Hyde on Bleier's injury, latest additions and more (O's down 8-5)

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hinted at the possibility yesterday. How left-hander Richard Bleier's reset could involve a trip to the injured list.

A medical check would determine the next course of action, which was confirmed this morning. Bleier is IL bound, the move backdated to yesterday.

"He's got a little bit of shoulder tendinitis," Hyde said. "Like we talked about, he wasn't bouncing back, he didn't feel that he had the same stuff, as well as his arm just wasn't recovering the way he wanted it to.

"He came back off a pretty major (surgery), really wanted to make the club and did, and was ahead of schedule from his rehab standpoint, and I think he probably pushed it a little bit. Even though we tried to take care of him, he was pushing it a little bit and we decided yesterday, let's just give him a little bit of a break.

"He's going to go down to Sarasota for a little while. He should be back, we're hoping, really soon, but it's more of just a breather for him."

Bleier is the latest pitcher to walk that line between being a gamer, pushing through whatever discomfort burdens him, and making an honest assessment and backing off. And managers have to make the accurate and responsible read.

"You want to give, especially a guy who's been around, the benefit of the doubt," Hyde said. "Rich worked his butt off to come back and it's a pretty major lat surgery he had. He kept saying how good he felt in spring, and he was recovering and his velo was good at the end. He was 90-91 his last time out in spring training. So yeah, you want to give him the benefit of the doubt of this guy is ready to go and this guy worked this hard to make the club and wants to be a part of who we are and what we are going forward. So he made the club.

"Should we have slow-played it a little bit? Maybe. That's why we made the decision on Mark (Trumbo), because it was obvious that Mark needed more time, and we're going to give Mark as much time as he needs.

"I just like talking to the veteran players and kind of getting their standpoint and their view on it, and Rich really wanted to be on the club and really felt he could help the team and really felt like he was ready. And now we're just going to take a little bit of a breather and, hopefully, he'll be back in a couple weeks."

The shuttle is dropping off two more pitchers today, with the Orioles recalling left-hander Tanner Scott from Triple-A Norfolk and selecting right-hander Josh Lucas' contract from the Tides. Left-hander Josh Rogers spent one day in Baltimore, pitching last night in relief and being optioned after the game.

"I think we kind of knew going in with our situation, rolling into the season with three starters with (Alex) Cobb out, how we were going to navigate through the first few weeks," Hyde said. "We have almost three weeks in a row of games that we're just starting into, so we kind of knew that there were going to be some opportunities for our bullpen guys, and now we're getting two new ones today.

"Excited to have Tanner and Josh. Josh threw the ball great in spring training. Tanner's got elite back-end stuff. We're just looking forward to watching them pitch, and the key to Tanner is getting him in the strike zone, because his stuff is so good."

Scott was optioned late in camp after allowing eight runs and nine hits and walking six batters in nine innings, the control issues that burdened him in the minors resurfacing for a period.

"I just like guys with stuff, and I think Tanner Scott's got back-end, elite stuff and got a chance to be really good from what I saw in spring," Hyde said. "I know his issue is sometimes he can lapse in command, but I'll take a chance on a guy with big-time ability that's got major league back-end stuff and let's try to develop him, so I'm excited he's here."

Lucas was a non-roster invitee who stuck around much longer than anticipated while allowing four runs with one walk and seven strikeouts in six innings.

Lucas appeared in eight games with the Athletics last season and registered a 6.28 ERA and 1.744 WHIP over 14 1/3 innings. The Orioles signed him on Nov. 29.

"He's got experience. I've seen him pitch before in the big leagues," Hyde said. "He threw the ball great in spring training, a really good slider, so we're excited to have him."

The Orioles already have used 30 players in 12 games, and more moves are on the horizon. There's going to be a lot of roster activity.

"Ideally, all of these guys throw the ball really well and stay here, right? But anything's possible right now," Hyde said.

"We got a pretty good look at a lot of these guys in spring training and there were some tough decisions at the end. Lucas was right at the end, he threw the ball so well. We told him then that it's probably not going to be very long before he gets called up and second week of the season he's up."

Update: Dwight Smith Jr. hit his first Orioles home run in the first inning for a 1-0 lead.

Update II: Khris Davis hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give Oakland a 2-1 lead. The Orioles set the franchise record by allowing a home run in their first 13 games.

Update III: Josh Phegley's two-run homer in the fifth gave Oakland a 4-1 lead.

Update IV: Davis and Kendrys Morales go back-to-back to open the sixth for a 6-1 lead and Dylan Bundy is done for the day.

Update V: Chad Pinder singled off Lucas in the sixth, took third on Cedric Mullins' two-base error and scored on Jurickson Profar's sacrifice fly for a 7-1 lead.

Update VI: The Orioles scored four runs in the seventh on a bases-loaded hit by pitch (Pedro Severino), wild pitch, RBI grounder from Mullins and run-scoring double from Smith to cut the lead to 7-5.

Update VII: Marcus Semien homered off Mychal Givens in the ninth for an 8-5 lead.