O's pregame notes on Givens, Tate, Bradish and more from Washington

WASHINGTON – The Orioles are getting closer to gaining reinforcements for their well used bullpen. Manager Brandon Hyde said today he is hopeful that both Mychal Givens and Dillon Tate can begin rehab assignments sometime next week.

Both right-handers have officially been on the injured list since Opening Day. Givens is out due to left knee inflammation. He pitched in four spring games, allowing one unearned run in four innings. His last spring game was March 16. Tate, on the IL with a strained right forearm, did not pitch at all during spring.

Some already thought that Givens was a bit ahead in his rehab and might push up his return date, but now it appears both pitchers could return sooner than anticipated.

“Hopefully, both of those guys are going to go out at some point next week for rehab assignments,” Hyde said.

Hyde said timelines for the return of both are “pretty similar and it’s all going to depend on how they feel. And we’re hoping to get them both out of Sarasota sometime next week.”

Speaking of rejoining the roster, right-hander Kyle Bradish did that officially today and makes tonight’s start at Washington. It's his second outing of the year and first since he took a liner off his right foot and went on the injured list April 3 at Texas. He allowed three earned runs in five innings on 82 pitches in a rehab game Friday at Double-A Bowie.

“You don’t know what to expect, honestly, because he has missed a bit of time, but encouraged by his rehab start," Hyde said. "I was really encouraged with how he threw the ball in Texas before he got hit by the line drive. Thought he had great stuff that day and hope he can pick up where he left off.”

The Orioles optioned righty reliever Logan Gillaspie back to Triple-A after last night's game. Gillaspie got a lot of work with the big club, pitching in eight games and allowing four earned runs and eight hits over five innings.

“Well, we had to make room. Logan had a lot of appearances for us and was up quite a few times for us in the games he didn’t pitch in,” Hyde stated. “We’re going to be making roster moves all season long, obviously, and these things happen just from availability and injury, etc. So Logan is going to go down and be ready to come back up whenever his name is called.”

Hyde was asked what reports he got on lefty Cole Irvin’s Triple-A start Tuesday night for Norfolk. Irvin went six innings, allowing seven hits and two runs on 99 pitches. He was the winning pitcher as Norfolk beat Rochester 5-3 to improve to 11-4 for the season.

“Just saw the game report on it. Looks like he threw the ball well," Hyde said. "A bunch of strikes. Good to see him throw almost 100 pitches, which is fantastic. Love when those guys go down and throw a lot of pitches and stay built up. Felt like he threw well last night.”

Hyde was also asked if he shared any fatherly advice with lefty reliever Keegan Akin, who rejoined the team yesterday after time on the paternity list.

“I told him he gets 15 percent stronger once you have a child. It’s dad strength. So I expect him to come out and throw about 98,” he said with a laugh.

And Hyde also had big praise today for the Orioles training and conditioning staffs for getting players including Ramón Urías back onto the field quickly after an injury or, in Urías' case, time spent in a concussion protocol situation.

“Best medical staff in the game. They’re amazing," Hyde said. "They are all about the players and the players have a ton of respect for those guys. They’ve worked miracles since I’ve been here."