Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias’ media availability yesterday in the home dugout at Camden Yards hinted at bad news.

That’s what happens when an organization is pelted with it. The first instinct is to assume the worst and seek shelter.

There were three options with Elias: One or more of the injured players had a setback, a roster move warranted an explanation, or he just decided to meet the press before the last homestand of the season.

Elias declined to make an opening statement, which destroyed the injury theory. And the roster went unchanged.

“If it’s all right with you guys,” he said, “I’ll just open it up to questions.”

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias took his turn today providing injury updates to the media, asking in a joking manner for questions to be broken up individually rather than in one lump inquiry. Just trying to simplify the process.

Ryan Mountcastle (wrist) is in a hitting progression down in Sarasota, the most positive news about the first baseman since he was shut down.

“I was there during instructional league yesterday and had a chance to see him work out,” Elias said. “He has a sore wrist and he’s making his way back from that, and that takes a few steps, but I do think we have a really good chance of seeing him playing for Norfolk here pretty soon, and I do think we’re going to get him back, and he’s making a push. And we definitely will take what we can get from him, and we’re hopeful to get him back before the season’s over.”

Jordan Westburg took batting practice for the first time since fracturing his right hand. “Like a normal citizen,” Elias said.

“Jordan’s doing great, too,” Elias added. “We can’t wait to have him back, and we are expecting him back before the end of the regular season. We’re not totally there yet, but it’s going really well.”

Coming off a losing road trip and a stretch with seven losses in the last 10 games, the Orioles return home tonight for the regular season’s final homestand trying to find some good vibes, some runs and some wins.

They begin play tonight at 84-66, three games out in the American League East and 2 1/2 ahead of the Royals for the top Wild Card spot and No. 4 playoff seed with 12 to play.

“Lot is at stake in terms of us trying to create some momentum going into the month of October,” center fielder Cedric Mullins said this afternoon. “Think a lot of guys are excited about this last homestand. Excited to get things going in the right direction.”

How is the team mood right now with the club 26-28 in the second half and 31-35 since July 1?

“I think it’s following suit with the wins and losses," said Mullins. "It’s like trying to create that continuous win streak. Yeah, there might be a little pressure added to that. But the off-day was big just to come back home, take a day, refresh and get back into it."

One matter was resolved yesterday with the Twins claiming left-hander Cole Irvin on waivers only one day after the Orioles designated him for assignment. Irvin won’t stay in the organization, and now we track reliever Kyle Virbitsky’s progress while grading the Jan. 26, 2023 trade with Oakland.

Virbitsky went a combined 7-2 with a 3.43 ERA and 1.197 WHIP in 41 relief appearances between High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie. He surrendered only five home runs and struck out 69 batters in 57 2/3 innings.

The Orioles dug into their infield prospect pile and sent Darell Hernáiz to the Athletics. He’s appeared in 44 games this season as a rookie and batted .193/.268/.239.

The honeymoon period with Irvin was short. They optioned him last year after only three starts, when he allowed 15 runs and walked eight batters in 12 2/3 innings. The rest of his brief Orioles career was spent bouncing from the rotation to the bullpen to the minors.

Irvin is joining Minnesota’s expanded roster today. The Orioles won’t be deciding whether to offer him arbitration this winter, which probably wasn’t in the cards but didn’t come with any sort of confirmation.

A second attempt by the Orioles to pass Cole Irvin through waivers has failed.

The Twins claimed Irvin this afternoon after the Orioles designated him for assignment yesterday. He went unclaimed at the trade deadline when the club made a flurry of late moves.

Irvin was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk on Aug. 4 and had his contract selected on the 21st while Dillon Tate was optioned. Tate was designated later and claimed by the Blue Jays on Sept. 1.

Roster space was needed yesterday with reliever Jacob Webb reinstated from the 15-day injured list and outfielder Heston Kjerstad from the concussion injured list. Irvin and infielder Nick Maton were the counter moves.

Maton’s situation remains unresolved.  

The Orioles created two openings on their 40-man roster yesterday by again designating left-hander Cole Irvin and infielder Nick Maton for assignment.

Left-hander Danny Coulombe, on the 60-day injured list, can fill one spot when he’s reinstated. He retired all three batters faced yesterday in his second rehab appearance with Triple-A Norfolk.

Maton was bumped to make room for outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who returned from the concussion injured list and stayed with the major league club rather than being optioned. The offensive woes prompted the Orioles to give Kjerstad another shot, and he went 0-for-2 while batting cleanup and serving as the designated hitter before Eloy Jiménez pinch-hit for him.

This is the level of, dare we call it desperation, to find an offensive spark that the Orioles slotted Kjerstad fourth after his long layoff from major league competition. It didn't help.

They were held to two runs or fewer for the sixth time in the last 10 games and have scored 21 in that stretch. And a 4-2 loss at Comerica Park dropped them three behind the first-place Yankees with 12 remaining. They lead the Royals by two for the top wild card and home field.

DETROIT – An O’s starter pitched well, but got little or no run support. A recurring theme in Birdland a lot lately.

