Coulombe on throwing progression, Holliday on Mayo's demotion and more

Orioles reliever Danny Coulombe is beyond the beginning stages of his throwing progression.

Coulombe smiles as he provides the latest update, which includes playing catch from 90 feet.

“I’ve been revving up my throwing,” he said yesterday. “I’m on track, so hopefully it just keeps going well. And as long as it keeps going well, we’ll keep going.”

Coulombe was shut down and underwent surgery on June 18 to remove bone chips from his left elbow. He knew that he hadn’t torn his ulnar collateral ligament again. The pain was in a different spot, but it cost the Orioles a top high-leverage reliever who held right-handers to a .130 average and .490 OPS and left-handers to a .171 average and .400 OPS.

The Orioles could have Coulombe increase the distance on his throwing. That’s how it usually works.

“I’m not really a guy who ever plays long toss or anything, but you can ramp up just the effort, so we’ll just keep ramping up the effort until we get on a mound,” he said. “There’s certain like miles-per-hour that you’re trying to get to and that’s how we’ll ramp up.”

Coulombe expects to step on a mound in a few weeks, which would be the most significant advancement.

“We’re on schedule right now,” he said.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias indicated in St. Petersburg that the Orioles could reinstate Coulombe from the 60-day injured list by the back end of September. The left-hander didn’t dispute that rough timetable.

“It’s probably trending more toward like a little later in September,” Coulombe said. “They’ve done a really good job of just watching out for me, not only to help this year but like beyond. We’re trying to take the long-term approach but also like the short-term approach. They’ve done a really good job and I feel really good, so as long as we keep feeling good, we’ll keep going.”

* Jackson Holliday exchanged text messages with Coby Mayo after the Orioles optioned the third baseman to Triple-A Norfolk prior to Thursday night’s game.

Holliday could relate to everything that Mayo was feeling. He was the top prospect in baseball who got the call in April, struggled to hit in 10 games and was optioned. Mayo, who is ranked second behind Holliday, appeared in seven games before the Orioles returned him to Norfolk. Holliday was 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts and Mayo was 1-for-17 with 10.

“Obviously similar circumstances of not performing the way that I think either of us would have liked to, and to get sent down is never fun and so it’s not a great conversation. But I’m sure it will definitely benefit him,” said Holliday, who collected his first major league triple last night as part of his first four-hit game.

“It’s definitely not permanent, and most likely it’s temporary. But to go down there and have experience of what it’s like up here and compete, it will definitely benefit him. Obviously it’s upsetting, but it’ll make him a better player for sure.”

The Orioles gathered a bigger sample size with Holliday but it wasn’t a full month. Mayo lasted less than two full weeks.

“It’s definitely tough,” Holliday said. “It’s an interesting dynamic of really not getting to play that much and having only so many at-bats, and it’s kind of hard to get into a rhythm. You go down to the minor leagues, you play every day, and especially with the lineup we had in Norfolk, you get five at-bats a game. It’s just kind of hard to really evaluate yourself in just a few games.

“It’s obviously very difficult up here.”

* Anthony Santander fouled a ball off his leg Thursday night on the 12^th pitch of his at-bat against Red Sox reliever Chase Shugart, causing a brief delay while head athletic trainer Brian Ebel checked him. Santander flied to left field on the 13^th, tying him with Heston Kjerstad for the longest plate appearance this season.

Santander isn’t just walking to the plate and hacking. He has eight plate appearances this season that lasted at least 10 pitches. Isaac Paredes led the majors yesterday with 11.

The shot to his leg didn’t prevent Santander from playing right field in the last two innings. The Orioles made only one switch in the field, after Ryan Mountcastle pinch-hit for Ryan O’Hearn and replaced him at first base.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, were playing a shell game, challenging observers to find their players.

Connor Wong was in the lineup as the catcher and later moved to first base and second. Jarren Duran played center field and left. Rob Refsnyder went from left field to right. Ceddanne Rafaela went from shortstop to center field. Romy Gonzalez pinch-hit and played second base and shortstop.

* Mountcastle’s RBI single made him 4-for-8 with a walk and two RBIs as a pinch-hitter. O’Hearn is 6-for-13 with two doubles, a home run, three RBIs and three walks.

The Orioles have a nice arrangement at first base, with manager Brandon Hyde playing matchups at the position on a daily basis. O’Hearn began last night batting .279 with an .824 OPS, 14 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 45 RBIs in 343 plate appearances against right-handers and was 7-for-27 with a double and three RBIs against left-handers. Mountcastle was batting .298/.341/.463 in 129 plate appearances in against left-handers and .261/.300/.419 in 327 plate appearances against right-handers.

O’Hearn replaced Eloy Jiménez last night with a runner on third base and one out in the sixth inning and shattered his bat on a bouncer to the mound. He singled in his next at-bat.

Mountcastle watches the first four or five innings from the dugout and heads to the cage if he anticipates a situation that calls for his services.

“See what the pitcher’s about, who I might face, and just sort of game plan against that,” he said.

Hyde’s matchup moves aren’t going to please everybody. That’s an impossible task. Kudos when they work and oftentimes furor when they don’t, particularly if a hot hitter is pulled. However, Orioles pinch-hitters were slashing .364/.418/.489 before last night. Their average was the highest in the majors, with the Diamondbacks a distant second at .295.

The Rockies were third at .244, followed by the Dodgers at .233 and Red Sox at .231.

The Orioles’ .418 OBP also ranked first ahead of the Diamondbacks’ 407, Red Sox’s .349, Brewers’ .339 and Braves’ .328. Their .489 slugging percentage was third behind the Rockies’ .622 and Diamondbacks’ .579.

One obvious reason is the talent that’s in reserve. The lineup only holds nine players. The math never changes.

“We’ve got some options off our bench right now,” Hyde said. “You look at (Thursday night), O’Hearn’s waiting there and (Austin) Slater’s had good numbers in his career against left and can play three spots in the outfield. Eloy was on the bench (Thursday) night also, a guy who’s won a Silver Slugger. So there’s definitely some options.

“We’ve done a really good job pinch-hitting this year and come up big in a lot of big spots, and guys are staying ready. Just because you start the game doesn’t mean you’re gonna finish it, and sometimes the guys on the bench take the biggest at-bat of the game. And they’re all aware of that and ready to go.”

* We also were reminded through the first 102 games before last night that the Orioles appear similar offensively at home or away from it.

They were batting .258 with a .770 OPS at Camden Yards compared to .253 with a .771 OPS on the road. They scored 299 runs and had 536 hits at home and 316 runs with 541 hits on the road.

Last night's game featured 10 runs and 17 hits, but also 12 runners left on base in a 12-10 loss.