CLEARWATER, Fla. – DL Hall is making his exhibition debut this afternoon against the Phillies in Clearwater, where he also pitched for the first time last spring.

Hall threw a two-inning simulated game last week to prepare for today's assignment.

Hall and Félix Bautista are following starter Kyle Bradish. Rule 5 pick Andrew Politi also is on the trip.

The Orioles stacked the bottom of their order with prospects.

Jordan Westburg is batting seventh and playing second base, followed by designated hitter Heston Kjerstad and left fielder Colton Cowser.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Just as the Orioles appear closer to deciding on their eight relievers for Opening Day, they toss another grenade into the projections and mocks that already are ill-equipped to instill absolute confidence.

I’m expanding my locks to six, with Dillon Tate absent due to the forearm strain that’s kept him out of games but closer Félix Bautista back in the mix.

Bautista is pitching later today against the Phillies in Clearwater, increasing his number of games and innings to three. He’s expected to make another appearance Thursday night against the Tigers in Sarasota. The big man inching closer to that charter flight to Boston.

Cionel Pérez, Mychal Givens and Bryan Baker already were secure. Baker had a nice bounce back outing yesterday with a scoreless sixth inning, striking out a batter and allowing just a soft single from Ji-Man Choi to the opposite field. He retired Oneil Cruz and Carlos Santana on fly balls and fanned Bryan Reynolds.

Baker insisted that felt good on the mound and the results would get better. Not an ounce of concern from the reliever or anyone else in the organization. And yesterday proved why.

SARASOTA, Fla – Kyle Gibson is the first Orioles pitcher to complete five innings.

He looked like a pitcher today who would go first in the regular season rotation.

Gibson shut out the Pirates on three hits and struck out seven batters. He didn’t issue a walk.

With only two runs allowed in 14 innings, Gibson is carrying a 1.29 ERA into his final start before the Orioles fly to Boston. He’s struck out 13 and still hasn’t walked a batter.

“That was probably about as good as my stuff’s felt, maybe, in a long time,” he said.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Left-hander John Means elevated his full-mound bullpen session yesterday.

Means said he threw changeups for the first time, counting 10 of them among his 30 pitches.

“I felt great,” he said. “I was excited about it all day.”

Means estimated that he’s done five or six bullpens, throwing every other day for the last few weeks.

More changeups are coming next week, followed by some breaking balls in April.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are playing their last split-squad games of the spring this afternoon, with part of the clubhouse in Tampa to play the Yankees and the others staying back to face the Pirates.

Adley Rutschman is catching Kyle Gibson in Sarasota. Gunnar Henderson is playing third base and batting cleanup.

Heston Kjerstad is in left field. Adam Frazier is leading off again, this time as the designated hitter.

Anthony Bemboom is catching Tyler Wells in Tampa. Terrin Vavra is the second baseman and leadoff hitter, Kyle Stowers is in right field, Jordan Westburg is the shortstop and Colton Cowser is in center field.

Ryan O’Hearn makes his second consecutive start since returning from a knee injury. He’s playing first base.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Bryan Baker sees the glimmers of good through the pile of poor spring statistics.

Baker has made six exhibition appearances and allowed runs in five of them. Nine total and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings. A serious issue if he were fighting for his professional life, if he hadn’t become a trusted high-leverage reliever for the Orioles last summer.

“I’m trying to focus on the positives with how good I feel bouncing back from outing to outing right now, which is better than it’s ever been. So, I’m trying to focus on that and kind of rejoice in the fact that I’m throwing a bunch of strikes right now,” Baker said yesterday morning.

“I think the rest of it will figure itself out.”

Baker retired the first two Twins batters on Friday and served up a home run to Kyle Farmer, on a day that the ball was flying out of Hammond Stadium. So close to a clean inning.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The contact in the third inning was loud, and it rattled Grayson Rodriguez’s start.

Christian Arroyo led off with a line drive at shortstop Jorge Mateo. Rafael Devers ripped a double down the left field line and Adam Duvall homered over the “Faux Monster,” as it’s called here, for the game’s first runs.

The outing didn’t get any better from that point.

Rodriguez couldn’t make it through the fourth inning again, departing after Arroyo’s RBI double. An inherited runner scored on Devers' single off Eduardo Bazardo and the Red Sox led 5-0.