Facing a traditional starter – not an opener – was not something that helped the struggling Orioles offense today.

They saw Detroit right-hander Keider Montero. And while his 4.88 ERA was not impressive, his last outing was. He pitched a three-hit shutout Tuesday on 96 pitches versus Colorado.

Today, he didn’t get that deep in the game, but the O’s could not score off him either.

They finally got some offense, but it proved too little and too late today.

DETROIT – Heston Kjerstad is back with the Orioles, finally free of concussion symptoms and feeling good about his swing and his health.

He is batting fourth as the DH today, so thrust right back into the mix in a prominent spot. He wants to help an offense that has produced just 15 runs in five games this road trip. Over the last nine games, in going 3-6, Baltimore batters are averaging 2.1 runs per game with a team OPS of .583.

Kjerstad is ready to try and provide a boost with his bat.

“Oh 100 percent. All of us want to provide that boost. Maybe I can bring that. It’s a great lineup we have here. Baseball, you want to play well and the offense, we need to get rolling a bit better. All it takes is one. Once one goes, the rest of the offense will roll with him, so we’ll get it rolling here,” he said.

After he was hit in the helmet July 12, Kjerstad went on the seven-day concussion injured list. He returned eight days later but the symptoms lingered.

DETROIT - The Orioles are adding Heston Kjerstad to their roster for today’s series finale with the Detroit Tigers.

The O's announced that move and series of others this morning. In addition they have reinstated righty reliever Jacob Webb from the injured list where he was out due to right elbow inflammation. Webb has pitched to a 3.08 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings pitched. He last pitched on Aug. 2 at Cleveland.

They designated for assignment pitcher Cole Irvin and infielder/outfielder Nick Maton. The O's 40-man roster right now is at 38.

Kjerstad has been on the injured list with a concussion and playing minor league rehab games in the last several days with both High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie.

He went 4-for-13 with a double and three RBIs in four games with Bowie after going 2-for-5 over two games with Aberdeen. He was the leadoff hitter last night for Bowie at Erie and went 0-for-1 with two walks.

The penultimate road trip of the season concludes later today in Detroit, which limits my usage of the word "penultimate." At least until the next-to-last regular season game.

The Orioles are off Monday and host the Giants and Tigers before wrapping up the regular season in the Bronx and Minnesota.

Those last six games could be meaningful. Don’t you think?

The roster will keep changing as more injured players return. Well, more players will return from the injured list. Phrasing!

Here are some mailbag extras that were stuck at the bottom of the bag. My tube of hair gel leaked. I have no idea how it got in there, so hopefully that isn't one of your questions.

DETROIT – An Orioles starting rotation that had been pitching well recently kept it going tonight behind their ace.

With the team losing and not scoring many runs in dropping six of eight games, it was harder to notice the solid rotation outings. But in the last three games, O’s starters had an ERA of 1.37. Over their past seven games their ERA was 2.57 with five quality starts.

Right-hander Corbin Burnes, the 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner and 2024 All-Star game starter for the American League, took that up a notch today.

Burnes allowed two singles over seven scoreless innings tonight as the Orioles beat Detroit 4-2 to bounce back after their one-hit loss Friday night.

Baltimore improved to 84-65 and moved to within two games of first-place New York, which lost today. The win keeps the O’s two games ahead of Kansas City for the top AL wild card spot.

DETROIT - Having lost five of six and six of their past eight games and facing the team with the best record in baseball since Aug. 11, the Orioles will try to find a way tonight.

Find a way to get some offense and start winning again. 

The O's are now 83-65 overall and ended Friday night three games back of the Yankees, who are playing this afternoon. 

The O's were one-hit last night and they got just two baserunners: one on an eighth inning walk and one on Gunnar Henderson's two-out triple in the ninth that broke up Detroit's combined no-hit bid.

With the 1-0 loss, the Orioles were shut out for the seventh time and second in the the last five games. 

The Orioles were victims of a violent flood of injuries over the course of the season, threatening to sweep away their hopes to repeat as division champions, but players who are able to return will do so in trickles.

Reliever Jacob Webb appears the closest to reinstatement after Thursday night’s scoreless inning with Triple-A Norfolk. Manager Brandon Hyde told the assembled media in Detroit that the right-hander could be available this weekend. The Orioles just need to check his recovery.

Danny Coulombe could be right behind him after a second rehab outing, expected to be tonight. He threw 10 pitches Wednesday in a scoreless inning with the Tides.

The Orioles went slowly with Webb, giving him five days’ rest between appearances before Tuesday night’s outing. He pitched for a fourth time Thursday and the shorter break seemed like a positive sign.

Coulombe might not be on the same schedule. He faced hitters in live batting practice at least twice at Camden Yards. The elbow felt great.

DETROIT – The storyline for the game tonight at Detroit in the series-opener for the Orioles was not just would their offense finally get going.

It was would they get a hit or even a baserunner?

Their batters who had scored just 15 runs their past seven games, were going down quickly and too many times taking called third strikes. They were getting nothing going.

And they almost never did.

Gunnar Henderson's two-out triple down the right-field line in the ninth ended Detroit's combined no-hit bid. But one strikeout of Anthony Santander later, the O's had lost this game 1-0 in the series opener in front of 25,253 at Comerica Park.

DETROIT - As he began his pregame media session in the visitor's dugout ahead of tonight's series-opening game in Detroit, O's manager Brandon Hyde was asked to provide an update on his various injured list players.

“Is this a two-hour program?" Hyde quipped.

Then he used the next few minutes to provide numerous updates on this list of players.

Jordan Westburg: “His hitting progression is progressing. He’s doing better, doing all baseball activities. Swinging the bat in the cage now. All positive. No setbacks as of right now. But when you haven’t swung a bat for a while and you are coming off a broken hand, it takes a little while to gain strength in your hand. So they are building strength in the hand and he is getting used to swinging the bat."

Ryan Mountcastle: “Mountcastle? Unsure, honestly. He is in Sarasota. I’m hoping he is going to start swinging a bat here in the next few days. That’s going to be a hitting progression too. Trying to stay optimistic that we will see him by the end of the season.”

DETROIT - Looking for wins and now two games back in the American League East race, the Orioles play at Comerica Park tonight. They open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball's winningest club since Aug. 11.

The O's lineup tonight shows Gunnar Henderson leading off, Cedric Mullins batting third and Adley Rutschman hitting fourth. Eloy Jiménez is the DH and Jacskon Holliday is batting ninth at second base. 

Yes, the Tigers (75-72) are a hot team and they are pushing for wins too. They begin play tonight 3.5 games behind the Twins for the final American League wild-card playoff spot.

Detroit has won four of five and 13 of 19 games. The Tigers lead MLB in going 20-9 since Aug. 11.

Best MLB records since that date:

The Orioles had an off-day in Detroit yesterday because Passaic, New Jersey was booked.

OK, let’s get serious.

The penultimate road trip of the season is close to a wrap – I’ll be on the next one - and the Orioles are two games behind the Yankees. They have three against the Tigers beginning tonight and three more next weekend at Camden Yards after hosting the Giants.

This could be the penultimate mailbag, but they aren’t on a set schedule. I can only promise today.

Here’s the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. No need to edit myself for clarity because I’ve been quite clear about my disdain for editing.

BOSTON – After spending 27 years with the Orioles in various capacities, Dave Schmidt isn’t returning to the organization in 2025.

Schmidt was told Monday that his contract wouldn’t be renewed, according to sources.

The most recent title bestowed upon Schmidt was “complex pitching and rehab coordinator,” which allowed him to be based near his home in Sarasota. He set up or followed the schedules depending on the player and worked with the physical therapist, “making sure our guys are heading in the right direction, getting better,” Schmidt said in a 2022 interview with MASNsports.com.

Among the pitchers under his supervision in 2022 was Grayson Rodriguez, who rehabbed a Grade 2 right lat strain sustained over the summer with Triple-A Norfolk. Rodriguez was out for three months.

Schmidt, 67, goes back to the 1998 season with Syd Thrift as farm director. He’s served as pitching ach at pretty much every level, had two stints as pitching coordinator and two as rehab coordinator. He also was tasked with overseeing the Dominican program for a couple of years.

BOSTON - Dean Kremer appeared to be the victim tonight of bad luck, two-out execution and run support in a ballpark that’s treated him rudely. Someone needed to have his back, and Anthony Santander stepped up with a game-tying homer off Red Sox reliever Justin Slaten with two outs in the eighth inning.

Only Kremer could be saved. A game was lost in sudden and harsh fashion, another stumble by the Orioles that also cost them ground in the division race.

Emmanuel Rivera did his part earlier with a solo homer in the third inning and he came up big again much later, but Tyler O'Neill hit a three-run homer off Keegan Akin in the 10th to give the Red Sox a 5-3 walk-off win over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 32,448 at Fenway Park.

The Orioles have lost four of their last five games and five of seven while falling to 83-64, including 25-26 since the break. The Yankees beat the Royals 4-3 in 11 innings to open a 1 1/2 game lead.

An off-day Thursday is followed by a three-game series in Detroit to finish the penultimate road trip of the season.

BOSTON – More than half of manager Brandon Hyde’s pregame media session this afternoon again centered on injury and rehabilitation updates.

It’s become a daily roll call.

Jordan Westburg took dry swings earlier today in front of the dugout before fielding ground balls and making throws in the infield. His right hand is responding favorably, but there are plenty of other steps before he’s ready for reinstatement.

“He’s still got the hitting progression to do, but everything’s getting better,” Hyde said. “Doing dry swings today he felt OK after, so we’re continuing the progression. It takes a little time with a broken hand, unfortunately, but he’s right on track and looking forward to him hopefully taking batting practice here sometime soon.”

Reliever Jacob Webb made his third injury rehab appearance last night and tossed a scoreless inning with Triple-A Norfolk. He hasn’t gone multiple innings or back-to-back. He worked on five days’ rest last night.