DETROIT – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde doesn’t know whether he can count on Adley Rutschman for tonight’s series opener against the Yankees. The catcher’s swollen right hand makes it hard for Hyde to write his name in the lineup.

Jordan Westburg can add his hamstring to the list of reasons why he’s described as “banged up.” Cedric Mullins has sinus pain that he tried to ignore through 18 innings of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Eleven Orioles are on the injured list when you count pitchers Trevor Rogers and Chayce McDermott, with the latter making his first rehab start yesterday for Double-A Chesapeake and allowing a run with three walks and three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings. Catcher Gary Sánchez was hit twice by pitches yesterday and stayed in the game. Maybe the club’s luck is changing.

The rotation doesn’t stay the same.

The Orioles announced that Tomoyuki Sugano will start tonight, as expected, but Cade Povich is moved back to Wednesday. The assumption is that veteran Kyle Gibson will make his grand return to the team on Tuesday.

Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias sat on the dugout bench this afternoon, media crowded around him, and held a piece of paper that he referred to as his “crib notes.”

To memorize the injuries and updates would require a special skill that’s rare in baseball circles, though the Orioles keep testing their front office and manager.

Elias covered 11 players, including a pair of minor leaguers. The injured list has no limits. The same must apply to the Orioles’ collective patience.

Zach Eflin
“He continues to feel really good after coming out and hitting the IL with what we hope is a very mild lat strain. He’s going to start playing catch in a few days. We’ll have to see how that goes and kind of take it from there. But so far encouraging with the way he’s felt since being injured and I’m hopeful at this point that his stay on the IL will be measured more in weeks than in months. But again, kind of see how he responds. He’s starting to play catch.”

Grayson Rodriguez
“Recuperating from the sore tricep/elbow injury that he had in spring training. He’s thrown two bullpens now. His most recent one had off-speed pitches, spins as we say, and he’s got another bullpen day after tomorrow. So far he is tolerating everything well physically, so that’s good news, but we still have a lot ahead of us in terms of bullpens, buildup, live BP, ultimately rehab assignment, and I’m not ready to assign a timetable to his recovery yet. I know that he’s doing everything he can to strengthen up and get back to help the team as soon as possible, but we’re not at the point yet of kind of ballparking when that’s going to be. But he continues to feel pretty good.”

The Orioles haven’t confirmed their rotation plans beyond left-hander Cade Povich on Sunday. However, the need for a fifth starter next Saturday apparently won’t tempt them to call up Kyle Gibson.

Gibson has made one start with Triple-A Norfolk and allowed one run in 3 1/3 innings.

“He’s gonna need a little more time,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Down the road a little bit.”

Hyde added that the Orioles want to get through Monday’s off-day before setting the rotation for the next two home series.

“We’re talking about a lot of things,” he said. “Povich tomorrow and then clear some things out.”

PHOENIX – Tests are never slammed on your desk at a convenient time.

The Orioles offense has been inconsistent and is coming off a one-run, five-hit performance against the Royals. In their win in Kansas City on Saturday, Baltimore put up an eight-spot. In the two losses, however, the Birds combined to plate just three.

Things get much warmer in Arizona, but they don’t get much easier.

The test comes in the form of an ace in sedona red, sonoran sand and teal. And no, not the one that the Diamondbacks signed this offseason. 

This ace is Zac Gallen, a three-time top-10 Cy Young Award finisher that just shut down the prolific Yankees. “Shut down” may be a kind descriptor, as the former Tar Heel tossed 6 ⅔ scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts against the Bronx Bombers.

The Orioles won't have pitcher Albert Suárez for much longer than anticipated.

Suárez was moved to the 60-day injured list today with a right subscapularis strain to create room on the 40-man roster for left-hander Grant Wolfram, acquired from the Brewers in exchange for Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Daz Cameron and cash considerations.

The subscapularis is the largest and strongest muscle of the rotator cuff and is essential in shoulder movement and in helping maintain glenohumeral joint stability.

The Orioles broke camp with Suárez in their bullpen and he allowed an earned run and two total with five hits in 2 2/3 innings in a March 28 appearance in Toronto. His fastball velocity was down about two mph from its 2024 average speed, and he went on the 15-day IL March 30 with right shoulder inflammation.

Left-hander Cade Povich beat out Suárez for the fifth spot in the rotation. Suárez is out of options and capable of going multiple innings in relief, which made a return to the bullpen a logical move for the Orioles.

The freshness and boundless optimism of a new season haven’t kept another series of injuries from striking the Orioles.

They can run and dive, but they can’t hide.

The latest blow arrived this morning with outfielder Colton Cowser going on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left thumb. Manager Brandon Hyde expects Cowser to miss a minimum of six-to-eight weeks.

This isn’t how the Orioles wanted to begin their home Opening Day.

“It’s a big loss,” Hyde said. “This is a guy who was second in Rookie of the Year last year. … It’s going to be at least a couple months and gives other guys opportunity. It’s not gonna be the last injury we have this season. We’re gonna have things pop up and that’s why you create depth, and it gives other guys opportunities. But it’s a blow because Colton’s a really good player.”

