The Orioles and Mets won’t play tonight due to inclement weather. The result is a split-admission doubleheader Thursday with Game 1 scheduled for 12:05 p.m. and Game 2 at 5:05 p.m.
This is the sixth postponement for the Orioles, who are 10 games below .500 and 7 ½ back for the last Wild Card.
Charlie Morton will start game one and Tomoyuki Sugano will start game two Thursday. Both teams can call up a 27th man.
Gates for Game 1 will open at 11 a.m., and gates for Game 2 will open at 4 p.m. Tickets for tonight will be valid for Game 2. Original ticket buyers for tonight who can’t attend on Thursday should visit Orioles.com/Weather for options.
The first 10,000 fans attending the first game will receive the Yacht Rock Cap.
The forecast didn’t allow for much optimism tonight. Interim manager Tony Mansolino met with the media earlier this afternoon and waiting to get the official word.
* A friend sent Adley Rutschman a meme recently about the most dangerous jobs in the world that made him laugh and also cringe. It landed a little too close to the truth.
“It was like ice road trucking and then above it was being a Baltimore Orioles catcher,” Rutschman said, laughing.
“Not funny, but …”
Rutschman is on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 20, with a left oblique strain. Gary Sánchez is on the IL again, this time with a right knee sprain. Chadwick Tromp also did some running on the field earlier today, side-by-side with Rutschman, as he recovers from a lower back strain. And Maverick Handley remains on the concussion injured list since his collision with the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. on June 22.
Four catchers on the IL at the same time and six used by the Orioles to tie the franchise record. Rutschman and backup James McCann were the only catchers on the active roster last season.
“Just really unfortunate,” Rutschman said. “Obviously, you don’t want to see anyone get injured, especially as many as we’ve had in the catching position. So, it’s tough.”
Rutschman worked out on the field early this afternoon, which included some running in the Camden Yards heat. He hit off a tee and sit down overhand tosses but isn’t swinging with full effort.
“We don’t set internal timelines with these guys,” Mansolino said. “These injuries, it’s not like you just look up on the internet and it says ‘A, B, C, D are gonna line up this way.’ It’s very day-to-day for a lot of these guys.
“There’s no pain, there’s no soreness, but we’ve got to see how he wakes up tomorrow. … Once these guys get into rehab games is when you start to think more of the timelines. But before they get to that first rehab game, it’s tough to kind of predict what it’s going to look like.”
Rutschman confirmed today that he’s feeling better.
“Obviously, I wish that it was a one-day recovery,” he said. “I think just trying to do as much as we can right now to get back as fast as possible. I’m just day-by-day, I guess.”
A return immediately after the All-Star break would give Rutschman nine days to get ready. He doesn’t know whether that’s a realistic timeline.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” he said. “You’re gonna have to ask probably someone a little smarter than me on medical stuff. I’m just trying to go day-by-day to do as much as possible to get back as quickly as possible. I don’t really know. I can’t give you exact dates.
“I think it’s definitely one of those things that they always start asking me how it’s feeling and it definitely feels better.”
Watching his teammates struggle is more painful now than the oblique.
“It’s awful,” he said. “I want to be out there. Do as much as you can, but you just don’t feel like you’re doing enough. Tough to see all your boys go out and compete and kind of feel helpless, but still try to do as much as possible.”
Jacob Stallings was supposed to catch Sugano tonight. Sugano has a 3.38 ERA in 12 starts with Rutschman behind the plate. He’s allowed 22 earned runs (23 total) and 40 hits over 22 1/3 innings in his last five outings.
Mansolino doesn’t see a connection between Sugano’s slump and Rutschman’s absence.
“No, we like our catchers, we think our catchers are good,” Mansolino said. “I think for Tomo, he’s throwing on regular rest quite a bit this year. Not every start. Thirty-five years old, he’s adapting to a completely new schedule. I think inevitably there was going to be a little bit of a lull for him, there was gonna be some struggles at some point. The league was gonna get different information on him at some point. I think we’re seeing that. They’ve adjusted to him in some ways, and I just think it comes down to him king of making the next adjustment.”
* Zach Eflin, on the injured list with lower back discomfort, is expected to begin an injury rehab assignment on Sunday. Eflin hasn’t appeared in a game since June 28, when he threw 28 pitches in a four-run first inning.
Keegan Akin is shut down five-to-seven days after receiving an injection his left shoulder. He won’t return until his rehab assignment in the second half.
Grayson Rodriguez had a bullpen session yesterday, “and I think it went OK,” Mansolino said.
“Went back out today, played catch, felt great, so I think he’s probably trending in the right direction. Some ups and downs and things like that, but it feels like everything is in line at the moment.”