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CHICAGO – Four relievers pitched last night for the Orioles before they could secure an 8-7 win over the White Sox. Left-hander José Castillo kept his jacket on and his seat on the bench.
Castillo would be the 69th player to appear in a game with the Orioles this season. The Marlins set the record last year by using 70.
The Orioles are in a September race, but not the one they wanted.
The club record was 62 in 2021, but it didn’t stand a chance this year. Injuries and the trade deadline created a roster churn that’s still in motion.
The Orioles have used 39 different pitchers, including position players forced into emergency relief, the second-most in franchise history behind the 42 in 2021. Thirty-four position players have gotten into games, tied for first with the 1955 team.
CHICAGO – What seemed inevitable has become official. The numbers can’t be manipulated. Optimism can’t be manufactured.
The 2025 Orioles are eliminated from the playoff chase.
Tonight’s 8-7 victory over the White Sox at Rate Field won't prolong their bid for a miracle run at the final Wild Card. The Mariners and Astros won, and those teams held the Orioles' fate in their hands.
Finishing above .500 remains a possibility if the Orioles (71-80) win their last 11 games. Their most recent non-winning season was in 2021, when they lost 110.
They shocked the industry in ’22 by posting 83 victories and signaling an end to the rebuild, and they went 101-61 the following year to claim the division.
CHICAGO – The Orioles will get a second opinion on Albert Suárez’s right elbow after he underwent an MRI last night.
Suárez is done pitching in 2025 after the Orioles put him on the 15-day injured list yesterday with right elbow discomfort. He noticed it after throwing three innings Sunday in Toronto.
“I think in the next week we’ll have something official on him that we want to release,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino, “but we have to go through the proper channels and make sure that the treatment plan and everything is appropriate.”
The season has been a grind for Suárez, who made one appearance in March, also in Toronto, before going on the IL with a rotator cuff strain. He got into four games this month, allowing two runs in nine innings, before enduring another shutdown.
The bullpen has a new left-hander, José Castillo, a waiver claim from the Mariners who reported today.
CHICAGO – Jordan Westburg is ready to play again for the Orioles, who reinstated him from the 10-day injured list earlier today. He’s serving as the designated hitter for tonight’s game against the White Sox.
Westburg’s last appearance came on Aug. 18 in Boston. He’s been out with a right ankle sprain.
The injured list is back down to 10 players.
Infielder Emmanuel Rivera was designated for assignment to make room for Westburg. He’s hit .250/.291/.283 in 42 games.
The 40-man roster has 39 players.
CHICAGO – The White Sox announced last night’s attendance at 11,020, but the entire upper deck was empty and the lower bowl had rows and rows of unoccupied seats. Tickets sold don’t equal bodies in the ballpark. The Windy City isn’t keen on supporting a team that …
You can fill in the rest.
The mailbag carried the necessary weight to avoid tipping over. Time to sort through it.
This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. You ask and I answer. The sarcasm comes at no extra charge.
Also, my mailbag lays down squeeze bunts and your mailbag gets chased out of bakeries for squeezing bundts.
CHICAGO – Tony Mansolino was the Orioles third base coach and infield instructor last summer, not their interim manager, when Kyle Bradish tossed seven hitless innings in the White Sox’s home ballpark. The details are a bit fuzzy.
Rain delayed the start of the game for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Bradish matched his career high with 11 strikeouts and came out after 103 pitches. The first batter to face reliever Danny Coulombe ruined the drama by homering.
“How do I not remember this?” Mansolino asked this afternoon during his dugout media session.
“I hope he does it again tonight.”
Bradish walked the leadoff hitter, struck out the next two and surrendered back-to-back singles to give the White Sox an early lead. He wouldn’t chase history. The goal was much more simple. Just do the job well enough to give his team a chance to win.
CHICAGO – Albert Suárez started yesterday in Toronto, allowed a run over three innings, threw 53 pitches and was lost for the rest of the month.
That’s also a wrap on his 2025 season.
Suárez went on the 15-day injured list this afternoon with right elbow discomfort and is scheduled to undergo an MRI tonight. He made one appearance this season, on March 28 at Rogers Centre, and missed about five months with a rotator cuff strain.
In four September appearances, Suárez allowed two runs and four hits over nine innings and won twice. Yesterday was his first start since Sept. 29, 2024.
“After the third inning right there, just kind of where he was at, it was kind of, see how he felt, and he said there’s a little bit of tightness in the forearm, so wisely pulled the plug in that situation with Big Al,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino.
CHICAGO – The Orioles made another flurry of roster moves this afternoon in Chicago.
