The Orioles haven’t received the final results on the imaging and additional testing on Danny Coulombe’s left elbow. However, they aren't reaching for the proverbial panic button.

Coulombe went on the injured list yesterday, a surprising development following his two perfect innings Saturday at Tropicana Field.

“After my last outing, just had some residual soreness when I played catch two days after that. We’re still gathering information on it,” he said this afternoon while surrounded by media at his locker.

“I think we’re pretty optimistic about it.”

Coulombe underwent Tommy John surgery in 2011 as a junior at Texas Tech. He said he’s never experienced this type of discomfort, which actually is a positive sign given his familiarity with ligament reconstruction.

The Orioles are tested almost on a daily basis. The opponent is just a fragment of it.

Injuries are rampant throughout baseball and no one is feeling sorry for manager Brandon Hyde’s club, but a hug now and then would be nice.

The Braves are trying to catch the Phillies without outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., who now has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in both knees in the last three years. The Phillies just lost catcher J.T. Realmuto to right knee surgery and already were missing shortstop Trea Turner and outfielder Brandon Marsh to hamstring injuries.

The Yankees are fighting to stay ahead of the Orioles while waiting for Gerrit Cole to make his 2024 debut. Outfielder Juan Soto missed time with left forearm inflammation. Mariners first baseman Ty France fractured his right heel.

This is just scratching the surface, which feels more like deep cuts.

The Orioles regained the services of their second baseman today and lost a high-leverage reliever with All-Star credentials.

Jorge Mateo was reinstated from the seven-day concussion list and is in tonight’s lineup against the Braves, with Connor Norby optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Norby had a locker set up in the clubhouse and didn’t get to use it.

The shocker is Danny Coulombe going on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Sunday with left elbow inflammation.

Coulombe has registered a 2.42 ERA and 0.615 WHIP in 29 appearances. He’s allowed seven runs and 13 hits in 26 innings, with only three walks, 28 strikeouts and three home runs surrendered.

The bullpen has allowed only two earned runs in the last 34 innings and Coulombe is an integral part of its success, including a 3.29 ERA that ranks third in the American League and fourth in the majors.

The task at hand can’t change because of an elbow.

Teammates, manager Brandon Hyde and his staff collectively hurt for John Means and Tyler Wells, who will undergo surgery to repair their ulnar collateral ligaments. Two huge contributors to the club are gone, but the process stays the same.

Go out and do your job. Stay within yourself. Don’t feel pressure to replace the missing and make it worse.

“I just want them to do what they do,” manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday afternoon. “Give us the best starts that they can. I don’t want them to try to do anything extra. We’ve thrown the ball really well so far this year. Hopefully, we continue to do that.

“I want our guys to do what Albert Suárez did (Friday) night. Just give us as much as they can every time out.”

CHICAGO – Get the rain delay out of the way first, this one lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes. Send Kyle Bradish to the mound. Try to complete the first four-game sweep against the White Sox since 1995.

Try to do it before the weather takes another nasty turn.

Who knew that Bradish would be nastier?

Bradish didn’t allow a hit for seven innings, but the combined attempt at history failed when Danny Mendick came off the bench in the eighth and belted a leadoff home run against Danny Coulombe.

The Orioles didn’t get their seventh no-hitter. No matter. They left town with a 4-1 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 14,992 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Teammates felt sharp pangs of sympathy for Orioles pitcher John Means, experiencing their own discomfort after he packed up his belongings Wednesday and flew back to Baltimore.

They don’t know when they’ll see him again, though early next week at Camden Yards is most likely. They don’t know how long he’ll be on the injured list or when he’ll start again. No one had answers yesterday.

None of it seemed fair.

Means returns from ligament-reconstructive surgery in his elbow and a strained muscle in his upper back, only to be shelved by a strained left forearm that keeps him off the Division Series roster. He accepts that he’ll begin the 2024 season on the injured list, is reinstated, and returns to it after only four starts and with his ERA at 2.61 and WHIP at 0.871.

“It’s so hard to hear,” said reliever Danny Coulombe. “John just worked his tail off to get back. Nobody can ever question his work ethic. But his body didn’t cooperate and we’re just hoping and praying for the best.

The three weeks that passed since Grayson Rodriguez’s last start probably made today’s delay more tolerable. He had to wait almost three hours, the threat of rain more impactful than actual precipitation. But he was back in the rotation, short leash and all.

The only radar that interested him was clocking his fastball.

Rodriguez didn’t allow a hit until Julio Rodríguez’s infield single with one out in the sixth and didn’t surrender a run, but the bullpen buckled in the Orioles’ 4-3 loss to the Mariners before an announced crowd of 19,286 at Camden Yards.

Gunnar Henderson hit a two-out, opposite field home run off Andrés Muñoz in the ninth, his 14th of the season to lead the majors, but the Orioles fell to 28-15 and trail the first-place Yankees by two games.

Rodriguez settled for a no-decision rather than earning his fifth win because a 2-0 lead evaporated after he left.

