Another injury has hit an Orioles rotation that drifts toward fuller strength and is knocked back again.

Kyle Bradish exited tonight’s game after the fifth inning with soreness in his right elbow. He surrendered his first two home runs of the season and left with the Orioles down 2-1 in a game they’d lose 5-3 in 11 innings.

“He came to us and said his elbow was bothering him, so we’re going to get further tests on that,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Nothing, really, else to say except we’re going to get further tests on his elbow. So he had to come out of the game after that inning.”

The possibility of a health setback loomed over Bradish since January, when he was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and received a platelet-rich plasma injection. He began the season on the injured list, made the first of his eight starts on May 2 and entered tonight’s game with a 2.62 ERA and 1.107 WHIP with 49 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.

Perhaps better than the 2023 version that finished fourth in Cy Young voting in the American League and started Game 1 of the Division Series.

Albert Suárez turned, watched and wondered. Breath held and heart rate accelerated.

The ballpark was challenged to hold Sean Murphy’s fly ball in the second inning. It had the sound and look of a three-run homer – the expected outcome everywhere except Camden Yards, per Statcast tracking. Instead, Austin Hays retreated to the wall, reached up and made the catch. Couldn’t fit a sheet of paper between him and the padding.

This is where a start and a game can spin.

The Orioles came within inches of falling behind against former All-Star and Cy Young runner-up Max Fried, but 392 feet and 103.9 mph weren’t sufficient. They batted in the bottom half of the inning, the first two Orioles reached and Jorge Mateo marked his return to the active roster by launching a two-strike curveball into the bullpen.

Confirmation that 402 feet and 101.3 mph can get the job done.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Double barrel action in a bullpen is the term used when two relievers are warming at the same time. For Austin Hays, it’s the unfortunate process of receiving treatment for two ailments in the trainers’ room.

Hays didn’t play again last night due to bruised ribs and tightness in his back, but he’s avoided another trip to the injured list. His status remains day-to-day heading into the three-game series against the Braves at Camden Yards.

The ribs didn’t prevent Hays from serving as a defensive replacement in left field Saturday afternoon. However, the back flared up and cost him a chance to start Sunday.

As usual, the timing is rough.   

Hays can set an example for Cedric Mullins, who went into Sunday’s game batting .170 with a .522 OPS and was hitless in his last 25 at-bats before a single and triple provided some relief. Hays’ problems at the plate stemmed more from poor health, dating back to his illness in spring training that caused him to lose about 10 pounds and feel weak. He went on the injured list earlier this season with a calf strain and was day-to-day in the Rays series.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The choices were down to two. Adley Rutschman would be on the bench tonight or serve as designated hitter.

Both scenarios put James McCann behind the plate again for ace Corbin Burnes.

Rutschman caught the first three games of the series against the Rays, but the Burnes/McCann pairing seemed destined to happen anyway. Tonight marks the fifth consecutive Burnes start with McCann catching.

“It’s actually more coincidence than anything,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I’m comfortable catching Adley with Burnes, too. It’s not anything about that. It’s just more kind of how it’s fallen, honestly, with kind of how we’ve been matched up opponent-wise and day games, etc. But Mac’s done a great job with Burnsie, also.”

McCann wasn’t ready to do a deep dive earlier today, saying, “I’m probably not the right one to ask.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles starter Dean Kremer was eligible to be reinstated from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday but his status hasn’t changed. He remains with the club and off the active roster.

Kremer is sidelined with a strained right triceps muscle. He could go on a brief rehab assignment with an affiliate. The plan remains in the formative stages.

“Not really sure,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We’re going to throw another side with him here in the next few days and kind of take it from there. You just don’t want any setbacks.

“Right now everything is kind of trending in the right direction. He’s going to throw a side here in the next few days and hopefully he’s back with us sometime soon.”

The rotation could use him.

TORONTO – In going 6-1 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre last year, the Orioles batted .293 as a team and had an OPS of .808 against the Blue Jays.

But over those seven games, they hit just eight homers. Last night, in beating Toronto again at Rogers Centre by a 7-2 score, they mashed four home runs.

