The parade of opposing left-handed starters this week has created a new set of lineup challenges for Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.

Gunnar Henderson sat out Monday night’s series opener against the Athletics, but left-handed hitting Adam Frazier started at second base. Only one catcher played. Ryan McKenna made another start in right field.

Last night’s 11^th game of the season produced the 11^th different order. Frazier moved to the bench. Henderson started at third base. James McCann was the first of four designated hitters used - it felt like a record of some sort - and his first Orioles hit was a tie-breaking double in the fourth inning.

Who knows what tomorrow brings – besides another lefty starter for Oakland?

The streak will run to four southpaws in a row, counting the Yankees’ Nestor Cortes on Sunday. Thursday afternoon’s spot remains TBA, but Oakland is expected to send right-hander Adam Oller to the mound. Oller’s two appearances this season have been in relief.

Grayson Rodriguez’s major league tour moved the organization’s top pitching prospect from his home state to his home ballpark.

What are the attachments to Chicago, where he’s pitching over the weekend?

Tonight provided another slice of the dream. Standing on the mound at Camden Yards, five years after the Orioles drafted him in the first round. The white uniform. His parents nervous spectators within a more supportive crowd that wore orange T-shirts with “Welcome to the Show” across the back.

Rodriguez jogged out of the dugout with his teammates, began to warm up and heard the applause. He missed with fastballs clocked at 97.6 and 98 mph, ran the count full and issued his first home walk.

There are always firsts.

Kyle Bradish will make an injury rehab start Friday night at Double-A Bowie, perhaps the final hurdle before his return to the active roster.

The Orioles, ideally, would like Bradish to work four or five innings.

Bradish is on the 15-day injured list with a bruised right foot, the result of a 104-mph line drive from the Rangers’ Jonah Heim on April 3. He’s eligible to return on the 19^th in D.C., which would be normal rest following his appearance with the Baysox.

“His side (session) went really well,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He’s feeling a lot better. I just walked past him in the weight room. He looks great, feels good. We got lucky there.”

Grayson Rodriguez makes his second major league start tonight, and his first at Camden Yards. The Orioles have resisted having a six-man rotation, but there’s going to be excess if Rodriguez impresses, as he did Wednesday in his final four innings in Texas.

Grayson Rodriguez makes his Camden Yards debut tonight, sans the gas cans in the stands.

Rodriguez remains in the rotation while Kyle Bradish is on the injured list with a bruised right foot, and he could stay depending on his results and how the Orioles could create room for him. Bradish is expected to begin an injury rehab assignment this week.

The Orioles called up Rodriguez to make Wednesday’s start in Texas, and he retired 13 of the last 15 batters after a two-run first inning. He kept the Rangers scoreless over the last four innings.

Adley Rutschman, who’s homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career, is catching again tonight. James McCann is the designated hitter.

Austin Hays is leading off, with Cedric Mullins moved down to ninth.

The switch began a few days before Heston Kjerstad left major league camp in Sarasota. Ground balls and other drills at first base, a position he hadn’t played except for three games in college before the 2020 draft. Nothing as a professional.

The activity increased over at Twin Lakes Park, and Kjerstad, normally a right fielder, played first base twice with Double-A Bowie last week and spent one game as the designated hitter.

The Baysox were off the past two days, and Kjerstad could return to the outfield tonight when they begin their first homestand against Akron. Or maybe he's slipping his hand inside a mitt again.

“We had this plan all along, for him to get exposure to first base,” said Orioles director of player development Matt Blood. “He just adds another club in his bag, for a metaphor, so that he’s got more options to play on the major league team. Whether they need him in the corner outfield or if they need him at first or to DH, it’s just going to give him another slot of opportunity for the major league team. But that was the plan all along.

“We weren’t going to put him in his first game in a major league spring training game. But as soon as he got out of major league spring training, he started playing in minor league games there at first base. You’ll see him playing at first base and in the outfield in Bowie.”

Orioles starter Kyle Bradish is expected to begin an injury rehab assignment later this week.

Manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon that Bradish should be joining an affiliate within the next couple days. Double-A Bowie is home and seems like a logical spot.

Bradish is on the 15-day injured list after being hit on the right foot by a line drive last Monday in Texas. He’s eligible to return on April 19.

A bullpen session on Saturday left Bradish and the team encouraged. The bruise remains but his discomfort has subsided.

This is pretty much the extent of today’s news. The roster is unchanged since yesterday, and Hyde said Gunnar Henderson is just getting a day off against Oakland left-hander JP Sears.

The Orioles begin a new series at home tonight, with the Athletics sending the first of three consecutive left-handed starters to the mound.

