The Astros claimed reliever Kaleb Ort on waivers from the Orioles earlier today. The Orioles’ 40-man roster is down to 39 players.

Ort had a 12.08 ERA and 2.447 WHIP in 14 relief appearances with Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles acquired him from the Phillies on Feb. 19 for cash considerations.

Ryan O’Hearn is the first baseman tonight as the series continues against the Red Sox. Ryan Mountcastle is on the bench.

Cedric Mullins is in center field again after yesterday’s two-run triple. Colton Cowser is in left field and batting cleanup. Kyle Stowers is the designated hitter after going 3-for-4 yesterday with a career-high four RBIs.

Jorge Mateo stays at second base. Fifteen of his 25 hits have gone for extra bases.

Tim Cossins can bring a unique perspective as a member of the Orioles’ coaching staff.

Cossins is the major league field coordinator and catching instructor, but he relocated from the dugout to the bullpen during games in 2022. He’s equipped to talk about the relievers, too.

Maybe he also can be described as a Swiss Army knife. The Orioles are carrying a few of them.

Cossins spent a few minutes Sunday morning meeting with reporters outside the visiting clubhouse, his availability leading only to bullpen questions. After he jokingly said that he prepared to talk catching, taking a few steps toward the door, he had to spend three more minutes on that subject.

Let’s not forget his primary function, which also enables him to discuss catchers in the farm system.

I’ve left the Windy City and decided to blow through another mailbag.

Better than trying to do it in the Steel City. Much heavier and much harder on the back.

This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. You know the rules. You ask, I try to answer, you wonder if I did much editing and I scold you.

We want levity and don’t care an ounce about brevity. Who’s printing the T-shirts?

Also, my mailbag directs all spam calls to your mailbag.

CHICAGO – Get the rain delay out of the way first, this one lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes. Send Kyle Bradish to the mound. Try to complete the first four-game sweep against the White Sox since 1995.

Try to do it before the weather takes another nasty turn.

Who knew that Bradish would be nastier?

Bradish didn’t allow a hit for seven innings, but the combined attempt at history failed when Danny Mendick came off the bench in the eighth and belted a leadoff home run against Danny Coulombe.

The Orioles didn’t get their seventh no-hitter. No matter. They left town with a 4-1 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 14,992 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

CHICAGO - Dillon Tate sat at his locker this morning wearing a black hoodie, his head covered, his body turned away from the clubhouse. He was relaxed and not looking for any attention. Probably wishing that he could avoid it altogether, given his low-key personality and preference that others bask in the spotlight.

Here’s the conflict: You retire all seven batters you face in your longest relief outing in three years, setting up the rally in the eighth inning that produced a 5-3 win, and you’re going to be praised and asked about it.

Tate earned the win with 2 1/3 spotless frames and four strikeouts. The Orioles hit three homers and scored five runs in the eighth.

“It was good to be back out there, sharing the field with my guys,” said Tate, who was optioned April 29 and recalled on Friday. “Happy to get that win. We needed that.”

Team first, as usual with Tate.

CHICAGO – The Orioles are trying today to complete their first four-game sweep on the White Sox’s home field since 1995.

The forecast might not allow the teams to play. Rain is supposed to pelt the area through the afternoon, leaving to the question of how long they’ll wait with the Orioles traveling home for Monday’s day game.

Jordan Westburg is leading off today, with Gunnar Henderson in the cleanup spot in the Orioles’ mostly right-handed lineup.

Austin Hays is in left field and Colton Cowser stays in center. Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Ryan O’Hearn is on the bench against left-hander Garrett Crochet. He homered yesterday and is batting .294/.364/.521 with four doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 18 RBIs against right-handers this season.

CHICAGO - The lineup card posted on May 12 in Memphis was top-heavy in Orioles prospects. Triple-A Norfolk manager Buck Britton had Jackson Holliday leading off, followed by Coby Mayo and Kyle Stowers. Connor Norby would have joined them except that he exited the game two nights earlier with a left wrist injury and didn’t play for a week. Heston Kjerstad was optioned on the 13^th, with Stowers taking his place on the major league bench. Otherwise, he, too, would have been an imposing part of the order.

Batting sixth and serving as the designated hitter was Terrin Vavra. Back from a brief injury rehab assignment. Back from the shoulder surgery that brought down a season that began with such promise.

Trading in a cloak of invisibility for a Tides uniform that he hadn’t worn in 11 months.

“It’s not the level necessarily that I have aspirations to play at,” he said earlier this week, “but it’s also where I was and where I wanted to get back to.”

The journey was painful and tested him physically and mentally.

CHICAGO – With two relief appearances in the past four days, Albert Suárez was put on a starter’s leash this afternoon that didn’t measure an exact length. Manager Brandon Hyde planned on checking with him after each inning. Maybe he’d go three, maybe four.

