PHOENIX - The latest Adley Rutschman update finds him as the designated hitter today in his third game with the Gulf Coast League Orioles.
Rutschman batted cleanup against the GCL Braves in Sarasota and went 0-for-2 with a walk. An intentional walk.
Word is spreading.
The teams are playing a second game later today, and Rutschman is out of the lineup.
Rutschman is 2-for-10 with a home run and three runs scored since cleared to begin playing. He's been behind the plate in one game.
The week rolls along with Rutschman down in Florida. He's still expected to join short-season Single-A Aberdeen this weekend, with the possibility of moving up to Single-A Delmarva for the South Atlantic League playoffs.
* The Orioles will activate Dylan Bundy from the injured list later today to fill the open spot on the roster. Reliever Branden Kline was optioned after last night's 6-3 loss to the Diamondbacks.
After he tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit allowed.
The shuttle is parked outside every stadium.
Bundy is starting tonight and trying to improve on a 4-11 record, 5.28 ERA and 1.370 WHIP accumulated over 92 innings. He held the Blue Jays to one run over 6 2/3 innings before the break, but allowed seven runs and eight hits in one inning against the Rays on July 12 and landed on the IL with right knee tendinitis.
The only career start for Bundy against Arizona came on Sept. 25, 2016 at Camden Yards, and he allowed one run with five strikeouts in five innings in a 2-1 win.
Eduardo Escobar is 3-for-8 with a triple against Bundy. Alex Avila is 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and Ketel Marte is 2-for-2 with a double.
Escobar last night became the ninth player in Diamondbacks history to record multiple triples in the same game.
* Shortstop Richie Martin made two more diving stops last night, and also collected multiple hits in his third consecutive start for the first time in his young career.
Martin is 7-for-15 in his last four games and his average has climbed from .160 to .183, its highest point since June 13.
Baby steps for a Rule 5 pick.
* The Diamondbacks are starting right-handers Merrill Kelly and Taylor Clarke in the next two games, which is unfortunate for Hanser Alberto.
Alberto leads the majors with a .409 average against left-handers. He was 3-for-3 last night against Robbie Ray, including a home run.
"It's unbelievable," said Trey Mancini. "Pretty sure he's hitting over .400 against lefties, and I've hit behind him pretty much most of the time that we've faced them, so I've gotten to see first-hand when I'm on deck and he does such a good job. He never tries to do too much. With two strikes especially, he's so impressive just putting the ball in play, and good things happen when you put the ball in play.
"He's as good as anybody that I've seen in doing that."
* The Orioles will try to avoid falling behind by three runs in the first inning, a hole last night that they couldn't escape.
"It's tough," Mancini said." We did a pretty good job of battling back a little bit, but a lot of times against a good team like that, it's tough to overcome a big deficit. But after the first couple innings I thought everybody played well and settled down and played a good game."
The Orioles have now outscored opponents 64-63 in the first inning.
* The Diamondbacks set a club record last night with their 22nd successful stolen base attempt in a row since June 10.
They've won six straight games against the Orioles at Chase Field and are 13-6 all-time in the series.
Former Oriole Christian Walker has recorded an RBI in a career-high four straight games.
Adam Jones has consecutive three-hit games against the Orioles. They just came 12 years apart.
"I've seen him do that a lot when we played together," Mancini said, "so it wasn't as fun to be on the other side of it."
"He's given us the exact same thing he gave them for 11 years in Baltimore," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters. "It's tremendous leadership, it's a huge presence, it's a charisma. People flock to him and he leads by example, as well as leads by some of the words he says.
"He's very humble and he's very quiet, but when he decides to say something, it's something you zone in on and pay attention to."
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