ANAHEIM, Calif. – Even after right-hander Albert Suárez provided the Orioles with another scoreless outing and after they got homers from James McCann and Colton Cowser and after Adley Rutschman drove in two and after the bullpen bent but didn’t break in the seventh and eighth, there was still heavy lifting to do.

Real heavy, as in right-handed closer Craig Kimbrel needing to get three-time MVP Mike Trout out with two outs, bases loaded and the O’s clinging to a 4-2 lead.

Trout was all that stood in the way of the Orioles winning Game No. 15, moving into first place and Kimbrel recording his 423^rd career save to pass former teammate Billy Wagner for seventh all-time.

Just get out the guy that had already hit eight homers this season and has a .992 career OPS.

As Trout moved to the plate, he was 1-for-3 with two career walks and a single versus Kimbrel. If he produced another single, he would likely tie this game. If he did bigger damage, the Angels could have a walk-off win and the Orioles a devastating loss.

Austin Hays avoided the injured list for the past two seasons, a huge turn in his career after the litany of setbacks dating back to the minors. Much of it bad luck, like the sprained thumb in 2019 on a stolen base attempt after the Orioles optioned him from camp. A head-first slide that he’s done countless times, except he hit the bag wrong.

Hays had slashed .351/.385/.892 in 12 exhibition games, with three doubles, a triple, five home runs and 13 RBIs. But the Orioles wanted to continue his development in Triple-A following his ankle surgery the previous year and the sore shoulder that had interrupted his spring training.  

The toughness was never questioned. Hays played through a lot of pain. And he reached 500 career games while the Orioles were in Pittsburgh.

“He’s tried to be healthy all throughout the year,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He’s done that the last couple of years as best as he possibly could.”

That’s why yesterday’s news seemed so cruel.

The calf soreness that removed Austin Hays from Saturday night’s game in Kansas City has landed him on the 10-day injured list.

Hays was diagnosed with a left calf strain, with the IL move retroactive to yesterday. He’s 5-for-45 with two RBIs.

The at-bats have improved of late, with a hit in each of his last two games and some loud outs.

Manager Brandon Hyde kept Hays out of yesterday's lineup. Asked later about Hays' status, Hyde said, "We're going to kind of see how he is tomorrow."

Hays hasn't caught a break since reporting to camp. He had a stomach virus in spring training and was under the weather in Pittsburgh.

KANSAS CITY – The late innings of Saturday night’s game backed the opinions of Orioles first base coach Anthony Sanders.

Working with the outfielders as the team’s instructor brings a broader appreciation of the group’s abilities.

A once-comfortable lead was slipping away when Colton Cowser, a late replacement in left field with Austin Hays experiencing some cramping in his calf muscle that could put him on the injured list today, threw out Kyle Isbel trying to advance to third base in the seventh inning on Maikel Garcia’s run-scoring single.

The Orioles led 9-7 in the bottom of the ninth and closer Craig Kimbrel retired the Royals in order, but after right fielder Anthony Santander charged Bobby Witt Jr.’s shallow fly ball and made a sensational diving catch.

Preventing the leadoff hitter from reaching was one of the biggest moments in the game.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias seems unconcerned that top prospect Jackson Holliday is still looking for his first big league hit after his first three games.

Baseball’s No. 1 ranked prospect is 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts after going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts Friday night. Holliday did not start today against Brewers' lefty and former Oriole DL Hall.

Milwaukee won this afternoon 11-5 and the Orioles (8-6) need a win Sunday to avoid being swept. 

Elias, in an interview with reporters today in the Orioles dugout before the game, said Holliday’s first couple of series in Triple-A this year were “reassuring is the word I would use, those of us that were leaning toward adding him Opening Day with the thought he was ready.”

He was not on the Opening Day roster, but Holliday, 20, is here now and searching for hit No. 1.

The question inevitably comes in casual conversations or radio and television interviews.  And the phrase “pleasant problem” is the chaser.

