterday,” Albernaz said of the injury. “I believe he said it was on the first double he hit, and he said he felt it when he got to second base and didn’t really think anything of it. When he woke up this morning, he said it felt just a little weird, and then when we talked earlier in the day, he mentioned it, but again, it wasn’t anything crazy. And as he was going through today, it kind of just swelled up on him pretty good. So that’s kind of where we’re at now.

“This might sound repetitive, but it sucks. It sucks for any player to get injured, and I’m obviously glad Adley said something to make sure we kind of nip this in the bud, and I think we all know that, anyone who has messed around playing basketball or whatever and sprained your ankle, one, it sucks, and two, it can linger for a little bit. So to kind of give us a chance to nip this in the bud early and get the 10 days off, really get the treatment going, and try to keep the body moving.”

Said Bassitt: “It stinks in the aspect of today, but he’s fine. So it’s not a massive deal, it’s just more so just it’s so early. And we’ve been preaching, trying to preach to these guys, you got to get through April healthy. And obviously we lost Ef (Zach Eflin), but overall, you just got to get through April healthy and obviously you have to be good in the standings and all that stuff.

“I understand that, but you’ve got to get through April healthy and there’s a right way and wrong way to get through there, so there’s no reason to push things right now. So Adley will be fine.”

The Orioles could raise their IL total to 12 depending on the results of Mountcastle’s MRI.

“I wouldn’t say it’s difficult,” Albernaz said. “It’s just part of it. It’s just part of baseball, the grind of the season. There’s always injuries. Yeah, it’s a lot going on, but I wouldn’t say it’s difficult. To me, it’s making sure guys are prepared to step up when their name is called and that’s what happened tonight.

“A huge credit to Sammy Basallo today, going from DH and going behind the plate. It’s a lot, where you have to navigate the game plan, navigate Bassitt. It’s a complete mind changing. The way he navigated it, he was prepared, he was ready and it was awesome to see. And to kind of get Bassitt through those innings, it was huge, and kind of going with the rest of the bullpen, he was dialed in.”

Also fueling the fourth-inning rally tonight was a controversial call of runner’s interference on Leody Taveras after Dylan Beavers’ leadoff walk. The ruling of a forceout instead of a double play didn’t clear the bases, and the Orioles scored twice.

Bassitt had a 14.21 ERA in his first two Orioles starts and didn’t make it past the second inning in Pittsburgh. An Oneil Cruz 111.8 mph comebacker nailed him behind the left leg on one bounce. He was due for something good to happen.

The veteran right-hander was down 1-0 in the second on Rafael Devers’ leadoff single, a passed ball and Heliot Ramos’ two-out single into center field at 88.5 mph. Bassitt retired the side in order in the third, striking out two and winning a 10-pitch battle with Willy Adames, but the Giants scored the tying run in the fourth after loading the bases on three singles and a fielder’s choice, and Ramos grounding to first baseman Pete Alonso.

“Obviously, I didn’t want to say everything that I was going through, but I couldn’t throw offspeed pitches for strikes my first two outings,” Bassitt said. “It’s been an issue last couple weeks, but I threw a crazy bullpen with a lot of offspeed pitches and I felt like I was finally able to land offspeed pitches for strikes, which makes my 90-93 feel like a lot more. So, yeah, we’re taking the right steps. Am I where I want to be? No, but I can pitch like that.”

Colton Cowser had a run-scoring grounder in the second inning after Mountcastle’s leadoff double. Mountcastle lost his balance after rounding first base and finally went head-first into the bag. He laid on the ground for several seconds, as if embarrassed or amused by his lack of coordination, but it quickly became apparent that his feelings weren’t hurt.

His left foot was throbbing.

Albernaz thought Mountcastle turned an ankle until finding out the actual area of discomfort.

“The way he was kind of describing it, the look, just funky the way he obviously was running around first,” Albernaz said. “But yeah, it’s more in his foot.”

The Orioles selected Maverick Handley’s contract from Double-A Chesapeake to replace Rutschman, but Triple-A Norfolk’s Sam Huff was removed for a pinch-hitter in the third inning – a hint that he’s coming to Baltimore.

Cowser singled twice for his first multi-hit game. Rico Garcia retired the side in order in the seventh and hasn’t allowed a hit or run in seven appearances and 6 2/3 innings.

Yennier Cano holds the club record with nine appearances to begin a season in 2023, per STATS. Garcia moved into a third-place tie with Todd Frohwirth (1991), one behind Alan Mills (1998).

Rookie Anthony Nunez worked around a leadoff double in the eighth, striking out two. Helsley gave up back-to-back singles to begin a scoreless ninth and is still searching for his first clean appearance after six tries.

In a season that’s already veering in so many odd and unexpected directions, Garcia and Nunez are becoming lethal high-leverage weapons.

“Credit to both of those guys for taking on the challenge, answering the bell, throwing strikes, being efficient,” Albernaz said.

“The best thing about everyone in our ‘pen, they don’t care when they pitch. They just want the ball and they want to help the team win, so it’s not like we’re bucketing them for certain innings. It just has been coming up where their pocket of hitters are guys we like the matchups there. We feel confident in all of our guys stepping up.”

Every player must do it while teammates keep dropping like flies.

“I think we’ve been treading water for the last two weeks, essentially,” Bassitt said. “I think we’ve been playing pretty bad at times. I think we’ve been playing OK at times, but we for sure have not been playing well. But good teams find a way to tread water when they’re not playing well, and for us to be .500 speaks a lot about this group.

“There’s not a lot of panic, so to speak. It’s just more so just like, ‘Hey, we’re trying to build something special here. It takes time. If you’re not exactly shooting on all cylinders, so to speak, when it comes to 12-13 games into the season, it’s part of it.’ The league is really, really hard. So, again, it’s just health. If you’re healthy, I’m OK. As long as you’re healthy, you’re all right.”

“I think the whole roster brings a lot of good things to the team,” Jackson said, “and we’ll be fine.”

*Weston Wilson hit a two-run homer after pinch-hitting for Huff in Norfolk’s 3-2 win over Jacksonville. Creed Willems hit his fourth homer in the seventh inning. Jackson Holliday went 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch. Levi Wells allowed two unearned runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings, with no walks and six strikeouts.

Chesapeake’s Ethan Anderson had another three-hit game, including his first homer, a three-run shot in a 4-1 win over Erie. He’s batting .431 with a 1.156 OPS.

Ike Irish, Vance Honeycutt, Wehiwa Aloy and Colin Tuft hit their first home runs for High-A Frederick in an 11-2 win over Winston-Salem. Honeycutt finished with four RBIs. JT Quinn tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings with two hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts.