Hyde explains Mullins' latest trip to injured list (plus other notes)

Cedric Mullins’ latest trip to the injured list appears related to his previous stop, which lasted almost a month.

Mullins was shut down with a strained right groin. He exited Saturday’s game with tightness in his right quadriceps and returned to the IL this morning with a right adductor groin strain.

“It’s just his upper leg, so groin, quad,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Felt it in his quad, originally. The soreness is moving around in that upper leg area. It’s a lower-body injury that we’re just going to take a little more time with.

“It has been progressing, but it’s not progressing at the rate that we were hoping, and so the right thing to do is make sure he’s all the way healthy and running well before we activate him.”

Mullins is eligible to return on Wednesday, which might be an overly ambitious goal.

“I hope that’s the possibility,” Hyde said, “but I was hoping he would be ready later this week and it hasn’t happened, so I hope so.”

The Orioles are 42-22 with Mullins and 15-15 without him. They got through his first absence in fine shape and are challenged again while trailing Tampa Bay by one game for the division lead.

“Guys have got to step up,” Hyde said. “Cedric’s a big part of our club. We’re going to have other things these last couple months, also. There’s going to be other guys who are going to have to miss some time, too. That’s just the way this game works. When you play every night, these are the things that happen, so we’ll pick up the pieces for Ced, and we’ve done it in the past and, hopefully, we can do it again.”

Mullins thought he could play later in the week and said yesterday that he was “progressing well.”

“That’s the goal, depending on how I continue to progress,” he said. “The plan is to get back out running pretty soon. Moving around, hitting feels fine, without any issues. Throwing, I’m going to try today. Shouldn’t have any issues with that, I don’t think. It’s just kind of baseball activities, and then running is the most important part.”

The Orioles monitored his workouts and decided they couldn’t wait any longer. The wisdom was lacking in rushing him back into the lineup.

“He was disappointed that last time, and I thought he came back really quick off that,” Hyde said. “Hopefully, he recovers well here, as well, and doesn’t miss much time. He loves being out there and we want him out there. Just want to make sure he’s right before we put him out there.

“He was hitting and he did some agility stuff and running yesterday, and throwing.”

Hyde left the ballpark after last night’s 10-3 loss to the Dodgers knowing that he’d need a fresh reliever. No one would be available to provide length if starter Dean Kremer were to make an early exit.

Logan Gillaspie was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk and walked onto the field this morning to greet his teammates and do some throwing.

“We were going to make a pitching move,” Hyde said. “We just weren’t sure which direction we were going to go in, so we did Cedric on the IL this morning.”

The start of today’s game will be delayed while the grounds crew continues to work on the field, which took a beating from heavy rains overnight.

Kremer is facing his former organization today, a matchup that he’s downplaying in importance.

“I haven’t talked to him about it but I’m assuming it (means something),” Hyde said. “I’ve seen him during batting practice, he’s obviously got a lot of friends over there, because he talks to some of the guys who came through their system at the same time.

“Anytime you’re facing a club that you’re originally on, or an organization you’re familiar with, it means a little bit more. So, I’m sure this is a big start for him.”

Here are the starters for the series against the Rays at Tropicana Field:

Thursday: RHP Kyle Gibson (9-6, 4.77 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Glasnow (3-3, 3.78 ERA)
Friday: RHP Kyle Bradish (6-4, 3.05 ERA) vs. RHP Zach Eflin (10-5, 3.59 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-2, 7.33 ERA) vs. LHP Shane McClanahan (11-1, 2.56 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Tyler Wells (7-5, 3.54 ERA) vs. RHP Taj Bradley (5-6, 5.29 ERA)