The off-day enabled the Orioles to freshen their bullpen heading into the Nationals series after left-hander Cionel Pérez worked back-to-back games at Tropicana Field following an earlier stretch in the month of four appearances in five days. Yennier Cano and Seranthony Domínguez weren’t available Sunday after pitching in the previous two games.

Craig Kimbrel and left-hander Gregory Soto are working under different conditions.

Kimbrel has appeared in three games this month, with four days’ rest before Sunday’s outing that resulted in the tie-breaking run scoring against him in the eighth inning. Soto has pitched four times – with his most recent outing on Thursday. He entered in the sixth inning in his first three games with the Orioles and twice surrendered four runs.

Manager Brandon Hyde can’t always avoid using multiple relievers in high-leverage situations. He’s got to find innings that get them back on track but also help the Orioles win.

“We’re going to need both of them, so I’m going to have to find a way,” he said. “Craig had that All-Star first half and when he had a little blip we found a way to kind of get him back rolling again. I’ve tried to do that again here the second half. I thought he threw better in Toronto. That inning looked more like him. The way we were in the ‘pen a couple days ago, wanted to give him that eighth inning and his command just wasn’t very good that day, unfortunately. So hopefully he can rebound from that. But we’re going to need him in the last two months big-time.”

Coby Mayo is out of the Orioles lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Nationals at Camden Yards.

Ramón Urías gets the start at third base. Ryan O’Hearn is serving as the designated hitter.

Colton Cowser is in left field, Cedric Mullins is in center and Anthony Santander is in right.

Left-hander Trevor Rogers is making his third start with the Orioles after allowing seven earned runs and eight total in 9 1/3 innings. He’s faced the Nationals twice this season with the Marlins and allowed five runs in 12 innings.

Rogers has made 10 career starts against Washington and posted a 3.35 ERA and 1.283 WHIP in 48 1/3 innings. He’s never allowed more than three earned runs.

The Orioles are home tonight for the first time since July 31, one day past the trade deadline. They split four games in Cleveland, lost two of three in Toronto and won two of three in St. Petersburg, Fla., though the finale made it appear much worse. Strange how that works. Win a series and eat and dress in a quiet clubhouse.

The roster has changed. The knack for handling adversity, whether injuries or performance based, is the same. Let’s see how far that goes.  

Let’s also hit the pause button again coming out of the off-day and collect some thoughts.

* The Craig Kimbrel reset lasted longer than expected.

It’s still happening.

What do my mailbag and mimosas have in common? They both can be bottomless.

Next question: Anyone surprised that I chose to use mimosas as a comparison? The options were plentiful.

I had some extras from the last mailbag, which led us to the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.

Also, my leftovers stay fresh for days and yours change colors overnight.

Is Jackson Holliday here to stay forever?
In the majors? Yeah, he’s planted like a redwood. With the Orioles? Well, stay tuned.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles bullpen couldn’t match the starting pitching today. Perhaps the bar was raised too high. Whatever the reason, the differences between the two were striking.

Albert Suárez didn’t allow a run in a career-high 6 2/3 innings, but Cionel Pérez lost a 1-0 lead in rapid fashion. Pinch-hitters José Caballero and Dylan Carlson had a double and single, respectively, to level the score. The sequence lasted three pitches.

Used again in a non-save situation, Craig Kimbrel walked three batters in the eighth – one of them intentionally – the Rays stole four bases, and Curtis Mead lifted a sacrifice fly to hand the Orioles a 2-1 loss before an announced crowd of 16,848 at Tropicana Field.

Brandon Lowe, Christopher Morel and Josh Lowe walked, the last intentionally, before Mead flied to right field and the Orioles failed to complete the sweep. They fell to 70-49 overall, 8-2 against the Rays and 6-1 in St. Petersburg.

They went 5-5 on a road trip that began in Cleveland. And they're back in a first-place tie with the Yankees.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles infielder Jorge Mateo remains with the club on its road trip that concludes today. He’s on the 60-day injured list with a left elbow subluxation.

Mateo hasn’t undergone surgery at this point. He’s got another medical appointment that the club says will determine the plan.

Mateo wears a brace on his arm occasionally and is allowed to remove it.

The Orioles go for another Tropicana Field sweep this afternoon with Coby Mayo making his first start in his home state.

Mayo is 0-for-13 with two walks and eight strikeouts since his promotion.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The number of injuries to hit the Orioles this season has reached a point where yesterday’s media session with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias came across as largely positive.

Grayson Rodriguez should return to the rotation in the later portion of September after his diagnosis of a mild strain of the teres major muscle – or the shoulder region. It isn’t identical to the 2022 lat/teres strain that cost him exactly three months at Triple-A Norfolk.

Three months with the Orioles in 2024 would have kept him from pitching until next year.

That’s positive news. It’s certainly above the worst-case scenario that we braced for earlier in the afternoon.

The challenge now is stay in the division race with projected starters Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells missing from the rotation. Only Rodriguez is able to return and it’s gonna be a while with a minimum 10-day shutdown period and a re-imaging of the shoulder in about three weeks.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde knew that the Rays would use right-hander Drew Rasmussen as an opener tonight and left-hander Tyler Alexander was prepped to follow. He knows that ace Corbin Burnes gives his club a chance to win anytime the four-time All-Star is on the mound.

