Coulombe set for rehab assignment later this week

Orioles reliever Danny Coulombe is ready to begin his rehab assignment.

Coulombe will join Triple-A Norfolk for Wednesday night’s game in Durham, his first competition beyond live batting practice since undergoing surgery in June to remove bone chips in his left elbow.

The Orioles haven’t used Coulombe since June 8, when he retired all six batters faced and struck out three at Tropicana Field. On hold is a 2.42 ERA and 0.615 WHIP in 29 appearances, and a streak of all 12 inherited runners stranded, that led to some early talk about a possible All-Star selection.

The Orioles would settle for making him available to manager Brandon Hyde in a pennant race.

Left-handers are batting .171/.229/.400 against Coulombe and right-handers are hitting .130/.175/.315. He's evolved into a high-leverage reliever and an absolute steal from the Twins in a March 27, 2023 cash transaction trade.

Coulombe threw to Coby Mayo and Livan Soto again yesterday at Camden Yards and said his elbow felt “great.” Now comes the next step and eventually footing in the bullpen for games.

Reliever Jacob Webb is resuming his rehab assignment Tuesday night with Norfolk. He hasn’t pitched since allowing four runs in one-third of an inning Wednesday at Double-A Bowie, with two runs scoring after he departed.

Webb tossed a scoreless inning for the Tides before reporting to Bowie. The Orioles have him an extended break between appearances leading to his trip to Durham.

Grayson Rodriguez is throwing in the bullpen, mixing fastballs and off-speed stuff, and getting close to live batting practice sessions and his own minor league appearances.

The Orioles are a half-game behind the Yankees in the division race and in need of reinforcements down the stretch.

“It’s like trade deadline 2.0, acquisitions by reinstatement from the IL,” said pitching coach Drew French.

“These guys are all doing really well. … On the ground running with these guys. Huge acquisitions if we can get them back and healthy.”

Norfolk’s season concludes on Sept. 22, placing more urgency on getting Rodriguez ready for an assignment and stretching him out to start.

“We know we’re coming up against it right now, but we’re very hopeful. The plan that we have in place with the medical team and the front office, we’re hopeful to have him back in that capacity,” French said.

“Obviously everything is on the table at this point, so we just kind of take it day-by-day and see where we’re at at the end.”

Here are the starters for the Red Sox series at Fenway Park:

Monday: LHP Cade Povich vs. RHP Brayan Bello
Tuesday: RHP Albert Suárez vs. RHP Kutter Crawford
Wednesday: RHP Dean Kremer vs. Nick Pivetta