Center fielder Cedric Mullins could rejoin the Orioles for the start of their three-city West Coast trip.

The Orioles play a weekend series in Seattle before flying to San Diego and Oakland.

Mullins will stay with Double-A Bowie tonight for a fourth game. He’s 3-for-15 with the Baysox.

A second groin injury for Mullins this season is forcing the Orioles to be more careful with the workload. Perhaps ease him back into his usual role, seek more rest days.

“This last one was a little different in that, it started in a different spot and then it kind of moved,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Definitely want to keep him as healthy as I possibly can. So, probably talking to him every day, day games after night games, things like that. Might have to give him some rest to make sure he’s fresh.

Orioles second baseman Adam Frazier has his right thumb taped after jamming it on a diving play in the final game in Toronto. He remains out of the lineup.

Manager Brandon Hyde said Frazier is available off the bench tonight. He might not have started anyway with the Orioles facing another left-hander, Houston’s Framber Valdez, who threw a no-hitter in his last outing.

“He’s been getting treatment since then, but he feels way better today,” Hyde said.

“He should be in there tomorrow.”

Center fielder Cedric Mullins remains with Double-A Bowie, starting in center field tonight in Richmond. His rehab assignment is nearing a conclusion.

A capacity crowd stood and cheered players from the 1983 championship team as they walked onto the field in a pregame ceremony, with the loudest ovations aimed at the three Hall of Famers. Fans chanted Eddie Murray’s name like the old days. Rick Dempsey waved a towel over his head, tossed it to the ground, lifted his arms and spelled out O-R-I-O-L-E-S.

He wasn’t a solo act.

The home venue sounded like old Memorial Stadium tonight, the clock spun back 40 years. Murray, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jim Palmer threw out the ceremonial first pitches. Highlights from the season were played on the video board between innings.

The current Orioles soaked in the nostalgia, watching from the dugout along with team executive Mike Elias, then set out again to leave their own mark.

It’s usually black and blue on an opponent.

During an interview session with media this afternoon that lasted almost 27 minutes, Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias confirmed that pitching is the top priority at the trade deadline.

Elias said that if a deal is made, bet heavily on it being on “the pitching side.” Whether it’s depth or an upgrade.

Middle relief is viewed as an area that still needs to be addressed.

Injuries to outfielders Cedric Mullins and Aaron Hicks are viewed as “temporary” and won’t prompt the club to expand their trade targets.

Elias also said the club won’t make a terrible trade and force it just to “say we did something.” He believes that the current roster is capable of making a deep playoff run, but the Orioles are trying to add to it in a seller’s market.

PHILADELPHIA – Gunnar Henderson is eyeing Friday night as his return to the lineup after leaving last night’s game in the eighth inning with discomfort in his lower back.

Henderson is on the bench tonight and likely unavailable.

“Feeling a lot better,” Henderson said today. “I think it’s kind of the same deal that happened a little bit earlier in the year. Just tightened up on me out there, so they just felt like it was good to not try to force it anymore.”

The back discomfort kept Henderson out of two games last month – one in San Francisco and one in Milwaukee, with an off-day in between. The Orioles are off Thursday after concluding their series tonight in Philadelphia.

Asked about Friday being a realistic goal, Henderson said, “I would think so, yeah.”

PHILADELPHIA – Orioles outfielder Aaron Hicks is hopeful that he can return to the active roster after 10 days.

Hicks went on the injured list this afternoon with a strained left hamstring. He exited last night’s game in the third inning after diving for Johan Rojas’ shallow fly ball.

He lost control of it but was credited with the catch. The Phillies didn’t request the challenge within the allotted 15 seconds.

It proved to be costly to Hicks.

“I feel like by the end of the 10 days I should be good,” he said. “Obviously last night I thought it was just a cramp, and then woke up this morning not really feeling that great. I had to go get an MRI today and obviously that landed me on the IL, but I only think it’s going to take about the 10 days.”

PHILADELPHIA – The Orioles have put outfielder Aaron Hicks on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain and recalled Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Ryan McKenna.

Hicks was removed from last night’s game with hamstring cramping after diving for a fly ball. He underwent testing to determine whether he had a strain.

Cedric Mullins is on the injured list with a right adductor groin strain, and Hicks joins him after batting .252/.349/.435 with four doubles, a triple, six home runs and 20 RBIs in 42 games since the Orioles signed him on May 30.

McKenna batted .253/.315/.392 in 62 games with the Orioles. He’s hitting .217/.294/.500 with two doubles, a triple and three home runs in 12 games with Norfolk.

Colton Cowser could start in center field tonight against Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker.