The three runs in the inning were unearned, leaving Rodriguez with two earned and six hits with two walks, three strikeouts and a wild pitch that allowed Bobby Dalbec to cross the plate in the fourth. He threw 70 pitches, only 44 for strikes.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde wants to get closer Félix Bautista three or four more appearances until the club breaks camp. Availability for Opening Day looks promising.

Bautista has retired all six batters faced in his first two outings, striking out four and totaling 24 pitches. Almost too efficient.

“I feel really confident with how things have been going,” he said this morning via translator Brandon Quinones. “I’ve been trying to focus heavily on attacking hitters, working on my secondary pitches to make them more effective, and I feel like things have been going really well and I feel confident.”

Bautista said he feels great today after retiring the Twins in order yesterday on only nine pitches.

“Just talked to our training staff,” Hyde said. “He responded very well from yesterday’s game, so love where he is right now.”

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Orioles brought Ryan Mountcastle, Kyle Stowers, Austin Hays and Jorge Mateo to JetBlue Park for today’s game against the Red Sox.

Adam Frazier is leading off again, followed by Ramón Urías, who’s playing third base. Mountcastle follows as the designated hitter and Stowers is in left field and batting cleanup.

Hays is in center field. Ryan O’Hearn returns to the lineup and is playing first base.

O’Hearn injured his right knee exactly one week ago in Dunedin.

Grayson Rodriguez makes his fourth spring start. Austin Voth, Cionel Pérez and Eduard Bazardo also made the trip.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Each morning brings a little reflection on the previous day’s events and whether we’ve gotten closer to figuring out the 26-man roster on Opening Day.

Each morning comes a full cup of coffee and that familiar empty feeling.

I thought we might be making some progress on DL Hall’s status. Specifically, whether he could begin the season in the bullpen rather than building up his innings in Triple-A Norfolk’s rotation.

“We could go a lot of different directions when the season breaks. You don’t want to close the door on anything with him,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

“We do think he’s still a rotation candidate. … But we could also put him in the ‘pen and be like a bulk-inning guy. There’s a lot of things we could do with him.”

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Orioles responded to the Twins hitting back-to-back home runs today by launching three in a row to begin the third inning.

Muscle flexed in Fort Myers as if an exhibition game had turned into a pose down.

Jordan Westburg cleared the center field fence with a 419-footer off Tyler Mahle. Daz Cameron tied the game with a shot to left that traveled a mere 386 feet. And Colton Cowser topped them all by depositing an 82.4 mph cutter over the batter’s eye in center.

His estimated distance: 476 feet. The crowd’s reaction: An audible gasp.

Cowser also produced an exit velocity of 106 mph with a 27-degree launch angle, per the Statcast data. The naked eye didn’t need any numbers. It was a “wowzer” moment.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – DL Hall felt good during yesterday’s two-inning simulated game on the Camden Yards field, and he didn’t report any issues this morning with his lower back – or any other part of him.

Nothing much is standing in the way of Hall’s spring debut. It’s arriving next week.

Hall threw 42 pitches, twice striking out 2020 first-round draft pick Heston Kjerstad in the second.

“Still trying to just get the body going and just get used to facing hitters and just start to crisp my pitches up and things like that,” he said. “But feeling good.”

Hall said he’s a little sore today, “but nothing that’s not normal.” The Orioles gladly will take it.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Adley Rutschman is catching this afternoon and Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop for the Orioles’ return trip to Hammond Stadium to play the Twins.

Heston Kjerstad is the designated hitter, Jordan Westburg is starting at third base and Colton Cowser is in left field.

Terrin Vavra gets the start at second base.

Dean Kremer has returned from the World Baseball Classic to make his third spring appearance. He tossed four scoreless innings for Team Israel.

Other pitchers listed today include Félix Bautista, Bryan Baker, Rule 5 pick Andrew Politi, Logan Gillaspie and Yennier Canó.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Nomar Mazara knew that the media was ready to speak with him last night in the bullpen area, but fans weren’t done asking for his autograph. He signed baseballs tossed to him over the fence that separated them. One kid asked for his cap, which he kept on his head.   

Told in jest that he’s a man of the people, Mazara smiled and said it happens when you’ve played for so many teams.

He wants a chance to include the Orioles.

Mazara has been scuffling at the plate, pushing him further behind the competition for a last bench spot. He was 3-for-23 before bouncing a game-tying, two-run single into right field in the second inning.

The next two at-bats ended with a comebacker that got Franchy Cordero in a rundown between third base and home, and a line drive to Blue Jays first baseman John Aiello.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Cole Irvin became the first Orioles pitcher to exceed four innings tonight, going 4 1/3 against the Blue Jays in his return to the Grapefruit League.