TORONTO – Orioles reliever Albert Suárez went on the 15-day injured list this afternoon with right shoulder inflammation, a move that’s backdated to yesterday.

Matt Bowman’s contract was selected from Triple-A Norfolk. He’s wearing No. 51.

The 40-man roster is full.

Suárez allowed one earned run and two total with five hits in 2 2/3 innings Friday night, and his fastball velocity was about two mph lower than his average in 2024. Bowman gives the bullpen a fresh arm and one capable of providing length.

The Orioles selected Bowman’s contract last Sunday on his opt-out date, designated him for assignment before Opening Day and outrighted him to Norfolk. He made 15 appearances with the Orioles last season and posted a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 innings.

TORONTO – Charlie Morton paced back and forth in the dugout, the frustration keeping the veteran starter on his feet. His Orioles debut lasted 80 pitches in only 3 1/3 innings, two inherited runners scored and a lead fell apart like his outing.

There will be better days and nights for Morton. This one was a challenge from the beginning with a barrage of hard-hit balls from a Blue Jays team perhaps still ornery from yesterday’s Opening Day beatdown.

Jackson Holliday homered in the third inning and Tyler O’Neill had a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but the Jays put five runs on the board in the bottom half and won 8-2 at Rogers Centre.

No one’s getting a sweep in this series.

The Orioles raised the bar yesterday with 12 runs and six homers, but the bats calmed tonight. They were held to three hits and committed two errors.

TORONTO – Orioles reliever Bryan Baker hasn’t been told anything.

Infielder Livan Soto hasn’t been told anything.

They have lockers in the visiting clubhouse at Rogers Center and they participated in this afternoon’s workout. However, they didn’t receive confirmations that they’re on the Opening Day roster. Those conversations are on hold.

The assumptions are understandable, of course.

Matt Bowman and Roansy Contreras, the in-house competitors with Baker for the last bullpen spot, didn’t have lockers and they weren’t seen in the clubhouse or on the field.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles were on the brink of exploding, and in a good way. This wasn’t dissension. It was celebration.

They won 101 games and the division in 2023, stomping the rebuild into submission. The champagne was on ice after the clincher and players were handed goggles in the clubhouse to protect their eyes.

“You don’t need glasses,” veteran pitcher Kyle Gibson shouted. “The burn’s the best part.”

Now that’s leadership.

Free agency appeared to burn Gibson but he’s returning after signing a one-year contract last night for $5.25 million. Injuries dug into the Orioles’ depth. Gibson is one of the remedies. It just won’t be immediate with the need to undergo his own spring training and ramp-up.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Félix Bautista finally made it back into a Grapefruit League game tonight, his first in a week, and he stuck around for two outs and 26 pitches.

If the idea was to gain clarity on his status for Opening Day, the mission failed.

Bautista surrendered a wind-aided, opposite-field home run to Zach McKinstry. He struck out two batters but also walked two. Afterward, he described the outing as “good, excellent,” via interpreter Brandon Quinones.

“Apart from everything, I felt good, my arm feels really good,” he said. “I think right now the most important thing is feeling healthy and making sure I feel good out there.

The fastball topped out again at 98 mph and was clocked at 97 four times.

TAMPA – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde saw the changes in Albert Suárez during the right-hander’s third exhibition appearance. More life to the fastball, the same as last spring, which enabled him to get the four-seamer past hitters at the top of the zone. And the off-speed stuff actually is better than a year ago.

“I think it developed over the course of the season,” Hyde said earlier today.

“I thought he had command of everything last time out.”

And again today.

After limiting the Twins to one run in 3 2/3 innings, Suárez allowed two runs and struck out six Yankees while becoming the first Orioles pitcher to complete four innings in a game this spring. He retired the first eight batters with only one ball out of the infield and carried a shutout into the fourth before back-to-back doubles from Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt and a one-out, run-scoring single from Dominic Smith.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Grayson Rodriguez didn’t make it through the second inning for the second time this spring.

Just trust the process.

Rodriguez came out of today’s game against the Twins after hitting Austin Martin with one out. He threw 33 pitches, 20 strikes, with a noticeable drop in velocity.

The four-seam fastball averaged 93.2 mph, topping out at 95.3 on Ryan Jeffers’ strikeout in the first. Christian Vazquez led off the second with a double into left-center field on an 89.5 mph fastball.

That wasn’t the issue, according to Rodriguez.

SARASOTA, Fla. – A week of exhibition games seems like an appropriate time to share some observations before the Orioles play the Pirates this afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. Cade Povich opposes Paul Skenes in a rematch from Spring Breakout, except this one airs on MASN.

Povich went three innings and allowed two runs, but hardly anyone noticed because Skenes was the dominant figure before he threw a pitch. Skenes retired the side in order in his only inning, striking out Jackson Holliday and Enrique Bradfield Jr.

That's the distant past. Let’s move a little closer.