Ryan McKenna is starting in right field against Oakland’s JP Sears. Anthony Santander is the designated hitter, with Austin Hays in left.

Gunnar Henderson is out of the lineup. Ramón Urías is the third baseman.

Adley Rutschman is catching. He's batting .389/.476/.556 (14-for-36) with two home runs, six RBIs and six walks in nine games. Still no doubles.

Kyle Gibson has won his first two starts while allowing six runs and 12 hits with one walk in 12 innings. He’s 5-3 with a 4.05 ERA in 10 career starts against the Athletics.

Grayson Rodriguez had a hunch that he’d be starting Tuesday night. The four scoreless innings to close out his major league debut in Texas. How he remained on the active roster, with option rules prohibiting a call-up unless replacing an injured player. No off-days that might cause him to be skipped.

The T-shirt giveaway in his honor.

So many clues.

The Orioles confirmed Saturday that Rodriguez would face the Athletics in the second game of the series.

“I guess I’m excited, first off, just being able to pitch in Camden Yards, something I’ve dreamed of ever since I was drafted,” Rodriguez said yesterday morning. “I guess it’s going to be another little dream come true for me.”

One fly ball should have been caught. Two others were destined to make a safe landing from the moment they left the bat.

Tyler Wells was burned three times this afternoon at various degrees in his first start of the season, which resulted in a 5-3 loss to the Yankees at Camden Yards.

Adley Rutschman had four hits, including his second home run, but the Orioles dropped the series and are 4-5 while waiting for the last-place Athletics to arrive for four games.

Wells allowed four runs and six hits with no walks and six strikeouts in six innings. He retired the side in order in the second, fourth and sixth, and threw 61 of his 89 pitches for strikes. Kyle Gibson is the only other starter to record an out in the sixth.

"I love the way Tyler throws," Rutschman said. "He's a competitor, he does stuff the right way and he's a great teammate. I know he's going to go out next time and compete and do his thing."

James McCann is behind the plate this afternoon for the series finale against the Yankees, on the day that he was activated from the injured list.

Adley Rutschman is serving as the designated hitter.

Jorge Mateo returns to the lineup after sitting out last night’s 4-1 loss. He’s been getting treatment on a sore ankle.

Gunnar Henderson is the third baseman and Ramón Urías is at second base.

Tyler Wells makes his first start of the season after working five scoreless and hitless innings Monday in relief. Wells replaced Kyle Bradish, who was hit on the right foot by a line drive, and the only baserunner against him came on an error.

The Orioles have decided to carry three catchers on their 26-man roster.

Veteran James McCann was activated this morning from the 10-day injured list after two injury rehab games at High-A Aberdeen. As the corresponding move, outfielder Kyle Stowers was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

Anthony Bemboom remains in the majors, providing a second backup to Adley Rutschman.

McCann could be in today’s lineup with the Yankees starting left-hander Nestor Cortes.

Stowers has barely played this season. He received only six plate appearances in three games.

Cole Irvin wound up on the seat of his pants and with a big smile on his face.

The mood was light early in tonight’s start. But would Irvin be able to handle a heavy workload and rest the bullpen?

Irvin was on the back end, as it were, of a 3-6-1 double play to conclude the top of the first inning. Aaron Judge walked with one out to extend his career-best on-base streak to 41 games, but Anthony Rizzo grounded to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who fired to shortstop Gunnar Henderson. The throw to first forced Irvin to stretch and lose his balance while keeping his left foot on the bag.

Got the out. Got a laugh out of it.

Getting deeper into his starts will make Irvin much happier. He lasted only 4 2/3 innings and threw 101 pitches in a 4-1 loss to the Yankees before an announced crowd of 30,561 at Camden Yards.

Orioles catcher James McCann is nearing a return to the active roster. Perhaps as early as Sunday.

McCann began his injury rehab assignment last night at High-A Aberdeen and singled twice as the designated hitter. He’s going to catch tonight and the Orioles want him to work around seven innings before determining his status.

“Kind of take it day-to-day, see how he feels after and see what else he needs,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

Asked if it’s possible that McCann will be with the club on Sunday, Hyde said, “We’ll see what happens.”

Adley Rutschman is behind the plate tonight and batting second against Yankees rookie right-hander Jhony Brito. Left-hander Nestor Cortes starts Sunday, and Rutschman isn’t likely to catch a day game following a night game.

The Orioles had 10 stolen bases in the first two games of the season, and manager Brandon Hyde joked about all the records they could break at such an unrealistic pace.

They swiped one in the next four games.

Somewhere in between the flurry and the freeze is probably a more reasonable expectation.

The 11 steals before yesterday’s home opener ranked first in the majors, followed by the Guardians with 10. Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins had four each to tie for third. Adam Frazier, Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna each had one.