Irvin stayed back in camp Saturday while the Orioles traveled to Dunedin, doing his work on the Camden Yards field.

There’s no roster drama for Irvin. All that’s left is to find out where he slots in the rotation.

Irvin allowed two runs and six hits, with no walks and three strikeouts. He threw 66 pitches, 47 for strikes, before Joey Krehbiel entered and retired both batters that he faced in the fifth.

The first four batters reached against Irvin, and the Jays took a 2-0 lead. The first out came when cleanup hitter Nathan Lukes tried to stretch his RBI single into a double.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Two injured candidates for the backup first base job are in better health and nearing returns to the lineup.

Ryan O’Hearn is relieved that the MRI on his right knee didn’t reveal any damage. He’s receiving treatment to remove the inflammation.

“Today it feels really good,” he said this afternoon. “A full day off yesterday, and did some treatment stuff today. Did pool sprints, ran on the treadmill, and I’ve got full range of motion. Now I’m just waiting to get back out there.”

O’Hearn injured the knee during Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays in Bradenton.

“It was on a play in left-center,” he said. “I was running after it and it was kind of a high sky, windy day, tough day out there, and the ball kind of drifted back over my head. When I planted to try and make a move to go jump and catch it, I felt something weird in my knee. Don’t know if I hyperextended it a little or what but felt kind of weird.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Adam Frazier is leading off tonight and playing second base, and Kyle Stowers is batting third and starting in right field, as the Orioles return from their off-day to host the Blue Jays.

Austin Hays is in center field and batting cleanup. Franchy Cordero is in left field.

Jorge Mateo is starting at shortstop.

Left-hander Cole Irvin makes his third start. He’s allowed one run in five innings, and he’s expected to work through the fourth tonight if his pitch count permits it.

Nick Vespi will make his second spring appearance tonight.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are playing under the lights again tonight, which allows the team to report to the clubhouse later than usual. Temperatures are supposed to dip into the 50s. Also a good way to prepare for a March 30^th Opening Day in Boston.

Left-hander Cole Irvin gets the start against the Blue Jays and Kyle Bradish could find his innings on the Camden Yards field. Two starters who are in the Opening Day rotation. No need to proceed with caution regarding Bradish. He’s done everything required to hold onto his spot.

We’ve gotten clarity on some topics and remain in the dark on others.

The last bench spot is an example of the latter, with me saying again that I’m sticking with my original and follow-up mocks but also am intrigued by the performances from backup first base candidates Ryan O’Hearn, Franchy Cordero and Josh Lester. And especially how Lester went from disappearing to dominating.

The Undertaker being flat on his back and then sitting up in the middle of the ring comes to mind.

I’m flying back into Sarasota this afternoon, with the only off-day of spring training allowing for a later arrival time.

The Twins have three off-days and the Rays have two. How did the Orioles miss out on this?

No rainouts so far, and just one split-squad game with a delayed start while the other was halted early.

The camp roster is down to 51 players after the Orioles optioned left-hander Drew Rom on Monday and optioned shortstop Joey Ortiz and reassigned shortstop Jackson Holliday, infielder Connor Norby and pitcher Kyle Dowdy the following day.

Rom was a long shot to make the Opening Day roster and appeared in only one exhibition game, with the rest of his work done on the back fields. He’s returning to Triple-A Norfolk, with the possibility of making his major league debut this summer.

The Orioles wanted Kyle Gibson to do more than cover innings out of the rotation when they signed him as a free agent. They wanted to improve their chances of winning on the days that he pitched. They wanted his leadership in a clubhouse that lost influential veterans Jordan Lyles, Rougned Odor and Robinson Chirinos.

They sought a character guy, drawn to his makeup as much as his arm.

Gibson was the Phillies’ nominee last year for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, bestowed annually to the player who best represents the sport through community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions on and off the field.

Per Major League Baseball, Gibson raised more than $108,000 for charities during his 1 ½ seasons in Philadelphia. His impact was immediate, his qualifications for the award indisputable.

Within his first week, Gibson invited teammates and fans to join him as he organized a campaign to assist local families and children struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through his #ALLWIN initiative, he made a personal donation for every win and strikeout through the rest of the season, with two local charities the biggest benefactors – “Cradles to Crayons,” which supports low-income and homeless children, and “Philabundance,” which serves those facing food insecurity in the Philadelphia area.