SAN FRANCISCO – The six-man rotation will be complete next week with Tyler Wells’ reinstatement from the injured list.
Wells will start in San Diego in his first major league appearance since April 12, 2024. He underwent elbow ligament reconstructive surgery two months later and just completed his rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk.
Because he pitched on Wednesday, Wells won’t be available to the Orioles during their series in San Francisco. He could start Monday or wait until Tuesday with extra rest.
The Orioles will finalize their starters by Sunday.
“Which day, I don’t know,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “You guys can probably do the math, take a look and have a good estimate. But it will be one of those three games.”
Tyler O’Neill received a second injection in his right wrist and is doing some baseball activities. The Orioles hope that he can swing a bat this weekend at home.
“We tried it once, it was sore, kind of had to retreat a little bit,” Mansolino said.
O’Neill has played in only 43 games this season due to his three stops on the IL.
Catcher Adley Rutschman also didn’t make the trip as he recovers from another oblique strain. He’s shut down but expected to play again this season.
“All indications at the beginning of the injury, the assessment, the imaging was 'yes,'” Mansolino said. “Seems like he’s trending fine. There’s no baseball activities going on right now, but talking with Adley and my hope is yes, he’ll be back, and hopefully play 10 days, two weeks would be great if we get to that point.”
Infielder Jordan Westburg is with the team and more likely to stay on the IL until the Orioles return home.
“I think the fact that he’s here tells you that he’s getting closer,” Mansolino said. “Body feels great swinging the bat, throwing. The ankle feels good, feeling better. Running, feeling better. It’s the side-to-side type stuff and cutting and twisting, running, is gonna be the last piece for him.
“We’ll kind of see where it lands. If he plays on this road trip, he’s exceeding expectations.”
Jorge Mateo, who's getting starts in the infield and outfield on his rehab assignment, remains likely to join the Orioles on the Sept. 1 expanded roster.
There's importance to getting back these injured players, even if they can't thrust the Orioles into the playoff chase.
“I think it’s more mental than anything,” Mansolino said. “Just the fact that you come back and you play in a big league game and you finish out the year with your buddies, with your boys, with your teammates, I think that’s important. But then, it indicates that you’re healthy at the end of the year, so you enter the offseason as a healthy player, which means you’re taking time off, your body’s recovering, you’re starting your normal cycles of hitting, throwing, whatever they do, at the normal time, versus if you finish the year on the shelf, then you’re continuing to rehab and your normal cycles might not be the same.”