Rarely do a reliever’s first warmup tosses in the bullpen create such a stir.

Craig Kimbrel wasn’t getting ready last night for the ninth inning. He was prepping for the seventh in a one-run game. Cue the gasps.

The Orioles went with the reset over their other options, and Kimbrel retired the Diamondbacks in order to preserve a 3-2 lead. One ball was scalded to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle. Another ball drove right fielder Anthony Santander to the edge of the warning track. But they were outs. Do not quibble.

Kimbrel is working on his mechanics. He isn’t dealing with upper-back tightness or anything else physical. And he’s still the guy who expects the ball in a save situation if he’s available. He said so earlier in the day at his locker.

The Orioles seemed to be on the same wavelength judging by manager Brandon Hyde’s comments after Wednesday night’s thriller in D.C. They didn’t appear ready to demote Kimbrel or do anything drastic.

A lot can change in a span of a few days for bullpen pitchers. It has for the Orioles bullpen.

Heading into the Yankees series, the O’s ‘pen was coming off a weekend with two blown leads in the ninth. And that ‘pen had been scored on in 13 of the previous 16 games, pitching to an ERA of 5.37 in that span.

Then Cionel Pérez, Yennier Cano and Danny Coulombe combined for 3 1/3 scoreless to close out Monday’s 2-0 win over New York. And Keegan Akin and Jacob Webb combined for two scoreless in last night’s 4-2 victory.

Webb got his first save with the Orioles, getting four outs, three via a strikeout, on three different pitches Tuesday night.

He ended the eighth fanning Aaron Judge on a changeup and began the ninth with strikeouts of Giancarlo Stanton on a sweeper and of Anthony Rizzo looking at a 95 mph fastball. He got a groundout to end the game.

When Gunnar Henderson drove a Clarke Schmidt curveball to the flag court in right – a ball he smoked at 112.3 mph, his hardest-hit homer this year – the Orioles series with the Yankees was off and running.

They got off to a good start and had a strong finish.

No leads got away on this night as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees 2-0 to improve to 18-10 and tie for first place. Technically, via a win percentage of .643 to New York’s .633, the O’s have the AL East lead.

It was another O’s win that had Henderson’s fingerprints all over it. Another game where he showed off his massive baseball tools. Another game where his impact was vast and the plays he made big.

He helped beat the Yankees with his bat, his glove and his speed.

The thought struck Danny Coulombe like a screaming line drive. At least it didn’t leave any bruises.

“Man, I got to play catch with a Hall of Famer.”

That’s the impact closer Craig Kimbrel makes on his new teammates.

Coulombe and Kimbrel worked out together before Monday night’s game at Camden Yards. Tossing a baseball back and forth no longer felt routine. There was something special about it for Coulombe.

“He’s obviously a Hall of Famer,” Coulombe said yesterday, anticipating the voting that awaits Kimbrel five years after his retirement, “but he is like the most down to earth guy you’ll ever meet.”

He had to wait until his third at-bat today and the 14^th of his major league career, but Jackson Holliday’s first hit came in the last of the seventh today. And it helped fuel a game-winning, two-run rally for the Orioles.

With the O's trailing 4-3 after Milwaukee's Blake Perkins homered off Yennier Cano in the top of the seventh, Jordan Westburg led off the home seventh and punched a single into left.

Then Holliday had his big moment.

Off reliever Abner Uribe, he hit a 1-0 two-seamer at 99.3 mph into right field for a groundball single at 101.4 mph off the bat. Westburg scampered to third and a rally was brewing in Birdland. That hit made Holliday now 1-for-14.

Gunnar Henderson followed with a line single to right to score a run and tie it 4-4, and Holliday made a dash for third and beat the throw. That was important as the next batter, Adley Rutschman, grounded into a 6-3 double play. But because he was on third, Holliday scored the go-ahead run for the 5-4 lead.  

BOSTON – The reporter approached Ryan Mountcastle’s locker yesterday, asked if he had a minute and explained that only one topic could be covered. The important one. You know it.

Mountcastle turned around, smiled and said, “Jackson Holliday.”

Of course. It wasn’t the best lobster rolls in New England.

Players learned about Holliday’s promotion late Tuesday night. They, too, have sources scattered throughout baseball.

“Somebody sent it to me over a text,” Mountcastle said. “Super excited for him and super excited for the team and fans to have him up. Hopefully, he does well. Super excited to have him here.”

PITTSBURGH – Maybe it was the sunshine and dry conditions that flustered the Orioles. They couldn’t get Pirates starter Bailey Falter to live up to his name. They needed him to leave. Nothing good would happen until he was back inside the clubhouse.

The game still ended poorly, but at least there were flickers of hope. Too bad they'd get burned in extra innings.

Danny Coulombe escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 10th, but the Orioles failed to score in the top of the 11th and Oneil Cruz singled off Jonathan Heasley to plate Henry Davis for a 5-4 walk-off win at PNC Park.