Relievers Chayce McDermott and Yaramil Hiradlo were recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. Albert Suárez was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort, ending his season, and Carson Ragsdale was designated for assignment.
Ragsdale was optioned yesterday before the DFA.
The Orioles also claimed left-hander José Castillo on waivers from the Mariners, but he hasn’t reported.
Infielder Jordan Westburg is with the club and said he’s ready to go, but the Orioles didn’t announce a move with him.
Center fielder Slater de Brun, chosen by the Orioles with the 37th overall pick in this year’s draft, draws comparisons to Arizona’s two-time All-Star Corbin Carroll based on his tools and stature.
There’s also got to be a musical comp for de Brun, who’s a duel threat as a baseball player and musician/producer.
The 5-foot-10 de Brun carries big aspirations on and off the field. He goes by “Lil Slayyy” when he’s in music mode, putting out country singles like “Break My Heart” and “Find Me a Bar” – the irony, of course, being that he’s too young to get served.
“Music is like an outlet for me, it’s a creative outlet for me, and it helps me get my thoughts not on paper but out of my head,” he said last week at Camden Yards. “Also, I like when people listen to my music because it shows that I’m like a vulnerable person. I’m not just a baseball player but I’m more than that. So I think it probably brings more people around me, I would hope, and that’s why I like music.
“We have time on our hands right now in the afternoons in Sarasota, so there’s a lot of extra time in professional baseball and you’ve got to fill that doing productive things, and for me, that’s a very productive thing.”
Jeremiah Jackson is the cleanup hitter today for the first time with the Orioles, who try to avoid a sweep this afternoon in Toronto.
Jackson is starting at third base. He’s hit in every spot in the lineup except third.
Dylan Beavers is in right field and batting second again. Samuel Basallo is the designated hitter and batting fifth.
Coby Mayo moves up to sixth after homering yesterday and producing his first multi-hit game since Aug. 6.
The Orioles lost yesterday for the 10th time when leading through seven innings and the third when ahead entering the ninth.
The Orioles brought up another new pitcher this morning, recalling right-hander Carson Ragsdale from Triple-A Norfolk and placing Shawn Dubin on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort.
Ragsdale will wear No. 83. He’s waiting to make his major league debut after posting a 3.47 ERA and 1.157 WHIP in seven games (five starts) with Norfolk.
Ragsdale, 27, began the season with Triple-A Sacramento in the Giants’ organization. The Orioles claimed him on waivers Aug. 3.
If Ragsdale gets into a game, he’ll be the 68th player used by the Orioles this season.
Dubin made seven relief appearances and allowed three runs in eight innings. He pitched Friday and was charged with three runs and four hits in 1 2/3.
The Orioles didn’t map out an extensive offseason plan for Ike Irish, their first pick in the 2025 amateur draft. He was able to determine necessary areas of improvement just by visiting Camden Yards last week.
Put a bunch of major league players around a 21-year-old in his first professional season and it becomes clear.
“I think it’s the big things, like you’ve got to get more physical,” he said during a media scrum in the Orioles’ dugout. “Just for myself, standing around these big leaguers, I’m a little smaller than they are, so get a little more physical. And then just fine-tune the talent and get better in all aspects of the game, because I have to.”
Irish obviously didn’t let his draft status go to his head.
The Orioles had four draft picks within the top 37 and chose Irish 19th overall out of Auburn University, thrilled that one of the top hitters in the draft fell to them.
Dylan Beavers moves up to second in the Orioles’ lineup today, the first time he’s hit higher than fifth in the majors. He’s in right field, with Jeremiah Jackson on the bench.
Tyler O’Neill is the designated hitter again and is batting cleanup. Coby Mayo returns to the lineup at first base and is batting ninth.
Samuel Basallo is catching. Dylan Carlson is in left field and Emmanuel Rivera is at third base again.
Tomoyuki Sugano takes his turn today after leaving his last start with a sore right foot. He was hit by a sharp one-hopper and limped to the dugout.
Two of his first three starts in the U.S. came against the Blue Jays. He allowed two runs in four innings in his debut in Toronto and three runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 at Camden Yards.
Various worlds were rocked back in May with manager Brandon Hyde’s firing in his seventh season on the job. It began with Hyde, of course, who learned of his fate the night before the team’s announcement and returned to his home in Sarasota County. Major league field coordinator and catching instructor Tim Cossins, a close friend of Hyde’s since they were teenagers, also was dismissed.
Tony Mansolino thought he’d remain third base coach, his role since the 2021 season, but the Orioles named him interim manager. His move out of the box prompted Buck Britton’s switch from major league coach.
