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NEW YORK – Tyler O’Neill is almost ready to begin playing games again.
O’Neill was returned from his injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk last Saturday due to renewed soreness in his left shoulder. He was shut down for about a week after receiving an injection in his AC joint.
“My guess is we could see him out on a rehab assignment possibly by Tuesday somewhere, maybe a tick earlier if all goes well,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “Things happen, things kind of come off schedule at times, but if all goes well we’ll start seeing him playing some ball soon.”
O’Neill went 6-for-16 in five games with Norfolk while recovering from the impingement that forced him on the injured list retroactive to May 16.
Jorge Mateo hasn’t played since June 6 because of inflammation in his left elbow, the result of a collision with Heston Kjerstad in right-center field on May 31. Mansolino said that Mateo is “probably getting closer to talking about going out at some point.”
“There’s some baseball activities starting,” Mansolino said. “We told you at the beginning that it wasn’t super serious,” Mansolino said. “There was a problem, we’re taking care of the problem.”
Mansolino didn’t have an update on Albert Suárez, who appeared in one game with the Orioles in the opening series in Toronto and went on the 60-day injured list with a right subscapularis strain. Mansolino said the assumption is that Suárez and Grayson Rodriguez are on schedule, “whatever the schedule originally was.”
Tonight’s lineup against Yankees left-hander Max Fried is missing four left-handed bats – Gunnar Henderson, Ryan O’Hearn, Jackson Holliday and Cedric Mullins. Mansolino said it’s a combination of facing a tough lefty and the four-game series at sweltering George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“Both, all of the above,” he said.
“There are a couple guys that aren’t playing today that were a Max Fried consideration, and there are a couple guys that we thought we were gonna have to scrape off the grass last night after playing four games in Tampa and kind of what they looked like – Gunnar being one, to be honest with you. Gunnar scored a run late in the game, and when he was walking back to the plate, I thought we were gonna have to scrape him off the grass. I mean, he plays so hard.
“Gunnar doesn’t have the ability to not do anything less than 100 percent. You start thinking of guys, and being a shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles and what that means and what playing every day looks like. Gunn’s not at that point yet where you can tell Gunn at certain times to take it a little bit easier. Not that that’s what the other guy did. I’m sure he didn’t, either, but Gunn is just so 150 percent everything he does that we have to take care of him, and today’s kind of a day. But if we’re in this game and we get to that point and some of those righties come in, he’s gonna be ready to roll.”
Reliever Bryan Baker isn’t holding back. He’s appeared in three consecutive games, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings, which pretty much guarantees that he’s not getting up tonight.
“He wants it,” Mansolino said. “He’s a guy that, we’re not trying to wear him out. We know that when this guy pitches day after day after day, like most pitchers, his stuff will tick down a little bit. We’re aware of that. We’re trying to win every game we possibly can because of the situation we’re in, the hole that we dug. We’ve got to try to win every game. And we’re also trying to be mindful that it’s still the middle of June and if we roll off five or six in a row somewhere, the conversation around us really changes, so we can’t limit ourselves to July or put ourselves in a bad spot in July because we wear somebody out now.”
Brandon Young is starting tonight for Norfolk after completing his rehab assignment with High-A Aberdeen.
* Adley Rutschman was scratched from the lineup with left abdominal tightness. Holliday goes from reserve to leadoff hitter and DH.
Jackson Holliday DH
Jordan Westburg 2B
Ramón Laureano RF
Ramón Urías 3B
Colton Cowser CF
Gary Sánchez C
Coby Mayo 1B
Dylan Carlson LF
Luis Vázquez SS