That tied an O’s season high and they did it for the second time in three games after also hitting four on April 11 at Boston.

The Orioles are now 12-4 this year versus American League East teams, going 5-1 versus the Red Sox, 3-1 against the Yankees, 2-1 versus the Blue Jays and 2-1 against the Rays.

The Orioles have gone 4-0-1 in five AL East series and they are 5-1 in the series-opening games against the division after Monday’s win.

TORONTO – Maybe this had nothing to do with the Orioles getting swept three straight in St. Louis and is just about the ups and downs of the season. And the Orioles offense is having an up for a stretch right now.

But since losing those three games and scoring eight total runs at Busch Stadium, the Orioles are 9-2 and scoring 5.9 runs per game.

The team in the last 11 games has scored five or more runs seven times, with 21 doubles, 19 homers, a .282 batting average and .833 OPS.

Last night they tied a season high with four homers in beating Toronto 7-2. They are 25-3 this year when hitting two or more homers.

For the Orioles, homers lead to runs and runs lead to wins.

TORONTO – Once a very tough place for the Orioles to get wins, Toronto’s Rogers Centre saw the Birds go 6-1 last year, on their way to going 10-3 against the Blue Jays in 2023.

The Orioles enjoyed their first visit north of the border this year as well.

Austin Hays produced his first two homers of the season and Anthony Santander added a two-run shot – all off former Oriole Kevin Gausman – and later Ramón Urías got one as the O’s beat Toronto 7-2 in the opener to the series and road trip.

The Orioles improved to 38-20 for the season and to 17-8 in road games as they opened a four-game series here. The eight-game trip will next take the team to St. Petersburg, Fla. to face Tampa Bay.

Hays, swinging it much better in recent weeks with his stats slowly trending up, hit a two-run shot in the fourth and added a solo blast in the seventh. He had not homered all year and not since last Sept. 18 at Houston, which also was his last two-homer game. It was the sixth multi-homer game of his career.

Austin Hays is in left field this afternoon as the Orioles close out the series against the Rays and their homestand.

Cedric Mullins is in center and Anthony Santander is in right. Just like the old days.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman and Adley Rutschman is serving as the designated hitter.

Colton Cowser has posted a 1.009 OPS when batting seventh and a .676 OPS anywhere else in the lineup. He’s out of today’s lineup.

Ryan Mountcastle’s hot bat stays. He’s slashing .459/.500/.757 (17-for-37) with five doubles, two home runs, six RBIs, three walks and eight runs scored in the last 10 games since May 21.

The season shifted past the one-third mark for the Orioles tonight. It also dumped them into a treacherous stretch of 29 games in 30 days, the only breather coming on June 17, wedged between series against the Phillies and Yankees. The two teams with the best records in baseball.

How they responded tonight again illustrated why they also belong among the finest.

They pitched, they made plays in the field and they eventually hit in the clutch. Another division opponent was on the wrong side of it.

Austin Hays came off the bench to deliver a game-tying single in the sixth inning, Jorge Mateo doubled to score two more runs, and the Orioles defeated the Rays 3-1 before an announced crowd of 27,364 at Camden Yards.

Craig Kimbrel recorded his 13^th save and 430^th of his career to take sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list, and the Orioles improved to 36-19 after winning for the seventh time in eight tries.

Orioles outfielder Austin Hays got off to a terrible start to his 2024 season, there is no denying that. However, as some around Birdland see a player in decline, others might see a player that has produced an OPS that is above the American League average since the 2021 season.

His 2021 OPS+ was 107 or seven percent above the league, the next year it was 105 and last year it was 114 – his best mark in a full year in the big leagues.

He produced a .769 OPS in the 2023 season and the American League average was .729. In four of six months last season, his OPS was .800 or better.

But that OPS number has plummeted this year, a year when he was batting .073 after his first 17 games. Now, back off the injured list, Hays is trying to improve his personal stats while the team continues to win mostly. He has an uphill climb and he knows it with a batting line right now of .164/.225/.205/.430 through 30 games with just three extra-base hits, all doubles.