Britton managed Triple-A Norfolk for the past three seasons. He barely had time to get acclimated to the majors, a level he never reached as a player, and he already was inheriting a new title.
“I’ve been in the big leagues for, what five months? It feels like I’ve been here for two years,” Britton said this week, smiling at the accelerated pace of his professional life.
“I never expected to be thrown into the fire. Very thankful and blessed that I was the guy to go over to third base and do that. It’s been a wild ride.
Tyler O’Neill is serving as the designated hitter tonight and batting sixth, as the Orioles begin their three-game series in Toronto.
O’Neill was reinstated from the injured list earlier today.
Ryan Mountcastle is the first baseman, which puts Coby Mayo on the bench.
Dylan Beavers is in left field and Jeremiah Jackson is in right. Samuel Basallo is catching.
The Orioles’ five walk-off wins in the second half are tied with the Rangers and Mariners for most in the majors.
Tyler O’Neill will give it another try and hope to make it through the rest of the month.
The Orioles reinstated O’Neill from the 10-day injured list this afternoon and optioned outfielder Daniel Johnson to Triple-A Norfolk. O’Neill hasn’t played since Aug. 5 in Philadelphia due to right wrist inflammation. He just finished a rehab assignment that ended with Triple-A Norfolk.
O'Neill has made three stops on the injured list this season. He's appeared in 43 games in his first season with the Orioles and slashed .210/.293/.434 with six doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 23 RBIs. He homered and went 3-for-3 with three RBIs on Opening Day at Rogers Centre. He also homered against the Blue Jays on April 13 in Baltimore.
Left-hander Trevor Rogers makes his 16th start after posting a 1.51 ERA and 0.868 WHIP in 95 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Dodgers in his last outing, the first time that he surrendered more than one since July 20 in Tampa.
Rogers’ 1.51 ERA through 15 starts is an all-time low among Orioles pitchers.
Tony Mansolino wrote out his lineup again yesterday, confirmed the plan for starter Dean Kremer in Toronto and tried to guide the Orioles to a series sweep against the Pirates before boarding the team charter for another road trip.
The season is down to the final 16 games. The Blue Jays are in first place in the American League East, fighting to stay ahead of the Yankees. The Orioles play them, too – four games at Camden Yards and three in the Bronx to close out 2025.
Mansolino dismissed a suggestion yesterday that he isn’t managing under any pressure based on the team’s last-place residency and being outside the heat of a playoff chase. That maybe the job is different for him. He recalled some advice he received many years ago from former Cleveland manager Terry Francona.
It still applies with the Orioles as Mansolino related the question to managing in the majors versus the minors.
“He told me at the time, ‘Make Lynchburg your Cleveland,’” Mansolino said.
The Orioles looked like they were trying to maintain their run of walk-off wins this afternoon. Tie the game, take a lead and be tied again within the first three innings. Get in and out of jams. Pin the opposing pitcher on the ropes and let him escape.
Just get them to the ninth or past regulation, when something magic happens.
Dylan Beavers was last night’s hero with his bases-loaded single in the 10th. He delivered the go-ahead run again today, but it came from an infield hit in the seventh inning to propel the Orioles to a 3-2 win before an announced crowd of 13,957 at sunny Camden Yards.
Four of the previous five games ended with walk-off wins, but wild celebrations aren’t promised.
The Orioles (69-77) have won eight of their last nine games and nine of 11. Twelve more victories guarantee a .500 finish or better.
The Orioles will expand their offseason searches beyond deciding on a manager and coaching staff. They have more on their plate than improving the roster.
Mike Elias was promoted from executive vice president/general manager to president of baseball operations, according to a source. The switch was made last winter.
A replacement for Elias is on the docket.
The team's staff directory still lists Elias with his former title, which he held since his hiring from the Astros organization on Nov. 16, 2018.
A painfully slow start to the season cost manager Brandon Hyde his job on May 17, with third base coach Tony Mansolino replacing him on an interim basis. Speculation swirled around Elias pertaining to his own job security, with his bump remaining quiet until today.
The Orioles are planning on a bullpen game for Sunday in Toronto, an adjustment made to their rotation after skipping Dean Kremer’s turn.
Albert Suárez is a candidate after working three innings Saturday. He also earned the win last night with a scoreless 10th inning.
Keegan Akin also could be under consideration. He’s served as an opener three times. Dietrich Enns has opened in one game.
“Kind of whoever we have available after the first two,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino.
Trevor Rogers starts Friday night and Tomoyuki Sugano on Saturday.