The constant change in Orioles lineups, with players rotating in the field as if waiting for the music to stop and plopping down, is becoming a less familiar sight. We haven’t gone back to the ‘70s. They want wide margins of victory over wide lapels. But manager Brandon Hyde isn’t gonna fix what ain’t broken and he’s found an order that’s difficult to break up.

An infielder stocked with versatile players is beginning to solidify with Gunnar Henderson at shortstop, Jackson Holliday at second base and Jordan Westburg at third. The first base options remain Ryan Mountcastle or Ryan O’Hearn, the latter serving as designated hitter in the past three games before last night and six overall.

They’ve only played 13.

Jorge Mateo might be in the tightest bind because he isn’t used at third base. It’s pretty much middle infield, which is tougher to crack than a bank safe, or maybe a token appearance in center.

BOWIE, Md. - For Orioles minor league pitcher Trace Bright, his move from High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie went well late last year. And again, in his first outing versus Reading over the weekend.

With that big curveball, Bright has swing and miss stuff and now the results are showing up to prove that.

Ranked as the O’s No. 16 prospect per MLBPipeline.com and No. 21 via Baseball America, Bright went 3-6 with a 3.97 ERA and 13.3 K rate last season pitching in 22 games with Aberdeen and four at Bowie where his ERA was 2.12 in 17 innings.

Then he pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings on two hits in Bowie’s win Sunday with two walks and six strikeouts. The strikeouts may have elevated his pitch count and he was removed at 71 pitches.

But now, in five career Double-A outings, Bright has a 1.74 ERA over 20 2/3 innings with 10 walks and 26 strikeouts.

BOSTON – The Orioles have an odd attachment to Opening Day – their own and their opponent’s.

They get to hop in the middle of more festivities this afternoon against the Red Sox, who began their season with a West Coast swing through Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim.

No other team or fan base is allowed to complain about the schedule. The Red Sox own the rights.

They also won seven of 10 games to move 1 ½ ahead of the Orioles.

Eyes shouldn’t be strained from reading too much into either team’s start. However, the off-day allowed for some reflection on the Orioles.

PITTSBURGH – After pitching four times in a span of six games, Orioles reliever Yennier Cano stayed in the visiting bullpen yesterday until Oneil Cruz's walk-off single in a 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Pirates.

Cano is in All-Star form again in the early stages of the 2024 season. He’s tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts in his usual high-leverage role.

“Very impressed,” said Tim Cossins, who works as the Orioles field coordinator and catching instructor but is in the bullpen for games. “It’s kind of a continuation of what we saw last year. And the way he prepares and the way he goes day to day, it’s not surprising. He’s just one of those guys that’s super routine-oriented and super locked in.”

The finest work might have come in Cano’s most difficult outing.

The Royals put runners on second and third base with no outs Monday in the eighth inning of a tie game. What followed was a groundout with the infield in, an intentional walk, a popup and a called third strike on Nick Loftin.

We were probably impressed when the Orioles’ Triple-A Norfolk farm team scored 39 runs in their first four games. Their top prospects were spraying line drives in the gaps and hitting baseballs over outfield walls.

As it turns out, the players on the top farm club for baseball’s No. 1 ranked farm system were just warming up.

Wednesday night, Norfolk scored 17 runs from the sixth through the eighth innings at Charlotte and set several team records in a 26-11 victory.

That was a franchise single-game record for runs, breaking the mark of 23 set April 13, 1982 when the Tides were a Mets affiliate. They would not become an O’s farm club until 2007. The Tides set team records with eight homers and 29 hits and Heston Kjerstad’s 10 RBIs is a team mark, two better than any Tide ever. The nine doubles tied a club mark.

So much for some of the top prospects there being too down after not making the Orioles' Opening Day roster.

The Orioles had two Gold Glove finalists, but no winners, last season and some fans may not remember that while Austin Hays was a finalist for left fielders, Baltimore’s other finalist was Ryan Mountcastle at first base.

