Hyde on Wynns, minor league camp, Bundy and more (O's down 4-3)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles catcher Austin Wynns took some swings this morning and could return in a week from his oblique injury.

Wynns is falling behind in the catching competition, which intensified with Jesús Sucre's arrival in camp. But an oblique strain is slow to heal and the Orioles won't rush Wynns, no matter what's at stake.

Manager Brandon Hyde said the competition remains "wide open."

"I'm trying to get Sucre in there as much as possible because of the amount of time that he's missed," Hyde said. "Wynns is getting close. He hit off the tee today and hit this morning a little bit in the cage, so I think you're going to see him in a week-ish.

"I think it's still wide open. We still have two weeks to go. These guys are all going to get a lot of innings, a lot of at-bats."

Miguel Castro and Gabriel Ynoa headed over to the minor league complex this morning to pitch in games and build up their innings. Castro has tossed five scoreless, his last appearance coming on Sunday. Ynoa hasn't pitched in a Grapefruit League game since giving the Orioles four scoreless innings out of the bullpen back on March 8.

"As guys' innings increase, then you run out of innings during the game," Hyde said. "Starting today, there are going to be guys going over to Twin Lakes. We haven't mapped it out for the entire week. That's kind of a day-to-day thing."

Dylan Bundy will make his latest attempt today to slip into a groove after allowing 10 runs and 15 hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"With Dylan, I think he's been a little frustrated his last couple outings," Hyde said. "Kind of had weird situations where he's had some long innings and then we went out and scored a ton of runs. He didn't just get to go right back out there. He had to sit for 30 minutes twice.

"Not that I'm hoping we don't score a ton of runs. I hope we do. But I kind of hope he just has a little bit more of a consistent outing, able to get his pitch count up. That's the big thing. Come off the field healthy. But also really start executing.

"Now is the time where got to start executing pitches and got to start feeling good coming off the mound. It's not important that he has a shutdown-type of start, but I want him to have a productive start for him and feel good about the shape of his pitches and that he gets his pitch count up."

Bundy isn't new to spring struggles. He posted a 7.20 ERA and 1.65 WHIP with a .326 average-against in five starts in 2018.

It's more about commanding his fastball than increasing the velocity, which is down a notch again in camp.

"Typically his fastball, the velo does go up as the season goes along," Hyde said. "This is typical for him. I talked about it with him after his last start. For me, yeah, it's command, shape of his off-speed stuff. He didn't really have his off-speed stuff his last start, so for me that's important. And just continue to command and get his pitch count up."

Today's lineup includes Austin Hays in center field and Cedric Mullins in left. Hyde didn't bite when asked whether Hays has presented himself as an option to start in center.

Hays is 11-for-31 with two doubles, a triple, four home runs and 11 RBIs this spring. Mullins is 4-for-29 with two doubles and a home run.

Mullins made one start in left field with the Orioles last summer, but only for the first inning in the season finale before going back to center. Adam Jones moved from center to right.

"Yesterday I had Escy (Alcides Escobar) at third, (Hanser) Alberto at short," Hyde said. "Jonathan (Villar) has been at short. I'm going to continue to rotate guys. I'll continue to put guys in spots where they have a chance to play during the season, so I wouldn't read too much into that.

"That's just more of Cedric getting some looks in left field. Austin played right the other night, so I wanted to get him in center today and then just continue to move guys around a little bit."

Pitchers listed behind Bundy today include Jimmy Yacabonis, Pedro Araujo, Paul Fry and Branden Kline. Pitchers behind David Hess on Friday include Josh Rogers, Nate Karns, Richard Bleier, Mychal Givens and Josh Lucas.

Alex Cobb starts Saturday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin and Mike Wright starts Sunday against the Yankees in Sarasota.

The Orioles have brought pitchers Luis Gonzalez, Lucas Long and Matt Wotherspoon, catcher Alfredo Gonzalez, infielder Zach Vincej, and outfielders Ryan McKenna and T.J. Nichting from minor league camp for today's game.

For the Twins
Michael Reed RF
Ehire Adianza LF
Willians Astudillo 3B
Jake Cave CF
Tyler Austin 1B
Lucas Duda DH
Ronald Torreyes SS
Adam Rosales 2B
Tomás Telis C

Chase De Jong RHP

Update: Mullins led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Bundy threw 10 pitches, all strikes, in the top half.

Update II: Bundy allowed a run on three singles in the third, with Willians Astudillo collecting the game-tying RBI.

Update III: Hays' RBI double and Jace Peterson's run-scoring ground ball gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead in the fourth. Michael Reed responded with a run-scoring single off Bundy in the fifth.

Update IV: Bundy allowed three runs in the top of the fifth and the Orioles trail 4-3. He threw 74 pitches in five innings.