Iglesias becoming a consideration for injured list

The inability to keep shortstop José Iglesias in the lineup due to a sore left quadriceps muscle has the Orioles at least pondering the benefits of a stint on the 10-day injured list.

Iglesias is on the bench again tonight and has been the designated hitter on three occasions to lessen the strain on his leg. He's appeared in 16 games, making 10 starts at shortstop, and slashed .400/.414/.564 with nine doubles and 10 RBIs.

"That's a possibility," manager Brandon Hyde said during today's Zoom conference call with the media.

"The problem is he's getting on base 50 percent of the time. It's a good problem and a bad problem to have."

Nine of Iglesias' 22 hits are doubles and he's starting to balance a reputation that's always leaned hard toward the defensive side. But the production comes in spurts because of the injury.

"We're going to consider everything," Hyde said. "I think we're going to see how he feels tomorrow also. I'm going to continue checking with him every day. He was just in my office a little while ago saying how much better it felt than yesterday. So we're just going to continue talking to him and play it day-to-day."

Iglesias was wincing as he ran the bases Saturday night, an unavoidable task while going 3-for-5.

"Pretty sore the last couple days," Hyde said. "I was trying to stay away from him even yesterday. I didn't want to pinch-hit him and didn't want to play him. Iggy's huge for us (and we're trying) to try to get this guy healthy.

"He feels a lot better today than he did yesterday, which is a positive sign. I'm just going to continue monitoring him, talk to him every day, try to conserve playing time for him and manage the quad as good as we possibly can."

Andrew Velazquez is the shortstop tonight, with Pat Valaika in left field as part of Hyde's right-handed lineup.

Richie Martin is on the injured list after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured bone in his right wrist. Otherwise, he'd be an appealing option for the Orioles after sharing the position with Jonathan Villar last summer.

Dillon Tate has joined the bullpen this afternoon after being reinstated from the injured list. Evan Phillips was optioned to the alternate camp site in Bowie.

"We've got a fresh arm that will be ready to pitch tonight. Evan would have been down a couple days after throwing around 40 pitches yesterday," Hyde said.

"Dillon's worked his way back after the contusion on his arm from the line drive the end of summer camp and has been throwing the ball well down at our secondary site. I like the way he threw the ball the second half of last year and excited to have him."

Phillips lost his roster spot after retiring only three of nine batters yesterday and issuing four walks.

"I really like Evan Phillips," Hyde said. "I think Evan Phillips has got a chance to be a really good major league reliever. I think he's just hard on himself. A lot of times, he fights himself on the mound. He's throwing 95-96 (mph) with a wipeout slider that I'd love to see him throw more. Just continue to gain confidence. Hopefully, he'll be back up here soon."

Left-hander Tanner Scott should be available tonight. He didn't pitch yesterday after retiring all five batters he faced on Saturday.

Scott has allowed one run and two hits with 11 strikeouts in eight innings.

"I think the biggest thing for him is kind of what we talked about last year with him," reliever Shawn Armstrong said today in his Zoom call. "I've been there, the whole going up, going down, you never know when you're going to go up and down. It's huge when it comes to the mental aspect. But I think for him the biggest thing we've tried to help him out is like, 'Hey dude, your stuff is absolutely lights out. Throw it down the middle, let it play.'

"You see he's spotting other pitches. He's going in, he's going out, he's going backdoor with the slider, he's burying it when he needs to, he's going back foot to righties. Let's be honest, he's 97-101 (mph) with the fastball, with a wipeout slider. He's got some of the best stuff in the game from a left-handed reliever and what he's doing right now ...

"And his mentality. You guys know him. He's a crazy individual, he's a really good dude. He works his butt off each and every day and it's showing out there on the field. I've got the upmost respect for him and the way he's going about his business right now and I hope he continues it because he's got a chance to make a lot of money in this game and help the Orioles for a long time."

For the Blue Jays
Cavan Biggio 2B
Randal Grichuk CF
Travis Shaw 3B
Teoscar Hernández RF
Rowdy Tellez 1B
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. DH
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. LF
Joe Panik SS
Danny Jansen C

Hyun Jin Ryu LHP