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The Orioles might not wait until next week’s road trip to reinstate Gary Sánchez from the 10-day injured list.
Sánchez batted twice this afternoon in his rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk and is 8-for-22 with a double and three home runs in seven games. He’s recovered from his right wrist inflammation.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino offered only a small percent a few days ago that Sánchez would rejoin the Orioles during the homestand. They have a weekend series against the Angels before heading to Tampa and New York.
“I told you the other day it was a small chance. I think the chance went up quite a bit because he hit the points that we needed and we’ll probably see him here at some point sooner than later,” Mansolino said today.
Sánchez is 3-for-30 in 12 games after signing an $8.5 million contract. Maverick Handley likely would return to Norfolk if Sánchez is reinstated.
Keegan Akin is serving as the opener tonight to finish the series against the Tigers at Camden Yards. Dean Kremer was listed as the starter but apparently will follow Akin.
Akin has started twice among his 30 appearances and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings in Detroit and one scoreless inning in Milwaukee.
Akin threw four pitches last night to strike out pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones in the seventh inning and strand runners on the corners.
The Tigers used left-hander Brant Hurter as an opener Tuesday.
“The strength of their lineup is left-handed,” Mansolino said. “You’ve got a lefty that has the ability to start a game, like Keegan, and maybe go through it, flip it a little bit, go through a couple innings, or whatever the predetermined amount is. You kind of force them to go right-handed. And if they don’t choose to do it and stay left-handed with their guys, you get the good matchup.
“So you get the left-on-left, you get your guy against their guy, and you get the ball to the starter a little bit later, which then, third time through the order, which is usually happening the fifth or sixth inning, is actually the second time through the order for the starter, so it’s a little bit different. He can work later into the game, and if all goes well, pass the ball to the short-inning guys later.”
Kremer has allowed 10 runs and 15 hits in 10 2/3 innings in two career starts against the Tigers. Gleyber Torres is 8-for-26 (.308) with two doubles.
Jordan Westburg has homered on back-to-back nights after leaving the injured list and he’s batting leadoff tonight and playing second base against Tarik Skubal. Jackson Holliday is the designated hitter, moving down to the sixth spot.
Ramón Urías gets another start at third base and Coby Mayo is playing first.
The Orioles have their hands full tonight with Skubal, who’s registered a 2.16 ERA and 0.816 WHIP in 13 starts, with seven walks and 105 strikeouts in 83 1/3 innings. The latest streak of dominance began with a complete-game shutout against the Guardians on May 25. The Royals were blanked over seven innings in the next start and the Cubs were held to one run in 7 2/3 last week.
Skubal has walked three and struck out 95 over his last 11 starts.
The Orioles faced Skubal on April 27 in Detroit and he tossed six scoreless innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts. He owns a 1.52 ERA and 0.972 WHIP in four career starts against the Orioles.
Ramón Laureano is 2-for-15 with a home run and six strikeouts. He’s the cleanup hitter tonight.
Tyler O’Neill was out of Norfolk’s lineup again today to provide extra rest as he continues to work through his shoulder soreness.
O’Neill is on the injured list retroactive to May 16 due to a left shoulder impingement. Mansolino was asked whether the outfielder’s return was quite a while away.
“I don’t know if ‘quite a while’ is the right way to phrase it,” Mansolino said. “There’s been so many rehab stints with so many main guys and it’s been a little bit of a story here for a while, and I understand why. But I think what we’ve established a little bit, too, is everything’s not super linear. Everybody’s a little bit different.
“We’ve had some shoulder soreness for a couple days. We’re working through that right now. I don’t think ‘quite a while’ is the way to put it. But you just don’t know these things are going. We could look up in two days and he’s like, ‘Man, I feel great, I’m ready to go.’ It’s the human body, and the bodies are so different and things heal so differently.”
For the Orioles
Jordan Westburg 2B
Adley Rutschman C
Gunnar Henderson SS
Ramón Laureano RF
Ramón Urías 3B
Jackson Holliday DH
Coby Mayo 1B
Dylan Carlson LF
Colton Cowser CF
Keegan Akin LHP
Samuel Basallo hit his 14th home run today for Norfolk.
Trevor Rogers allowed two earned runs and three total with four hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Infielder Emmanuel Rivera cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Norfolk.
Beginning today, in-market fans can purchase MASN+ directly through MLB.TV for $64.99 for the remainder of the season or $19.99 a month.
Here are the starters for the Angels series at Camden Yards:
Friday: RHP Charlie Morton vs. RHP Jack Kochanowicz (Apple TV+)
Saturday RHP Tomoyuki Sugano vs. LHP Tyler Anderson
Sunday LHP Cade Povich vs. LHP Yusei Kikuchi
For the Tigers
Jahmai Jones DH
Gleyber Torres 2B
Riley Greene LF
Spencer Torkelson 1B
Kerry Carpenter RF
Dillon Dingler C
Zach McKinstry 3B
Javier Báez SS
Parker Meadows CF
Tarik Skubal LHP