What couldn’t be predicted was the manner in which the rest of the game played out. How Ramón Urías, the ninth hitter in the lineup, would impact it.

The fifth inning bit Burnes again but he registered his 19^th quality start and the Orioles carried a slim lead into the seventh, where it disappeared on José Caballero’s game-tying home run off Burch Smith. Perhaps a situation fitted for Jacob Webb if he didn’t land on the injured list.

Jackson Holliday, who hit his first left-on-left homer in the majors earlier in the game, drew a leadoff walk against lefty Colin Poche in the eighth, Hyde stuck with Urías rather than going to his bench, and the infielder rewarded him with a two-run homer in the Orioles’ 7-5 win over the Rays before an announced crowd of 23,898 at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees split their doubleheader with the Rangers, leaving the Orioles (70-48) one game ahead in the division race. They’re the first team to 70 wins.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Grayson Rodriguez will be shut down for at least 10 days and undergo more imaging on his right shoulder in about three weeks after receiving the diagnosis of a strain that executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias described today as “pretty mild.”

Elias met with local media in the visiting dugout at Tropicana Field and provided an update on Rodriguez, who’s the No. 2 starter in the rotation with a 13-4 record, 3.86 ERA and 1.243 WHIP in 20 games.

Rodriguez was scratched from Tuesday night’s start in Toronto after experiencing discomfort in his right lat/teres while warming in the outfield. Albert Suárez replaced him and tossed five scoreless innings.

The immediate concern centered on the possibility of a similar absence to 2022 with Triple-A Norfolk. Rodriguez missed three months with a lat/teres strain, ruining the Orioles’ plans to promote him.

His current injury isn’t as serious and he’s expected back in the rotation by late September. The discomfort is centered more in the region of the teres major muscle but also involves his lat.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Coby Mayo is out of the Orioles’ lineup again tonight for the third consecutive game.

Austin Slater is in right field. Jackson Holliday moves down to eighth in the order.

Anthony Santander is the designated hitter. Colton Cowser, who had some wrist soreness last night, remains in left field and atop the order.

Corbin Burnes has made 23 starts and gone 12-4 with a 2.63 ERA and 1.058 WHIP in 143 2/3 innings. He has 18 quality starts but allowed a season-high five runs (four earned) in five innings in his most recent outing in Cleveland.

Burnes made his first career start against the Rays on June 10 at Tropicana Field and allowed two unearned runs in seven innings.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Coral Springs native Coby Mayo received only six ticket requests for his first major league game in his home state. His parents, two brothers and some friends comprised his most intimate cheering section last night.

They didn’t get to watch him play.

Mayo sat for the second straight game, but tonight offers the possibility of his fifth start and sixth appearance.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde won’t bury Mayo on the bench and he won’t write the rookie’s name on every lineup card. Hyde is searching for favorable matchups at the plate and third base.

Mayo is searching for his first hit. He’s 0-for-13 with two walks, both in his debut in Cleveland – and eight strikeouts. He’s simply the latest highly-rated prospect in the organization to make an entrance and stumble. Some of them figure it out without going back down and others, like Jackson Holliday this year and Colton Cowser in 2023, need a reset.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Zach Eflin didn’t receive a prolonged ovation as he walked out of the visiting dugout tonight at Tropicana Field. Rays fans didn’t get sentimental. They didn’t blow the roof off the joint in tribute to the guy they used to cheer. All they had to offer was a smattering of boos and then silence.

Eflin preferred to keep them quiet anyway, tossing seven shutout innings in the Orioles’ 4-1 victory over the Rays before an announced crowd of 20,673 inflated by a “flappy boi” zip-up hoodie giveaway.

The veteran right-hander was stingy, with only four hits allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts that tied his season high. He’s made three starts with the Orioles and they’ve been quality, with a combined five runs in 19 1/3 innings.

His seven innings tonight also matched his season high.

"That’s so good right there," said manager Brandon Hyde. "A little extra motivation pitching against a team that you were just with, and he’s made three outstanding starts for us. That was textbook pitching. He was ahead in the count, great sinker-cutter, changeup. He just really knows how to pitch and he was locating well all night."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles made another move today to upgrade their infield depth at the Triple-A level, signing veteran Jean Segura to a minor league contract.

The news comes two days after corner infielder J.D. Davis agreed to terms on a similar deal.

Segura, 34, is a career .281/.327/.401 hitter in 12 major league seasons with six teams. He made the All-Star team with the Brewers in 2013 and Mariners in 2018 and placed 13^th in National League Most Valuable Player voting with the Diamondbacks in 2016.

The 2024 season was passing by without Segura, who didn’t play in the majors or minors. He appeared in 85 games with the Marlins last summer and hit .219/.277/.279.

The Marlins traded Segura to the Guardians on Aug. 1, 2013 in the Josh Bell deal, and he was released that day.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Zach Eflin returns to Tropicana Field tonight as an opposing pitcher, making his first start at Tampa Bay since the Rays traded him to the Orioles.