But before he went on the injured list on April 22 with a strained left calf, he was feeling better at the plate and taking more productive swings. He felt his bat was slowly trending up.

ST. LOUIS – It was just a series when a lot went wrong for the Orioles. And for the first time in over two years, they have been swept three straight in the regular season.

The St. Louis Cardinals, who entered this series with a 20-26 record, did the job today, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to beat the Orioles 5-4 and complete the sweep at Busch Stadium.

Something even went wrong as the O's tried to rally in the ninth against reliever Ryan Fernandez. Austin Hays singled and went to third on pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins' single. Then pinch hitter Kyle Stowers lined one deep to right and Lars Nootbaar made a great catch. Hays scored from third but the Cards doubled Mullins off first base. No doubt he wanted to steam home with the tying run, but the ball was caught.

"I thought it was gone off the bat," Hays said of Stowers blast, adding that Mullins made what looked like a good decision in taking off on contact. "He's got a good chance to score on that ball if it gets down."

The Birds also contributed to their demise by making two errors as St. Louis scored three in the sixth to get the lead.

Constant fluctuations in run production are expected over the course of a 162-game regular season. The dam bursts and is rebuilt.

The Orioles were shut out against the Yankees on May 1 and scored seven runs the following day. They beat the Reds 2-1 in Cincinnati, erupted for 11 runs in the next game and lost 3-0 in D.C. They totaled seven runs in a three-game stretch, opened the weekend Mariners series with a 9-2 win and were no-hit last night through five innings before Gunnar Henderson's three-run homer off Sonny Gray.

The club ranked 21^st in the majors in runs scored this month with 64 heading into last night’s game in St. Louis after ranking fourth in the majors and first in the American League with 132 in April.

“We’re just continuing to work through it,” said co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte. “We just want to continue to take good at-bats and put pressure on the pitcher and hopefully continue to grind out some more good at-bats like we did (Saturday) night and first game of the series.”

Austin Hays was putting together better at-bats right before his left calf strain in Kansas City. He had hits in five of six games heading into last night.

For Orioles outfielder Austin Hays, it was a familiar ballpark, just one he had not seen in person for quite awhile. From May 7-12, and a few days before that in practice, Hays spent time with the Double-A Bowie Baysox on his injury rehab assignment.

From 2017 through 2019, Hays, on his way up in the Baltimore farm system, spent time with Bowie. Once the Orioles' No. 1 ranked prospect, he batted .283 with 31 homers, 34 doubles and 108 RBIs in 144 total games with the Baysox. His best season in Bowie was in 2017 as just a 21-year-old when he hit .330 with 16 homers, 17 doubles and 54 RBIs in 64 games. He was a finalist that year for Baseball America’s National Player of the Year.

Now years later, he wore the Baysox uniform as a major league vet. A player for the kids now coming up through Bowie can try and learn from.

“I can feel that, as a bit older now, there are a lot more questions asked then when I was there in the past. Just kind of, ‘What’s your approach on this? What does your routine look like?’ Different questions like that,” Hays said the Bowie players asked him.

And he was very happy to help those prospects if he could.

Austin Hays is more than an Orioles teammate to Cedric Mullins. They’ve built a close friendship over the years, climbing up the organizational ladder to the big leagues as homegrown products. They’ve stood in the same outfield with Anthony Santander at Double-A Bowie and talked about being together in Baltimore.

They’ve gone through so many ups and downs, individually and as a club. They lift each other.

Hays knows that Mullins will get hot again after beginning last night with five hits in his last 59 at-bats.

Asked what Mullins must do to get his season back on track, Hays smiled and said, “Just stay positive.”

“He’s still got six homers, he’s got (six) bags, his RBIs are there,” Hays said. “Just had a rough patch where the ball’s not falling. You just stay positive, you just continue to work on the right things. We know how this game goes. It’s a long season and things turn around quick. You have one good week, you’re MLB Player of the Week and all of a sudden your stats look pretty good again and you’re talking about how positive things are going.