Cedric Mullins remains confident that he can avoid the injured list as he recovers from tightness in his right quadriceps.

Mullins is out of the lineup for a third consecutive game. He sustained the injury Saturday night in the second inning while running from first to third base on Jordan Westburg’s fly ball down the right field line.

The ball sliced foul, and Mullins walked off the field with head athletic trainer Brian Ebel.

Asked how he’s progressing, Mullins replied, “I’d say pretty good.”

“It’s just one of those weird things where, as I’m getting work done to it, the soreness kind of accumulates from that,” he said. “Just continuing with the progression there. But I think it’s coming along pretty well.”

Cedric Mullins remains out of the Orioles lineup, his day-to-day status extended while he recovers from right quadriceps tightness.

Aaron Hicks is playing center field again tonight. Austin Hays is in left and Colton Cowser is in right.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman, and he’s batting ninth.

Gunnar Henderson remains atop the order. He’s hitting .350 with a .650 slugging percentage against breaking pitches since June, according to STATS, compared to his .128 average and .277 slugging heading into the month.

Tyler Wells has a 3.18 ERA and the majors’ lowest WHIP at 0.927. He’s allowed two earned runs in each of his last seven starts, and two or fewer in eight straight.

Only two of the six clubhouse televisions this afternoon were tuned into the first game of the Rays’ doubleheader against the Royals. The Cubs-Red Sox also aired on two of them. Or players could choose between the Scottish Open and a scouting combine men’s basketball tournament.

No one seemed interested.

One player sat in a recliner for a few minutes during the media’s access, got up and left. The place emptied for a meeting. Further evidence that the first-place Rays aren’t an obsession.

The Orioles may check the standings, but they know how little it matters if they don’t win.

They might have lost their center fielder again.

The Orioles held an optional workout last night at Camden Yards. No pressure to get back to Baltimore. No demands placed on the players. Manager Brandon Hyde left it entirely to them.

“A ton of guys showed up,” Hyde said. “Guys want to get back after it.”

No wonder. A first half that produced the third-best record in baseball had the Orioles eager to resume their season. Breaks are nice, but they have business to finish.

The weather forced them to wait again, with rain delaying the start of tonight’s game by one hour and six minutes, but they didn’t let it interfere with the mindset or the mission.

Cedric Mullins and Adam Frazier homered off Sandy Alcantara in the fourth inning, which began with the score tied, Frazier went deep again in the eighth, and the Orioles extended their winning streak to six games with a 5-2 victory over the Marlins before an announced crowd of 23,377 at Camden Yards.

MINNEAPOLIS – All it took was one remarkable catch. One strong starting pitching performance. One clutch late relief outing. A sac fly, a sac bunt, a clutch double and a few others things for the Orioles to beat a team they often struggle against.

They lost two of three to the Twins last weekend. And while the Twins' record is inferior to the Orioles', they are a first-place team that leads the major leagues in team ERA and had won five of six games entering this series.

But the Orioles got two runs in the top of the 10th on a Ramón Urías double and Aaron Hicks sac fly. Félix Bautista pitched the ninth and 10th, getting his fourth win with a 30-pitch outing.

The win and night made better by the news that the Rays lost for the sixth straight game and the Orioles are three games back, just one in the loss column.

Wasn’t their season heading for a downturn about 10 minutes ago?

MINNEAPOLIS – Cole Irvin was not “swirvin” this time. Irvin, who uses that nickname in his Twitter handle, was very much in balance and control tonight and he was setting down the Minnesota Twins with regularity.

His season ERA was 6.32 at game time, but his ERA since his latest return to the Orioles roster June 10 was 3.44 in five games. He gave up two runs in eight innings his last two starts, one rain interrupted. He had shown signs he was getting his act together.

Tonight, in front of 32,724 fans at Target Field in the opener of this three-game series, we saw more evidence.  

Irvin left with a lead but could not get a win tonight.

But the Orioles did.

MINNEAPOLIS – Orioles outfielder Austin Hays is now going to start in the All-Star game for the American League next week in Seattle. Now Baltimore needs to get him back in their starting lineup and that should happen at Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.

Hays and Adolis Garcia of Texas were named starters today and will join Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena in the AL starting outfield due to injuries to Aaron Judge and Mike Trout.

“Hyder (manager Brandon Hyde) called me this morning to let me know,” Hays said this afternoon before the Orioles-Twins series opener at Target Field. “Lot of excitement. Just really excited to wear this team’s name on my chest out there and start the All-Star game.”

Hays already has gotten advice from teammate Cedric Mullins, who was a starter in the 2021 game due to an injury then also to Trout.

