Zach Britton with an injury update, hopes to return soon

Orioles closer Zach Britton, who left Saturday's game with a sprained left ankle, is hopeful that he can return to pitch during what is left of this homestand. He hopes he can return during the three-game series with the Yankees that starts tonight.

"I think this week is a good timeline," Britton said this afternoon in the clubhouse. "I'm not sure exactly whether that is tomorrow or the next day. Once I throw outside, I'll have a better idea.

"I feel a lot better (than Saturday). Flexibility and range of motion is back. It's just swollen. It's got some bruising, but as long as I can manage the pain, I think that is going to be the biggest issue. Does it hurt me covering first or having to field a bunt? Those are things I'm going to have to test out. Whether that is today, I'm not exactly sure."

Britton got further confirmation yesterday that while his ankle was sprained, there was nothing worse to deal with.

"The MRI was good. There wasn't any structural damage," he said. "A lot of inflammation, so it is kind of just wait until that gets out of there. But feel good today, walking a lot better, pretty much normal walking. So I'm going out to play catch and see how I feel. Little baby steps. If it feels good playing catch, then maybe I progress to a flat ground and then come in and talk to Richie (Bancells) and Buck (Showalter)."

Britton is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA and six saves. He was asked if it is better that the injury is to his push-off leg and not his plant leg.

"Yes and no," he said. "The fact it is my push-off leg means that I can alter my mechanics and then end up hurting something else. The biggest thing is I really drive off my back side, so I don't think it's ideal that it is the push-off leg. The landing leg obviously, yeah, a lot of weight gets transferred onto your land leg. But at the same time, a lot of weight is staying over my back side, too, when I'm pitching. So it's going to be a challenge. We'll figure something out. I'm happy that it feels pretty good now and I think in 24 hours it will feel even better.

"Yes, it's early in the year, but at the same time, games matter just as much early in the season. I want to get back as quickly as I can to help the guys down in the bullpen."

Britton is aware that the Orioles are not being singled out here. All teams have to deal with injuries.

"Yeah, exactly," Britton said. "I think anybody that gets to where they want to go at the end of the season has stories about what they had to go through to get there. So it's a challenge right now without J.J. (Hardy), the leader of the infield. But we have pretty good depth with (Paul) Janish and (Ryan) Flaherty here now. In the bullpen, we have some good depth this year. I don't feel the need to have to come back too quick, but I'm feeling pretty good."