Suárez fielded a grounder and started a double play to end the third and leave him at 60 pitches. And he wasn’t done. Hyde sent him back out for the fourth and was rewarded with another scoreless inning.

Hyde wasn’t pushing Suárez beyond the 80 pitches thrown, and a scoreless game was passed to reliever Keegan Akin, who surrendered a two-out, bases-loaded triple to Gavin Sheets in the fifth. A death blow for some teams. A wake-up call for the Orioles, who hit three homers in the eighth in a 5-3 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 22,283 at sunny Guaranteed Rate Field.

They can strike quickly, and less-than-ideal circumstances heading into a game don't faze them. An emergency starter, a sputtering offense, a short bullpen, whatever.

"That was a fun inning," Hyde said. "That game offensively for us sucked for seven. We didn't do anything offensively."

The bullpen is about to undergo another change.

This one comes from outside the organization.

The Orioles traded Triple-A Norfolk pitcher Garrett Stallings to the Brewers this afternoon for right-handers Thyago Vieira and Aneuris Rodriguez. Vieria hasn’t reported, and the 40-man roster will be full upon his arrival. Rodriguez will head down to the Florida Complex League.

Vieira, 31, had a 5.64 ERA, 1.701 WHIP and one save in 16 appearances with the Brewers. He owns a career 6.18 ERA and 1.667 WHIP in 41 games with the Mariners, White Sox and Brewers, making his major league debut in 2017. He pitched in Japan from 2020-22.

The fastball averaged 98 mph this season and his sinker has plus velocity at 96.9, but he’s averaging 4.9 walks per nine innings in the majors to go with nine strikeouts. He’s averaged 4.5 walks in 10 minor league seasons.

CHICAGO – Kyle Stowers is in left field today and Ramón Urías is the third baseman, as the Orioles try to win a third consecutive game after being swept in St. Louis.

Ryan O’Hearn is in right field. Colton Cowser returns to center field after last night’s leaping catch at the fence to rob Tommy Pham of a home run and end the game.

Jordan Westburg’s RBI double last night snapped an 0-for-13 streak. He’s the second baseman today.

Gunnar Henderson and Houston’s Kyle Tucker are tied for the major league home run lead with 17. Henderson is swinging 56.1 percent of the time with two strikes, with eight of his home runs coming in those counts, per STATS.

Albert Suárez is making the start after the Orioles put Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with a strained right triceps. He’s made 10 appearances, the last seven in relief, and registered a posted a 1.78 ERA and 0.947 WHIP in 25 1/3 innings.

CHICAGO – The Orioles won’t completely empty their injured list this season because closer Félix Bautista is on the 60-day and unavailable until 2025. He’s playing catch and posting videos of his workouts in Sarasota.

They got it down to two names, including Tyler Wells, before John Means and Dean Kremer hopped on this week on back-to-back days. Health progress is made and then erased.

To borrow a Bruce Springsteen lyric, one step up and two steps back.

Five starters have gone on the injured list. Ace Corbin Burnes and left-hander Cole Irvin, temporarily moved to the bullpen, have managed to avoid it.

Knuckles rap on wood at the mere mention of it.

CHICAGO – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde explained earlier in the day why Adley Rutschman wasn’t in the lineup. Had nothing to do with an injury. That’s reserved for the rotation.

Three consecutive day games were on the docket. This was a way to give the catcher a little break before the grind.

Hyde smiled as he sat in the visiting dugout and conceded that Rutschman probably would get in there anyway. That’s usually how it works.

Rutschman came off the bench in the eighth inning and singled with two outs to score two runs, breaking a tie and giving the Orioles a 6-4 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 18,831 at Guaranteed Rate Field that ensures nothing less than a split of the four-game series.

The Orioles are 31-18 and starting Albert Suárez on Saturday afternoon after placing Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with a strained right triceps.

CHICAGO - The Orioles aren’t listing a starter for Saturday afternoon’s game against the White Sox. They can go in a few directions. Calling upon Dean Kremer isn't among them.

Kremer was supposed to get the ball on his normal turn, but he’s on the 15-day injured list with a strained right triceps. Manager Brandon Hyde said he could make the announcement after tonight’s game.

“This is still pretty fresh so we’re still talking about it,” Hyde said.

Albert Suárez is the in-house candidate. He can provide some length.

Meanwhile, left-hander Cade Povich is scheduled to start Saturday for Triple-A Norfolk in Worcester. The No. 9 prospect in the system per MLB Pipeline is 5-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 1.049 WHIP in nine games and is averaging 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings. His walk rate is down to 3.2, compared to 5.8 last year in 10 starts with the Tides.

CHICAGO - The Orioles are running out of starters.

