SCROLL DOWN TO READ ARTICLE
FORT MYERS, Florida–What’s happening? Shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who left the Orioles’ game last Thursday with what the team said was discomfort in his right side, has now been diagnosed with “a very mild intercostal strain,” manager Brandon Hyde said on Wednesday. The intercostal muscles are between the ribs.
Henderson caught a line drive in the first inning by Toronto’s Bo Bichette, batted in the bottom of the first, left the game and hasn’t played since.
“He’s feeling a lot better, but we’re obviously going to slow-play it a little bit so that he is 100 percent, but he’s getting a lot better every single day,” Hyde said. Hyde is hoping Henderson will be ready for the March 27th opener at Toronto.
“I’m very, very hopeful,” Hyde said. “We’re not going to push a strain there. We want to make sure if gets taken care of before. It’s one of those sensitive areas where we don’t want anything to reoccur.”
Henderson’s play on Bichette caught Hyde’s attention.
“It’s just the whole act of what he did,” Hyde said. “Not sure of how he caught it or how he landed and just kind of crunched the side a little bit. It’s kind of a day-to-day thing. He is improving. I saw him before he left. He’s feeling better. It’s how much better on a daily basis, so we’re not going to push him out there unless this is cleared up.”
Relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge remains out with soreness in his left knee. Kittredge has pitched only once this spring, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out two in a scoreless inning at Pittsburgh in Bradenton on February 26th.
Hyde said that Kittredge has been given an MRI and the team is getting “multiple opinions and then we’ll give you more information.”
Kittredge addressed his injury in Sarasota on Wednesday morning. “There’s some inflammation there,” Kittredge said. “There was a little bit of swelling, so just getting it to go down and see where we’re at.”
Kittredge was scheduled to pitch last Saturday, but stopped because of knee discomfort. He doesn’t know when he’ll pitch again.
“It’s hard to say right now,” Kittredge said. “It was sore. I think we’ll have some discussions with the training staff and team doctors and figure what that looks like. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It wasn’t excruciating. Given the time and everything I just wanted to be careful. I was really pushing to pitch in that game, and I just decided that it probably wasn’t the best decision.”
Kittredge is another who hopes to be ready for the beginning of the season.
“It’s just hard to say at this point. I don’t know what that looks like,” he said. “I don’t know how much time I’m going to be off the field or anything like that. I think at this point, kind of give the direction to the doctors and kind of see what they think was best and go from there.”
Third baseman Jordan Westburg’s back spasm are gone, and he’s eager to return. He hasn’t played since February 22nd.
“Soon, any day now. I feel good, back to full workouts,” Westburg said in Sarasota. “Hoping that I can get back in a game tomorrow or, if not, the next day.”
Westburg wouldn’t have played through the injury during the regular season.
“I would have done the team no good to try to push through it,” he said. “Thankfully, it happened here, and I have a few more days to work through it. I’m glad it’s a short thing.”
Westburg doesn’t think it will keep him from the season opener in Toronto on March 27th.
“We still have 2 1/2, 3 weeks left in spring training,” Westburg said. “I anticipate taking live at-bats on the days I’m not playing and playing in the games, getting two and three at-bats, possibly four as we stretch closer to the season, so I think I’ll be just fine.”
He said he has had back spasms before.
“I’ve had worse. It’s typically not an issue,” he said. “I honestly think it’s a bad mattress. I’m used to sleeping on a rock back home, and I get to the Airbnb and I have a softer mattress. It was something I was trying to be stubborn through. It was stupid of me. I got a mattress topper, and I feel much better. It’s just what I’ve learned through my experience and getting older. Softer mattresses are no good. I might sleep better on them the first few nights, but it’s no good for me.”
Zach Eflin wil pitche against Paul Skenes on Thursday night at 6:05 when the Orioles play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ed Smith Stadum. Eflin allowed one run on four hits in two innings against Minnesota in Fort Myers on Friday.
Dean Kremer will face Keider Montero on Friday night when the Orioles play the Detroit Tigers at Lakeland.