John Means hadn’t faced the Mariners before tonight since throwing the sixth no-hitter in Orioles history back in 2021. Dylan Moore pulled his first pitch down the left-field line for a double.

Even the mere hint of a repeat wasn’t happening.

Jordan Westburg belted a leadoff home run Wednesday in his first career game atop the order, and Gunnar Henderson did the same tonight after returning to it.

A much more reasonable replication.

The Orioles inflicted damage over and over against Bryce Miller. The first six batters reached against him and the first five scored. Nine came to the plate. And Means found his rhythm.

Grayson Rodriguez will rejoin the Orioles without going on an injury rehab assignment.

The exact date of his return wasn’t shared this afternoon during manager Brandon Hyde’s media session, but a six-man rotation is in the works.

John Means is starting tonight against the Mariners in order to avoid an extended rest. Cole Irvin, who was supposed to start Wednesday against the Blue Jays before the previous night’s postponement altered the rotation, is in the bullpen tonight.

Means faced the Diamondbacks on May 11, which puts him on five days’ rest.

The Orioles must play 30 games in the next 31 days and 43 in the next 45 barring any weather interruptions.

Anthony Santander led off the fourth inning yesterday with a single and poked a double down the left field line to begin the eighth before the pain from a bruised knee led to his removal in right field. Colton Cowser, who shaved his beard to “change things up,” broke his bat on a fourth-inning single and snapped a 7-for-55 streak. Austin Hays played in his first game since April 20 in Kansas City and delivered a pinch-hit double in the seventh after beginning the season 5-for-45.

Cedric Mullins was removed for Hays after popping up and striking out to extend his slump to 5-for-59.

That’s the latest update on the Orioles outfield. Some promising moments that proceeded Adley Rutschman’s walk-off home run. Not a clean sweep when it comes to perhaps busting out of funks.

The Orioles improved to 27-14 heading into their off-day and are winning without everyone at peak performance. Some players are far from it. And the club must monitor Santander’s knee – he played chess in the clubhouse afterward rather than being in the trainers’ room, which seemed encouraging – and Hays’ calf that forced manager Brandon Hyde to pinch-run for him despite his reinstatement this week from the injured list.

Minds aren’t closed to certain roster upgrades. However, the Orioles don’t appear to have reached a point where they’re going to actively pursue an outfielder in trade or from the waiver wire. They seem more inclined to trust track records and their internal options.

The Orioles offense has produced just four runs and seven hits the last two games and they have lost both. By 9-2 to Arizona and by 3-2 in 10 innings to Toronto.

The Orioles, Cubs and Phillies are the only teams in MLB this year without a three-game losing streak. The Birds need a win tonight to avoid one now. The O's earlier had a pair of two-game losing streaks that never got extended.

The Baltimore offense began last night first in the American League in slugging, second in OPS, first in homers and in runs per game at 5.08.

But Baltimore batters have produced just 3.8 runs per game, scoring 49 runs their past 13 games. Thanks to a team ERA of 2.14 in this span, the Orioles have gone 9-4.

The pitching carried them as the offense slowed a bit – good teams find a way and they have.

Heston Kjerstad appeared only seven games with the Orioles and made the lineup four times before they optioned him today to Triple-A Norfolk.

He made 17 plate appearances. They want one of their top prospects to get busy again.

Asked earlier today whether the decision on Kjerstad was motivated by his need to play more, manager Brandon Hyde said, “That’s exactly it.”

“Just the way our outfield configuration is right now, we feel like it was important for him to go play every day, get everyday at-bats. I think this was a good experience for him, to get up here for a couple weeks, get a couple starts, get some pinch-hit opportunities. But just kind of where we are, health-wise, in our outfield, which is pretty strong, we feel like we want him to go play every day. He’s a big part of our future going forward, and somebody we really believe in. I’m sure he’ll be back up here soon.”

Kjerstad was batting .349/.431/.744 with four doubles, 10 home runs and 30 RBIs in 21 games with Norfolk when the Orioles recalled him. He went 2-for-14 with six strikeouts.