As manager Brandon Hyde said, “It's great to see him find a home defensively,” and Mountcastle has put in the time and work to get better there. He began his pro career as a shortstop, was moved to third base and even tried the outfield.

But based on some of the strong plays he’s made already this year – the most recent was his diving stop to his left in the ninth Tuesday night – Mountcastle has indeed found his defensive home.

Just how has he improved over there at first?

“Just like in first-step quickness,” he said Wednesday morning in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Being ready and engaged every pitch. Felt like I put a lot of work in, especially during the offseason and even during the season last year, me and Tony (Mansolino, third base and infield coach). Feeling comfortable over there.

One of many good things about the fact the 2024 Orioles season has begun is that we will stop hearing about the Texas series and the Orioles being swept in the American League Division Series.

A new year thankfully leads to media asking less about that and the players certainly are glad to stop answering for it and about it.

“I use it for fuel a little bit. But that was last year and this is a new year,” the O’s Gunnar Henderson said this week, probably speaking for just about all of us.

After a 101-win season followed up by their convincing Opening Day romp over the Los Angeles Angels, the O’s are seen as World Series contenders for this season.

They are now the hunted and not the hunters, so to speak.

After a 2023 season when they won a franchise-record 90 games, in addition to the International League championship and the Triple-A championship game, the O’s Norfolk Tides affiliate will begin defense of those titles Friday night at home versus the Durham Bulls.

Norfolk’s break-camp roster – which is subject to change before first pitch Friday – was released this afternoon and features three top-100 prospects and eight players currently ranked among the O’s top 22 prospects via the Baseball America top 30.

The Tides will begin this season playing for a few games without manager Buck Britton, who will be out on paternity leave to begin the year. O’s Florida Complex League manager Christian Frias will serve as acting manager in Britton’s absence. Britton is expected back at some point next week.

Jackson Holliday heads the 2024 Tides roster. Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com both rank Holliday - who played 22 games to end last year with the Tides, counting the playoffs - as the No. 1 prospect. Joining him on the Tides is Coby Mayo (No. 25, according to Baseball America, and No. 30 by MLBPipeline.com's reckoning) and Heston Kjerstad (No. 41 per Baseball America and No. 32 according to MLBPipeline.com).

Among Orioles prospects, Baseball America puts Mayo at No. 3 and Kjerstad at No. 5. The Tides' break-camp roster also includes from the Baseball America top 30 this group: Connor Norby (No. 6), Chayce McDermott (No. 8), Cade Povich (No. 9), Kyle Stowers (No. 16) and Justin Armbruester (No. 22).

SARASOTA, Fla. – Julio Teheran tossed four scoreless innings today in a split-squad game against the Rays in Port Charlotte, allowing only one hit in a final bid to make the club.

Teheran is opting out of his contract and the Orioles must decide by Sunday whether to put him on the 26-man roster or let him go. In the meantime, his locker is cleaned out at the Ed Smith Stadium complex, with only a folding chair inside of it.

Reliever Andrew Suárez’s locker is in the same condition. He wasn’t on the list of yesterday’s roster cuts.

“I think right now he’s in a little bit of limbo and we’re just kind of holding off on him right now and kind of waiting to see what happens,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

Asked about Teheran, Hyde said, “He’s in that boat, too, where we’re just kind of waiting to see.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Three months after Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias described Jackson Holliday as “definitely a very strong possibility” to make the Opening Day roster, baseball’s No. 1 prospect was told that he’s beginning the season at Triple-A.

A promotion that wasn’t etched in stone crumbled in Sarasota. The dust was thick.

Holliday was counted among seven cuts but got the bulk of the attention and fan reaction after batting .311/.354/.600 with three doubles, two triples, two home runs and six RBIs and 15 games. His comfort level expanded at second base, where he figured to get the vast majority of his work with Gunnar Henderson entrenched as the starting shortstop.

