As they continue to navigate life in the Orioles bullpen for now without closer Félix Bautista, the Orioles relievers are going to do their best to overcome this loss. But they know this pitcher can’t be easily replaced – if at all.

“I think it’s going to give some guys an opportunity to step up,” said bullpen lefty Danny Coulombe in an interview last night on the Orioles Radio Network. “Obviously you cannot replace him, but we are going to have to step up and move on. We’re going to have to.

“Not only is Bautista a great pitcher, but a great guy too. We love him in the clubhouse. Hard to lose a guy with the year he was having. He is my vote for Cy Young – at least in the top five.”

But maybe the bullpen is better positioned now to withstand this injury than it would have been earlier in the season. Coulombe has returned from the injured list. DL Hall has arrived. Yennier Cano recently threw 11 straight scoreless appearances. Jacob Webb has an ERA of 1.86 as an Oriole. Cionel Pérez has not allowed an earned run his last 12 outings. Shintaro Fujinami has thrown four straight scoreless games.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said Coulombe of the ‘pen’s recent performance. “We’re going to do the best we can and just take it pitch-by-pitch and day-by-day and hopefully keep having success.”

After taking the game on Friday night via a comeback win, the Orioles had leads four times in Saturday’s game in Chicago against the White Sox. But they lost 7-6 in 10 innings after gaining leads of 1-0, 4-2, 5-4 and 6-5.

The Orioles (8-7) have been at the .500 mark six times this year at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6, and it would become seven times should they lose today.

The Orioles are 0-2 in rubber match games, losing 9-5 to Boston on April 2 and 5-3 to the New York Yankees on April 9.

The Orioles have scored six runs in each of the two games in this series. They have scored 20 runs the last three games, and 41 runs the past six games. They have scored 86 runs in 15 games for an average of 5.73 runs per game. They have scored six runs or more eight times this year.

The O’s hit two homers on Saturday as Jorge Mateo and Anthony Santander connected on solo shots. It was No. 3 for Mateo and No. 1 for Santander. Mateo went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and is now batting .350/.413/.625/.1.038. He is one of four Orioles with an OPS of 1.000 or better, led by Ryan O’Hearn (1.371), and also including Adley Rutschman (1.075) and Austin Hays (1.045).

CHICAGO – Orioles infielder Ramón Urías remains in concussion protocol, making him off-limits to the media. He was in the clubhouse this morning, but he’s out of the lineup for the series finale against the White Sox in rainy and windy Chicago.

There’s no sign of infielder Joey Ortiz or a roster move. The Orioles could wait through Monday’s off-day to make their decision.

Manager Brandon Hyde will provide more information during his media session.

Gunnar Henderson is the third baseman today and Adam Frazier is playing second base. Terrin Vavra is in right field.

Anthony Santander is serving as the designated hitter.

Adam Frazier has proven to be a nice addition to the Orioles through a couple weeks of the new season. He’s providing some veteran leadership for a young clubhouse and his bat has taken a step up from last year through this early stage.

After posting an OPS of just .612 last season with Seattle, he is batting .256/.347/.395/.742 through Saturday with three doubles, two steals, oner homer and five RBIs. He has proven to be an above average contact hitter as his track record shows, with just three strikeouts in 39 at-bats through Friday. And the 6.8 strikeout rate at that point was the third-best in MLB.

“I feel good. Swing is in a good place. Feel like I’ve really been bringing the pitchers into the zone so, yeah, as long as I can stay where I am I’ll be fine,” he said during the recent homestand.

And as for the team’s offensive potential, Frazier said he sees good things.

“I think we’ve seen it a little bit so far. It’s dangerous. Any night we can put up a 10 spot. I think one through nine we really challenge the pitcher. Not like we have any holes. Everybody can put the ball in play and most of these guys can go deep at anytime. Lot of tools," Frazier said. 

CHICAGO - Jonathan Araúz had a special day for the Orioles in the final game of the series against the White Sox, his first hit with the club a home run.

Special for sure, but not as unique as you might think.

STATS research finds that 38 players since 1974 have homered for their first hit with the Orioles, the most recent before yesterday being outfielder Keon Broxton in 2019 in Colorado.

Broxton’s ball carried 474 feet and landed on the left field concourse. Must be the thin air.

Araúz settled for a mere 390, with a 100.2 mph exit velocity.

This might have been one of the best feel-good nights of the year around Birdland. O’s fans could watch and see a lot to like about the Orioles' latest win.

The Birds blanked the Chicago White Sox 4-0 last night, pitching a second straight shutout and recording their third shutout in the last six games. The O’s picked up an impressive win against the defending American League Central champions and beat a club that went 7-0 versus them last year.

In beating the White Sox, Orioles pitchers slowed what has recently been a hot-hitting Chicago team. Here are a few excerpts from the White Sox media notes last night showing how well Chicago's offense had been humming recently.

* The Sox are hitting .318/.379/.459 (160-for-503) with 92 runs scored (7.1 R/G) over the last 13 games, scoring seven-plus runs eight times and collecting 12-plus hits eight times.

* The White Sox are batting .310/.377/.442 (85-for-274) with 52 runs scored (7.4 R/G) over their last seven home games.