With John Means out, O's may turn to the bullpen Friday (game update)

SEATTLE - Lefty John Means, who was scheduled to start tomorrow night, was placed on the 10-day injured list today with a shoulder strain. So the Orioles need a starter for Friday night at T-Mobile Park.

"As of right now for tomorrow we have a bullpen day," manager Brandon Hyde said. "We're going to see how today plays out and kind of go from there. Nothing really is certain at this point."

Left-hander Sean Gilmartin would be one candidate to make the start. He's been stretched out a bit at Triple-A Norfolk and has yet to pitch for the Orioles since he was added to the roster on Monday.

"He pitched multiple innings (on the farm)," said Hyde. "I think three-plus was the most innings he's thrown. So he's available to give us some length."

Right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis has pitched in three of the last four games and Hyde said that means he is not a candidate to start Friday's game.

"I just think it's a little quick to bring him back," he said. "He might be available out of the 'pen. But anything is possible right now. We're going to see how tonight plays out and make a decision after the game or tomorrow."

The Orioles, for now, are back to a 12-man pitching staff as two pitchers left the active roster today and just one was added with outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. being activated and Evan Phillips recalled. Right-hander Dan Straily, who has an ERA of 9.82, was designated for assignment.

"Originally last night we were not sure how long Trey (Mancini) is going to be sore. So instead of going with two bench players, if he was out for a while, we decided to keep a position player and have one less pitcher. Trey is really sore today, but it's good news in that it is not fractured and he feels okay. Hopefully he's okay in the next day or two," Hyde said of Mancini, who suffered a left elbow contusion Wednesday at Oakland.

Hyde shares Means' confidence that his shoulder issue is going to turn out to be minor.

"Just got a little bit of cranky shoulder. Just got a little tired in his last start at the end there. He's a big part of our future, so we're going to push him back a bit. He should be okay to start once he comes off. He's going to throw a side in the next couple of days and we're re-evaluate it from there. But we just see him missing one start and be ready to go when the IL stint is up.

"He's a competitor and we know he wants to be out there. But we're going to do the best thing for John Means. John is a big part of us going forward. We're going to be cautious with him and make sure he is right. I won't put a date on when, but I think it would be somewhere around the 10 days. You can look at him and see him as one we can move forward with to be one of our core rotation guys in the near future."

As for Straily, Hyde said the Orioles aren't ruling out that he finds way back to the Baltimore roster.

"We're hoping he stays in organization. Hoping he goes to Norfolk for us. He just never got off to a good start here. Had a weird spring training and never got going. We're hoping he goes down to Triple-A and finds it to hopefully come back at some point and help us."

Hyde said a best-case scenario may be that Mancini will miss a few days.

O's lead early: The Orioles took the first-inning lead tonight at Seattle on Rio Ruiz's two-run single to right off Wade LeBlanc, who replaced opener Tayler Scott with two outs and the bases loaded in the first. Ruiz's knock scored Jonathan Villar and Pedro Severino, who walked. Seattle got one back in the second via a solo homer by catcher Omar Narváez and it's a 2-1 O's lead in the third.

When the O's went ahead tonight, it was their first lead on this road trip since the second inning Monday night at Oakland.

M's now lead: Seattle scored three in the last of the sixth off Dylan Bundy and Evan Phillips to lead 4-2. Bundy was charged with all four runs over 5 1/3 innings.