“Obviously a very tough decision on all these guys,” Elias said, making certain to include outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers, who were optioned, and infielders Coby Mayo and Connor Norby, pitcher Albert Suárez and catcher David Bañuelos, who were reassigned to get the camp roster down to 38.

“We have a lot of players with a lot of really good statistics in camp, and a lot of them were sent out today, so that’s hard because these guys have put themselves in such a good position in terms of their performance and the kind of shape they came in. Making spring training evaluations, it’s more art than science, and all these guys did a great job of putting themselves in the thick of the competition and distinguishing themselves, even with this talented camp.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Jackson Holliday will begin the 2024 season at Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles announced this afternoon that prospects Holliday, Coby Mayo and Connor Norby were reassigned to minor league camp and outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers were optioned.

Right-hander Albert Suárez and catcher David Bañuelos also were reassigned. But Holliday is the big news.

Baseball’s No. 1 prospect batted .311/.354/.600 in 15 games, with three doubles, two triples, two home runs and six RBIs. He was vying for playing time at second base, with Gunnar Henderson entrenched at shortstop.

Today’s move with Holliday could signal that the team is keeping Ryan McKenna as a fifth outfielder or carrying second baseman Kolten Wong, whose opt-out date is today.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Cole Irvin didn’t bother to track the entire flight of the ball that Atlanta’s Orlando Arcia hit over the left field wall with a runner on base in the second inning. He turned to catcher James McCann and held out his glove. Bring on the next batter.

Irvin was a more engaged spectator on Jordan Luplow’s ball later in the inning that landed pretty much in the same spot. He thought that one had a chance to stay in play, and he showed just a smidge of frustration as he again spun toward the plate.

This wasn’t Irvin’s night.

The left-hander allowed six runs and seven hits in his first three innings, with three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 63 pitches, only 37 for strikes.

Brought back for the fourth, Irvin walked a batter in between a fly ball and popup and exited at 73 pitches, 41 for strikes.

SARASOTA, Fla. – No one in the Orioles organization is enjoying Colton Cowser’s hot start in exhibition games more than teammate and friend Heston Kjerstad, who doesn’t ponder how it might impact his own chances of making the Opening Day roster.

Kjerstad isn’t wired that way. He wants everyone to be electric, to put up good numbers.

And he remains confident that he’ll do it, too.

Kjerstad received three at-bats yesterday in the Orioles’ 9-8 walk-off win over the Pirates in Sarasota. He flied to left field against Paul Skenes to end the first inning but lined a single into left-center against left-hander Bailey Falter in the third. He was 1-for-12 with four strikeouts before Falter … well, faltered.

The spring tally is 2-for-14 after Kjerstad bounced to the mound in the fifth inning.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The honor of pitching the first exhibition game doesn’t really resonate with Corbin Burnes, owner of a Cy Young Award and two Opening Day assignments. He's fried bigger fish.

Stepping on the mound Saturday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium is more about preparation and bonding as the Orioles’ new staff ace.

“It’s exciting to get games going,” he said this afternoon following the latest workout, “and getting the first one gives me a chance to get an extra outing this camp just to get to know these guys and better prepare for the season.”

Burnes wasn’t the Brewers’ first starter last spring but he pitched on that day. It sort of counts, but not entirely.

“It was just like an extended live BP on a back field,” he said.

Being aware of the mounting number of airline safety issues, I’m afraid to bring a heavy mailbag to Sarasota and risk having the landing gear fail or a few bolts bust off the wings.

Let’s lighten the load here in our last pre-spring training sequel to the beloved original in 2008.

You ask, I answer, you wonder if I’ve finally relented and began doing some editing, and I wonder if you started drinking early.

I adore your style, length (shut up), clarity and brevity. To change it would be like tossing soup on the Mona Lisa.

Also, a reminder that my mailbag refuses to be pushed around or disrespected, and yours does a bully’s homework.