"He said there is a lot going on, just try to live in the moment. Lot of moving parts. It moves really fast and there is a lot of stuff scheduled. Just try to enjoy every second and go with the flow like everything will happen will really quickly. Try to enjoy each moment as much as you can,” said Hays.

Austin Hays vowed to play again before the All-Star break, a bruised left hip keeping him out of the lineup since Sunday.

The day he learned that he’d been selected to his first All-Star team.

Hays is on the bench again tonight, marked absent hours after he found out that he’s starting for the American League.

Baseball life is full of surprises for Hays, who said yesterday that the good news about his selection was “kind of short-lived” following his collision with Twins first baseman Donovan Solano. A knee to the hip bringing pain after his euphoria. The roller coaster that he didn’t want to ride.

He’s taking batting practice and working out, as he did yesterday in New York, and starting Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park due to injuries to Aaron Judge and Mike Trout.

NEW YORK – The forearm smash delivered by Aaron Hicks in front of the visiting dugout today sounded like a clap of thunder. A home run against his former team deserving of an aggressive celebration.

Adam Frazier’s two-run shot later in the inning didn’t carry the same revenge vibes, but it reset a game that was getting away from the Orioles.

They couldn’t pull it back again.

Giancarlo Stanton broke the tie with a ground ball single into shallow center field in the bottom of the fifth, a strange play that saw Gleyber Torres score from first base, and the Orioles stayed behind in an 8-4 loss to the Yankees before an announced crowd of 43,876.

Six defeats in the last seven games have lowered the Orioles’ record to 49-35 and allowed the Yankees to creep within two of second place in the division.

Orioles reliever Mychal Givens returned to Baltimore due to some soreness in his right shoulder.

Givens left his injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk, where he began pitching again after a shutdown period caused by inflammation in the shoulder. He appeared in Thursday’s game and allowed one run and two hits in two-thirds of an inning.

The rehab schedule had Givens pitching again today, but the Orioles’ medical staff is examining him.

“It’s a low level of concern,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He just had a little bit of discomfort. … Hopefully, he’ll go right back to continue his rehab.”

Givens began the season on the injured list with left knee soreness. He appeared in six games, allowing five earned runs (six total) and four hits with six walks in four innings.

Continuing to make the most of his second chance with the Orioles, outfielder Aaron Hicks found himself back in the O’s starting lineup on Saturday afternoon against Seattle. That was big for him because, on the day Cedric Mullins returned to the team, he was both still on the roster and still getting at-bats.

In 28 games this year with the Yankees, Hicks’ OPS was .524. In 20 games with the Orioles through yesterday, it is .984. He had three multi-hit games with New York and has six with Baltimore.

And Hicks came up big again for the Orioles in the last of the sixth, hitting a go-ahead homer 426 feet to center for a 4-3 lead. That lead would not hold up, but on Ryan McKenna's two-run walk-off homer in the 10th the Orioles would beat the Mariners 6-4. 

The Orioles improved to 46-29 and moved to 4 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay, which lost. 

So Mullins was back, but Hicks was still in the starting nine. 

The Orioles got their center fielder and leadoff hitter back today. And it’s in less than a month since he left the field on May 29 against Cleveland with a right groin strain. Mullins rehabbed in Florida, went 1-for-10 with a homer in three Triple-A rehab games this week and is back atop the lineup today.

“Feels good. Body is doing well,” he said this afternoon. “To be able to come back and get back in action feels pretty good.

“This is an injury I’ve never dealt with before, so there was really no idea in my head what the timeline would be like. Body was responding really well down in Florida and was able to progress every day. Kind of push the leg a bit to the point it feels really good.

“I had a hamstring injury in 2017 and kind of had a flashback to that. But it didn’t feel as bad as back then, so I had an idea it wasn’t going to be that long of a stint for me. But just didn’t know what the body would feel like.”

The Orioles went 11-9 without Mullins, and manager Brandon Hyde said that while the Orioles missed Mullins, of course, his return came maybe faster than expected.

The Orioles reinstated center fielder Cedric Mullins from the injured list this afternoon. They also recalled left-hander Bruce Zimmermann and optioned reliever Logan Gillaspie and infielder Josh Lester to Triple-A Norfolk.

Mullins finished his rehab assignment with Norfolk after Thursday’s doubleheader and returned to Baltimore. He’s leading off today.

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle stayed with the Tides last night. He isn’t included to today’s transactions.

Lester tossed a scoreless ninth inning last night in his professional pitching debut and reached on an error in the bottom half.

Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base again and batting cleanup. Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop. Aaron Hicks moves to right fielid.