* Rodolfo Martinez is a camp darling, though I wouldn’t necessarily use that word around him because the scowl could melt concrete. Media became infatuated with his high-velocity fastball, impressive side and live batting practice sessions and absence from an affiliated team since being in the Giants system in 2019. Who doesn’t love a good camp story?

Comparisons to Albert Suárez were inevitable because of their similar treks through foreign countries. In Martinez’s case, he’s still waiting to make his major league debut.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The exhibition games started today and Jackson Holliday kept working out.

He wasn't on the back fields. He was playing second base and fielding everything hit at him.

Holliday got the final out in the first inning on Darick Hall's grounder, made the play on Liover Peguero's ball in the second that Albert Suárez deflected, and handled Joshua Palacios' grounder to close out the inning.

The position no longer is new to Holliday and it seems to be coming more naturally to him.

"I'm feeling a lot more comfortable," he said. "Today was good. Got a lot of ground balls, a lot more than I think I did last spring training total, so happy about that. I'm a lot more comfortable, a lot more comfortable in practice, and to be able to get the first few ground balls out of the way is great."

SARASOTA, Fla. – Because he didn’t play winter ball, Orioles pitcher Albert Suárez is in the best shape of his life.

He really means it.

Suárez didn’t join Caracas in Venezuela after making 32 appearances with the Orioles last season and totaling a career-high 133 2/3 innings in his return to the majors. He rested, he worked out and he earned the first exhibition start Saturday afternoon against the Pirates in Sarasota.

“For me, just how I prepared in the offseason,” he said of receiving the honor. “I think I’m well prepared to be able to start the first game of spring training. So it means a lot.”

Times can change quickly and Suárez is a baseball example. He reported to camp last spring as a non-roster invite and impressed the Orioles to the point that they selected his contract in April. Now he’s practically a lock to be introduced on Opening Day in Toronto.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The drama was building. Manager Brandon Hyde walked to the entrance of the baseball operations center, where media gathers for his morning scrum, and teased the day’s big news.

Who’s starting the exhibition opener Saturday afternoon against the Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium?

Hyde asked for everyone’s predictions, which were written down on a notepad. He listened to the names and confirmed that one person got it right.

Albert Suárez will do the honors on the MASN broadcast.

“Just lining things up, honestly,” Hyde said. “Albert’s ready to go and we’re just kind of going in order a little bit. Like I said, don’t read anything into it. Big Al is ready and you work back from the first day of the season and do the best you can, and things change all the way through that. You shuffle some things around. But we’re stretching Al as a starter and we’ll see how it goes.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Tomoyuki Sugano can work through a lineup and jet lag with similar ease.

The first bullpen session for Sugano this morning lived up to the tremendous hype. He threw 35 pitches and exhibited his usual pinpoint control. Only the slider was omitted from a repertoire that consisted of a four-seam fastball, cutter, splitter, sinker and curveball.

“It’s everything that was advertised when we started vetting him in free agency,” said pitching coach Drew French. “That’s what our scouts said and our org loves... We think at times it’s going to be 80 command. It’s really, really good. Definitely sides of the plate, he understands horizontal game, and how he mixed his pitches. It was just nice to finally be in person and see him do his work.”

Sugano was late to camp while obtaining his visa in Tokyo, his arrival delayed until Saturday, and he requested that his debut in the 'pen be pushed back from yesterday. He was totally worth the wait.

“I was happy to have good command in today’s session, so that was good,” he said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are hoping to catch Albert Suárez in a bottle.

They signed pitcher Rodolfo Martinez to a minor league contract on Nov. 1, the magnitude of it pretty much lost on the baseball world. He hadn’t been with an affiliated team since 2019 in the Giants system, with his travels taking him to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Japan.

Sounds kind of familiar, except Suárez signed with the Orioles in September 2023 after pitching in Japan and Korea, his last affiliated ball was 2018 and he appeared in 40 major league games with the Giants from 2016-17.

“I was in San Francisco before the pandemic and then they sent us home for two weeks while everything was supposed to get cleared out, but as we all know, that didn’t happen,” Martinez said. “The Giants cleared house and they didn’t want me there anymore.”

The most important similarity would be for Martinez to have the same success as Suárez, who made 24 starts and eight relief appearances for the Orioles last season after reporting to camp as a non-roster invitee and registered a 3.70 ERA in 133 2/3 innings. He was in come-to-the-rescue mode as rotation injuries piled up, and he could provide length out of the bullpen.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The decision to sign with the Orioles came easily to outfielder Tyler O’Neill. It wasn’t just the money, though the idea of being paid $49.5 million over three seasons with an opt-out clause after the first year enticed him.

“It was always chasing Baltimore last year,” he said.

O’Neill caught them via contract negotiations.

He spent last summer with the Red Sox after six with the Cardinals, enabling him to form his opinion of the Orioles.

“Playing in the AL East, I’m familiar with the division,” he said. "Baltimore’s the team to beat. Obviously, when they have interest in me early in the offseason, I was really excited about that. Just really excited to join these guys and get going.