The team announced today that it placed Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with a right triceps strain, retroactive to Tuesday. They also optioned Jonathan Heasley to Triple-A Norfolk.

On the other side of the transaction, the Orioles recalled relievers Dillon Tate and Nick Vespi from Norfolk.

Kremer was supposed to start Saturday afternoon against the White Sox. He’s joining John Means on the IL.

Kremer is 3-4 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.120 WHIP in nine starts. He’s allowed eight earned runs and 11 total in his last two games covering 9 2/3 innings.

Teammates felt sharp pangs of sympathy for Orioles pitcher John Means, experiencing their own discomfort after he packed up his belongings Wednesday and flew back to Baltimore.

They don’t know when they’ll see him again, though early next week at Camden Yards is most likely. They don’t know how long he’ll be on the injured list or when he’ll start again. No one had answers yesterday.

None of it seemed fair.

Means returns from ligament-reconstructive surgery in his elbow and a strained muscle in his upper back, only to be shelved by a strained left forearm that keeps him off the Division Series roster. He accepts that he’ll begin the 2024 season on the injured list, is reinstated, and returns to it after only four starts and with his ERA at 2.61 and WHIP at 0.871.

“It’s so hard to hear,” said reliever Danny Coulombe. “John just worked his tail off to get back. Nobody can ever question his work ethic. But his body didn’t cooperate and we’re just hoping and praying for the best.

CHICAGO – One of the starting pitchers was back in Baltimore having his left elbow examined. Multiple relievers were unavailable following a couple of rain delays and a suspended game in St. Louis, which necessitated the arrival of Jonathan Heasley in a potential bulk role.

The Orioles had lost three in a row and seen much better days when they arrived in Chicago to begin their series against the White Sox, and that was before Grayson Rodriguez threw 30 pitches in the first inning.

They fell behind twice tonight to the team with the worst record in baseball. The team that’s scored the fewest runs. But they snapped out of their funk in the fourth inning.

Finally, they could feel good again. They were due for it.

They just had to sweat a little in the ninth.

CHICAGO – John Means has returned to Baltimore and is undergoing further examinations and testing on his sore left elbow.

Means went on the 15-day injured list today with a left forearm strain after tossing three scoreless innings yesterday in St. Louis but experiencing discomfort that caused him to occasionally flex his arm. He obviously was uncomfortable on the mound.

“He’s meeting with the doctors in Baltimore and just haven’t gotten the results back yet,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s meeting with them this afternoon and we’re hoping for the best.

“It was disappointing because he’s worked so hard to get back and was a huge boost for us in September last year after the long road back. Was throwing the ball well. You could tell something was a little bit off yesterday, but hopefully we get good news today.”

Means couldn’t pitch in the 2023 Division Series due to a forearm strain, and he went on the injured list Opening Day to get built up after a late start to his winter throwing program.

CHICAGO – Jordan Westburg is batting fifth tonight and playing third base in the series opener in Chicago.

Colton Cowser is in left field, Cedric Mullins is in center and Anthony Santander is in right.

Ryan Mountcastle is the first baseman, with Ryan O’Hearn serving as designated hitter.

Adley Rutschman leads the Orioles with 56 hits. He joins Milwaukee’s William Contreras (65) as the only catchers ranking first on their teams.

Grayson Rodriguez has a streak of 12 straight scoreless innings, third-longest by an Orioles starter behind Cole Irvin’s 22 2/3 and Albert Suárez’s 12 1/3.

CHICAGO – John Means is returning to the 15-day injured list.

The Orioles announced today that Means has been diagnosed with a left forearm strain, the same ailment that delayed his 2024 debut.

Reliever Jonathan Heasley was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Means on the roster.

Means tossed three scoreless innings yesterday in St. Louis but was flexing his arm and experiencing a noticeable decline in velocity across the board. The game was interrupted by rain but Means wasn’t returning for the fourth.

This is the latest setback for Means, who returned from Tommy John surgery last September, made four starts and missed the Division Series due to the forearm strain.

The Orioles have talked about going to a six-man rotation, certainly by the brutal stretch in June with only one day off. In the meantime, Cole Irvin pitches out of the bullpen and waits to find out if he’s bouncing between roles again.

Too many starters? We heard it before Kyle Bradish and John Means were reinstated from the injured list. Tyler Wells and Grayson Rodriguez were sidelined by inflammation in the elbow and shoulder, respectively. These things, yes, have a way of working themselves out.

Means made his fourth start yesterday and tossed three scoreless innings against the Cardinals with only one hit allowed. He threw 51 pitches and Irvin replaced him after inclement weather forced another interruption.

Toasted ravioli and rain delays. It’s what St. Louis does.

Was a storm the only reason Means came out of the game? Unfortunately, no.