Hyde on Givens' sore shoulder: "It's a low level of concern"

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.

The shoulder injury is the latest setback after the Orioles signed Givens to a one-year deal with a mutual option, bringing him back to the organization that drafted him as a shortstop in the second round in 2009.

* Ryan Mountcastle is 0-for-14 with three walks on his rehab assignment with Norfolk.  He’s on the IL with vertigo.

Hyde talked again about weighing the quality of at-bats against stats and health.

“It’s going to be a case-by-case basis, honestly,” Hyde said. “Mounty hasn’t missed a ton of games. Just like to see him, one, feel good after games, two, that his at-bats, we want to see them continue to improve, that he’s ready to come here. Depending if that’s 13 at-bats or 20 at-bats.”

The Orioles haven’t said much about the vertigo and whether Mountcastle experienced it in the past. He was in a 4-for-30 slump before going on the IL.

Asked if there was any suspicion that Mountcastle’s condition was coming on gradually, Hyde said, “I think possibly, possibly on the road trip to San Francisco. He didn’t swing the bat very well and might have played a part in it.

“Not putting my finger on a certain day or anything, but could have played a part in it.”

* Catcher James McCann is on the 10-day injured list with a sprained ankle. He said it’s feeling better and making progress every day, but the club hasn’t discussed a timetable for his return.

“I was able to hit in the cage yesterday,” he said. “Haven’t been able to get on the field because of the rain, so we’re just taking it day by day. I feel like I’m in a good spot, especially compared to where I was a week ago today.”

McCann injured the ankle after sliding into first base in the second inning of a June 17 game at Wrigley Field. He was removed for a pinch-hitter in the sixth, moving Adley Rutschman behind the plate and costing the Orioles their designated hitter.

“I knew when I hit the bag funny that I had hurt it, but just the situation of the game, you’re in the moment, the adrenaline and everything, I knew that I could kind of grin and bear it,” he said.

“Had I come back, Rutsch would have had to go in and (Kyle) Gibson would have been put in my spot, so we would have been forced to make a decision to either have Gibson take an at-bat or have to pinch-hit him and lose our starting pitcher. So, my job at that point was to go as long as I could, and that’s what I told Skipper, was ‘I’m going to go as long as I possibly can just to get it to where we’re not losing pinch-hitter and losing pitchers.”

* Rutschman is on the bench today but could appear later in a pinch-hitting role. He’s made 53 starts behind the plate and also served as DH in 17.

Hyde wants the bat in the lineup, but not at the risk of burnout.

“That’s the challenge,” he said. “There’s only a handful of catchers in the big leagues where they’re also hitting two or three in the lineup, in a big part of your offense. You just try to pick spots. I feel like today he could use a break, and we talked after the game yesterday. That’s how I’ve done it so far this year. But he loves to play and I’m sure you’ll see him in the game at some point.

“Hopefully not. That means we’re winning. I’d much rather give him a day off than have to use him. But it’s really kind of a feel thing by me, and the communication with him and the strength-and-training staff on mapping out his week.”

* Cedric Mullins was moved from center field to the designated hitter spot yesterday, but the lineup hasn’t changed today. Mullins is playing his usual position.

“I went out there an hour and 15 minutes before the game and I walked and it was raining, and I thought it was wet,” Hyde said. “I just didn’t want to take any chances with him, with the type of injury that he had, on his first day back to put him out in center field if it was going to be slippery or wet at all.

“The night before I saw (Aaron Hicks) slip on a throw in, and I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to (Mullins) out there in the outfield in his first day back.”

For the Mariners
J.P. Crawford SS
Julio Rodríguez CF
Ty France 1B
Teoscar Hernández RF
Jarred Kelenic LF
Eugenio Suárez 3B
Cal Raleigh C
Mike Ford DH
José Caballero 2B

George Kirby RHP