Mateo singled with one out in the sixth inning yesterday and stole his fifth base despite a pitch-out. He dived into the bag and easily beat the throw, which arrived on one hop, and he scored the tying run on Adley Rutschman’s single.

Kyle Bradish is playing catch today to test a right foot and ankle that he said is showing “a lot of improvement.”

Bradish was nailed by a Jonah Heim line drive in the second inning of Monday night’s game in Texas. He’s on the 15-day injured list with a contusion on his foot after X-rays and further testing didn’t reveal a fracture.

“I have no doubt,” Bradish said when asked if he could return when eligible. “If it was a 10-day IL, I’d still be ready for that one, too. So, barring any setbacks, and I don’t believe we’ll have any, yeah, I’ll be ready.”

Bradish said he hadn’t discussed with the club whether he could jog down the orange carpet for introductions in the home opener.

“I’m going to see how it feels when I go out and play catch,” he said. “I would like to, but we’ll see.”

The threat of severe thunderstorms can’t ruin the Orioles’ home opener this afternoon.

Aaron Judge, maybe, but not thunderstorms.

The temperature in Baltimore reached 85 degrees yesterday but is likely to stay in the 50s today. No rain or hail or high winds, though. Cloudy and playable.

Gates open at noon. Severna Park native Parijita Bastola will perform the national anthem prior to the game. She was a contestant on season 22 of NBC’s “The Voice,” and also performed at Governor Wes Moore’s inauguration earlier this year.

Moore and children Mia and James will throw out the ceremonial first pitches.

A series that began with Kyle Bradish limping to the training room in the second inning, his right foot introduced to a 104 mph line drive from the Rangers’ Jonah Heim, concluded with some promising developments.

Also a loss, but the Orioles won the series.

These are some reminders that strong reactions less than a week into a season often tend to become overreactions.

* Tyler Wells got the deserved glory in Monday's opener by throwing five scoreless and hitless innings in emergency relief, pitching when he was supposed to be readying for his start the following night.

Manager Brandon Hyde could have pushed Wells into the ninth with the right-hander dominating and at 47 pitches, including 33 for strikes. Seemed like the safest move with the bullpen still trying to recover from excessive use in Boston. But Hyde called upon Félix Bautista, who allowed runs in the first two games of the Red Sox series, including Adam Duvall’s walk-off homer.

Grayson Rodriguez was the next man up.

The Orioles optioned Rodriguez while making their final rounds of cuts in spring training, viewing him as the sixth pitcher for a five-man rotation. A spot opened with Kyle Bradish going on the 15-day injured list this morning with a right foot contusion, and Rodriguez flew into Texas last night.

How Rodriguez fared in Friday’s start with Triple-A Norfolk wasn’t a factor in the club’s decision. The organization’s top pitching prospect allowed three runs (two earned) and walked four Durham batters in four innings, but he was the choice under these circumstances.

Rather than start the fifth game of the season in Texas, which seemed to be the original plan before the surprising camp cut, Rodriguez had a brief stay in Triple-A and arrived a day later for his major league debut.

Rodriguez would have pitched Thursday for the Tides, with Drew Rom going tonight. Bruce Zimmermann and Spenser Watkins already made their first appearances over the weekend and weren’t available.

The warning, or maybe it was just a gentle reminder, came from executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias on the day that the Orioles made their deepest roster cuts in spring training.

“We’re going to need more starters,” Elias said, as media crowded him outside the baseball operations center and sought an explanation for Grayson Rodriguez’s unexpected optioning to Triple-A.

Elias wasn’t breaking new ground, of course, as he stood on the concrete. No team goes through an entire 162-game grind with the same five members of its rotation. But the Orioles were only four deep into their season, the home opener on hold until later in the week, when Jonah Heim’s 104 mph line drive nailed Kyle Bradish on the right foot Monday night and made those words echo louder.

It also made a sickening thud, with initial fears that Bradish suffered a fracture. X-rays were negative for that, but further tests had to be scheduled because MRIs always reveal more.

I wonder why teams even bother with X-rays. There’s always the inevitable MRI.

Ryan McKenna gets the start in left field tonight as the Orioles try to guarantee a series win in Texas.

Gunnar Henderson collected his first two hits last night, including a home run, but he's on the bench against Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney. Ramón Urías is starting at third base.

Anthony Santander is the designated hitter and Austin Hays is in right.

Cedric Mullins is the leadoff hitter rather than moving down to ninth, as he did versus Boston lefty Chris Sale.

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman C
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Anthony Santander DH
Austin Hays RF
Ramón Urías 3B
Adam Frazier 2B
Jorge Mateo SS
Ryan McKenna LF