Eflin has two quality starts in his two outings with the Orioles, allowing a combined five runs and 15 hits in 12 1/3 innings. He’s walked only one batter.

Eflin has registered a 3.08 ERA in 27 games (26 starts) at Tropicana Field. He’s made two career appearances (one start) against the Rays and allowed four runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo are out of tonight’s lineup.

Jackson Holliday is batting sixth. Ramón Urías is playing third base.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jackson Holliday is the humble, hot-shot prospect whose ceiling reaches the clouds. Eloy Jiménez is the former Silver Slugger Award winner whose career trajectory threatened to bounce him off the floor.

They may have little in common but they’re doing tremendous work as teammates - and for different reasons.

Holliday appeared to be overwhelmed in his first attempt against major league pitching, with only two hits and 18 strikeouts in 34 at-bats. The expectations were unreasonable, no matter how much talent he carried to the Orioles. Holliday turned 20 in December and began the 2023 season in low Class A. He played in only 18 games with Triple-A Norfolk before the International League playoffs.

Anyone who thought he’d hit the ground running after the Orioles selected his contract on April 10 underestimated the difficulty in hitting at this level. He didn’t make it through the month.

Holliday 2.0 is a different player – more relaxed and confident, staying behind the ball with that perfect swing, just letting his talent play. And he’s making people who suggested that he be offered in trades at the deadline look even more foolish.

Small sample sizes shouldn’t produce a chorus of long-term outlooks. The word “small” is the giveaway Baseball requires patience over the course of a 162-game season.

OK, we got that out of the way.

Left-hander Gregory Soto has made three appearances with the Orioles since the deadline trade with the Phillies. He’s allowed eight runs and nine hits and walked three batters in 1 1/3 innings. And his second outing was scoreless.

It wasn’t clean. Soto allowed two hits Sunday in two-thirds of an inning in Cleveland and was bailed out by Cedric Mullins’ outfield assist.

The first five Guardians batters reached against Soto Friday in his Orioles debut. He retired one and was removed.

The Orioles made the predictable roster move this afternoon by placing starter Grayson Rodriguez on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Sunday with right lat/teres discomfort, the reason why he didn’t pitch last night.

The unexpected also happened with outfielder Heston Kjerstad going on the 10-day injured list with concussion symptoms.

Kjerstad was optioned Thursday to Triple-A Norfolk, ending his third career major league stretch, but he didn’t report to the club. He’s dealing with the lingering effects of the Clay Holmes pitch that slammed into his ear flap and led to his placement on the seven-day concussion injured list on July 13.

The Orioles activated Kjerstad on July 20 and he went 2-for-18.

Today’s move, retroactive to Thursday, basically is a reversal of the option. He’s on the major league injured list.

I’m using flashcards to learn the names of the new players. My family is quizzing me.

Their first question: How did we get stuck doing this?

For me it's like, is that Austin Slater? No? Oh, hey Blake Hunt. Is that Seranthony Domínguez? Nope? I was gonna say Gregory Soto. I swear.

One thing that never changes is my mailbag except for the weight of its contents.

You’ll have a long wait if you think I’m going to worry about clarity, length and style.

Grayson Rodriguez is likely going on the injured list again and the Orioles should be dizzy from heads spinning at the number of health issues striking this team.

Rodriguez was scratched from tonight’s start in Toronto after warming, and an explanation came halfway through the game. He’s experiencing right lat/teres discomfort.

If it sounds familiar, Rodriguez had the same discomfort in June 2022 at Triple-A Norfolk, right when he was on the verge of a major league promotion. He didn’t pitch again until September, exactly three months later.

It’s too soon to assume another three-month absence. A diagnosis is pending. But it isn’t too soon to wonder what is going on with the Orioles and how much more they can endure.

Rodriguez missed 2 ½ weeks with right shoulder inflammation earlier this season. Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells underwent elbow surgeries that keep them out for the rest of 2024 and a big chunk of 2025.

Hidden within the madness of the July 30 trade deadline, with its aggressive roster churn that resembled a tidal wave, was the Orioles' decision to recall Triple-A Norfolk catcher Blake Hunt. He made the trip from Charlotte to Baltimore in case backup James McCann went on the 10-day injured list. And the news barely created a ripple.

However, it was a wise move considering that McCann suffered multiple nasal fractures from a fastball to his face, a horrific scene that usually takes a player off the active roster and dumps him into a hospital bed.

McCann isn’t your typical player. He wears a protective mask when he bats. He gets his starts behind the plate. And Hunt, optioned the following day, gets to stick around on the taxi squad – the role usually occupied by David Bañuelos this season.

The team boarded its charter to Toronto after Sunday’s game at Progressive Field, but McCann hopped on a Southwest flight back to Baltimore to receive more medical attention on his nose. He prefers the exit row, according to industry sources with direct knowledge of his seating.

Major league field coordinator Tim Cossins also works as the Orioles' catching instructor. He played the position at the University of Oklahoma, in the minors with three organizations and in independent ball. He can relate to the abuse that the body takes, including the foul ball Sunday that nailed Adley Rutschman in the groin area, causing an entire ballpark to grimace.