Cedric Mullins made a sensational diving catch to rob Ke'Bryan Hayes, but Cruz lined a first-pitch sweeper into right field and the Pirates stormed the field.

The Orioles went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They scored on a ground ball, two fly balls and a fielder's choice. But they still had a chance.

The last day of camp.

Danny Coulombe won’t forget it. A visitor to his locker fumbles for the exact date, and Coulombe says evenly, “The last day of camp.” And then he smiles.

The reliever is talking about March 27, 2023, when the Twins traded him to the Orioles for cash considerations. They might have wanted to consider holding onto him, since they’d lose a couple left-handed relievers during the summer and since he’d craft the finest season of his major league career with a 2.81 ERA in 61 appearances and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

The guy with a low profile became high leverage.

Coulombe’s career carried him from 40-man roster exile to lock status in spring training 2024. Baseball can break your heart or build you back up.

It’s still very early in spring training but never too early to take a shot at guesses – and that is what they truly are, guesses – at the makeup of the Opening Day roster.

Today I will take a shot at projecting an eight-man bullpen that would work behind a starting group of five pitching in some order to include Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Cole Irvin and Tyler Wells beginning March 28.

At the back-end closing games is righty Craig Kimbrel, who will have that job for the opener barring a big surprise or an injury issue.

The Orioles, minus Félix Bautista for this season after his surgery, will be turning over the job to a very experienced pitcher who is a nine-time All Star that ranks eighth all-time with 417 saves.

He led the NL in saves four straight years from 2011-2014 and has 11 seasons of 20 or more saves.

Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins may well be a player driven and motivated this year by what happened last year.

And I don’t mean how the Orioles’ season ended against Texas. But how his season ended and went at times – he was on the injured list twice during the year. After missing nine games total in the 2021-22 seasons, he was limited to 116 games in ’23.

Mullins hit just .198 last September and then was 0-for-12 in the AL Division Series.

During Birdland Caravan, O’s first base and outfielders coach Anthony Sanders talked about Mullins late-season struggles. In the end was he just too banged up to play?

“We as a staff, we know the vibe of the players,” said Sanders. “We know the bumps and bruises they have. You have to trust in those guys that are professionals. Even though Ced’s bat didn’t probably show up, he still brought another element to the game that this team relies on. He’s a leader of this team and I would not have done it any different way.”

Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb, two Orioles relievers who project to make the Opening Day roster but with different odds, have slightly dissimilar approaches in the offseason to attacking their perceived weaknesses.

Both pitchers are doing less mechanical tweaking and more mental adjusting, but with goals that don’t exactly match up.

Coulombe appears to be a lock to break camp with the team as one of three or four left-handers in the bullpen. Cionel Pérez, DL Hall and Cole Irvin also are front and center in the discussion, with Bruce Zimmermann and Nick Vespi trying to crash the southpaw party.

An opening still exists in the rotation, which obviously could impact the bullpen’s composition. But it won’t touch Coulombe, who posted a 2.81 ERA and 1.110 WHIP in 61 appearances after the Orioles acquired him from the Twins toward the end of spring training.

“I was really happy with it,” he said at the Birdland Caravan. “I’m a perfectionist, so there’s things I know I can get better at, but I was really happy with the way it went. I really enjoyed the role and I’m excited to get it rolling again.”

On the day that Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias selected Heston Kjerstad in the 2020 draft, he talked about the second-overall pick playing right field at Camden Yards. As if the position was just waiting for him.

The diagnosis of myocarditis and a hamstring injury prolonged the wait, but Kjerstad made his major league debut on Sept. 14 and was put on the American League Division Series roster. His power could make jaws drop. But would his defense keep him in the field?

Fly balls dropping wouldn’t work in any ballpark.

The Orioles are geared toward getting Kjerstad more comfortable in the corners. He made 37 starts at first base in the minors last year, but they don’t see his future in the infield. In an emergency, perhaps, but they want to develop him where they pictured him.

I’ve talked to scouts from outside the organization who believe that Kjerstad can be, at the least, an average defender with room to grow. Capable of getting better jumps, taking better routes and covering more ground.

Aaron Hicks injured his left hamstring on July 24 in Philadelphia while racing in for a fly ball from Johan Rojas in the third inning. Colton Cowser replaced him in center field.

Cowser batted in the ninth inning and lined a tie-breaking double to left field off Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel that scored rookie Gunnar Henderson.

Henderson will be in the Orioles’ Opening Day lineup in March. Kimbrel will sit in the bullpen as the new closer. Cowser could be in the lineup, on the bench or at minor league camp.

“We’re going to have a really competitive spring,” Cowser said at the Birdland Caravan. “I know that we have a lot of really good outfielders on this team and a lot of guys who can play multiple positions, but I’m looking forward to competing and having a good time out at spring.”

Cowser needed more of those fantastic Philly finishes. He collected two more hits in 22 at-bats. The RBI was his fourth and last.