Orioles

Orioles to recall Rodriguez for Monday’s start; Mullins day-to-day with quad tightness, Hicks scratched with lower back soreness

BALTIMORE—Right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez will be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to start Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Brandon Hyde said on Sunday.

Rodriguez, who was 2-2 with a 7.35 earned-run average in 10 starts for the Orioles earlier this season, is 4-0 with a 1.96 ERA in six games for Norfolk.

“Very pleased, and the reports have been awesome on how the command has improved,” Hyde said. “The stuff has always been there. It’s all about command with him. He’s throwing the ball extremely well with command now at Triple-A. We’re excited for him to start tomorrow … We like the way he’s throwing the ball at Triple-A, and he’ll get an opportunity up here.

“I think we’re in the mindset of winning games right now. Hopefully, he sticks in the rotation the rest of the summer.”

Rodriguez was the International League Pitcher of the Month in June.

“I think the message was pretty clear on when he went down,” Hyde said. “The reasons why and what we felt he needed to work on. I think out of the gate down there it wasn’t as smooth, but his last few starts there have been really good and they’ve down job applying what we talked about up here before he went down.

“We feel comfortable where he is right now. Hopefully, he can impact us positively the rest of the year.”

Cole Irvin had been in the rotation, and he was warming up in the bullpen on Saturday night.

Injury updates: Centerfielder Cedric Mullins, who left Saturday night’s game with right quadriceps tightness, is not in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Marlins.

“He’ll get treatment today,” Hyde said. “It’s going to be a day-to-day situation. We feel like we got lucky. He didn’t have to extend himself further than he did and hopefully caught it at the right time. He won’t have to miss too much time.”

Aaron Hicks was scratched with lower back soreness.

Relief pitcher Cionel Pérez, who is on the 15-day injured list with left forearm stiffness, was pleased with how his rehab assignment at Double-A Bowie went. Pérez pitched a hitless 1 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking one. “I felt really good,” Pérez said through a translator. “My velocity was good. I felt really good the entire time, so I felt good.”

Hyde isn’t sure what’s next for Pérez.

“We’re discussing that right now. He feels great today,” Hyde said. “We’re going to make a decision on when to add him or make another [rehab] appearance.”

Question time: I’ll be answering Orioles questions next week. Please email them to: RichDubroff@BaltimoreBaseball.com.

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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