What’s happened? Grayson Rodriguez allowed a run on three hits in 1 1/3 innings, striking out one and walking one in the Orioles’ 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins before 5,492 at Hammond Stadium on Wednesday.
Rodriguez was removed after 33 pitches. Only one of his pitches was recorded at 95. Most were in the 92-93 mph range, prompting concern. Statcast clocked one of his fastballs at 89.5 mph.
“I kind of felt I was fighting myself today,” Rodriguez said. “Pretty sluggish, kind of sluggish. I just don’t think I could really get behind the ball today and spin it how I wanted to. Everything kind of felt flat … Command wasn’t there today.”
Rodriguez, who threw 1 2/3 hitless innings in his first start against Toronto last Thursday, couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
“I don’t know if it’s mechanical or not. I just know some days are a little harder than others,” he said. “Today was a little difficult just trying to get into the strike zone. Mentally, I was a little sped up, but other than that, I don’t know what else there was.”
Rodriguez said he wasn’t trying to throw hard.
“Not going out there trying to throw 95, 100 percent,” he said. “Really trying to make sure that I hit a spot in my pitch buildup, my program.”
Rodriguez said he has encountered starts like this before.
“There’s a few,” he said. “You wish they don’t happen, but when you realize they’re going to happen and try to limit the damage, I think that’s the difference between good pitchers and average pitchers. Right now, I’m trying to navigate that and taking days and trying to find a positive out of it and turn it around and go at ‘em the next start.
“It’s still really early. You want to make sure everything is going good. You don’t want to have days like today, but if they’re going to happen, spring training is where they need to happen, just trying to air out the kinks. In a regular game you’re worried about saving the bullpen, You don’t have a choice but to work through it.”
Hyde said “those kind of things happen in spring training … We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
Albert Suárez pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing a run on four hits, walking and striking out two.
Keegan Akin pitched a scoreless inning, and Bryan Baker a spotless eighth. Baker has retired each of the nine batters he’s faced this spring.
Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera hit his second home run of the spring.
Heston Kjerstad and Adley Rutschman each had two hits and an RBI..
What’s up with? Livan Soto was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. He stole his second base. Soto is batting .467 (7-for-15).
“Liván Soto is a really good baseball player, and he’s young [24],” Hyde said. “Good middle infield defense. Gives you a really good at-bat. He did when he was in the big leagues with us last year … He’s just a really sound player.”
Soto was 3-for-10 with two RBIs in 12 games last season, but was taken off the 40-man roster on January 10th and outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.
“I can’t control that. They did it, and I can’t control it,” Soto said. “When they give me an opportunity, I just want to do my best and they can see it. That’s everything I can do.”
Along with Vimael Machin, Terrin Vavra and Luis Vázquez, Soto is trying to get noticed as non-roster invitees to Orioles camp.
‘’It’s not difficult. It’s just trying to do my best,” he said. “Everybody wants to be on the major league roster. Everybody has to compete, but I know a lot of these guys, and they are my friends, so everybody has to do his job.”
What’s what? Hyde, who often stays back in camp to watch pitchers throw and drives himself to road games, was caught in a major traffic jam caused by a serious accident on Interstate 75 and arrived about an hour after the start of the game. Bench coach Robinson Chirinos managed the club until Hyde arrived.
What’s the word? “I’m getting old, feeling older by the day.”-Westburg, who’s 26, joking about his back spasm.
What’s the number? 9. So far, there are nine games that won’t be televised on either MASN or MASN2 this season. AppleTV+ has announced its early season schedule, and they’ll stream three games, March 27th at Toronto, June 13th vs. Los Angeles Angels and June 27th vs. Tampa Bay.
Previously, FOX announced they’d show four games: May 3rd vs. Kansas City, August 21st vs. Houston, August 30th at San Francisco and September 18th vs. New York Yankees.
Roku has the June 22nd game at the Yankees and July 6th at Atlanta.
More games may be added later in the season. The Orioles aren’t yet scheduled for any ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball” telecasts.
What’s the record? 5-4-1. The Orioles will play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium on Thursday night at 6:05.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Send yours to [email protected].