Hyde on Means, Eshelman and today's doubleheader

The Orioles won't make a roster move today as they prepare to play the Marlins twice beginning at 5:05 p.m.

Teams don't get an extra player for the doubleheader. The expanded rosters make it unnecessary, per Major League Baseball's 2020 rules.

Who knew?

John Means has been placed on the bereavement list. The club is saying only that he's "dealing with a family matter" and that it is respecting his privacy.

The Orioles are allowed to replace Means on the roster, but they must reduce from 30 to 28 players on Thursday, and he could be one of the subtractions.

Asked during his Zoom conference call whether Means could start on turn Sunday in D.C., manager Brandon Hyde replied, "I wouldn't even know that yet. He's dealing with a family matter and we're going to give him some space and some time."

Means retired 14 of 16 batters last night in his second start of the truncated season. The lone run came on Francisco Cervelli's line drive homer to left field with two outs in the fifth.

Thomas Eshelman threw 37 pitches in 3 1/3 innings of relief, but the club isn't calling for a fresh arm.

"We did consider it," Hyde said, "but we're going with what we have."

Hyde noted that Eshelman is a possibility to start Saturday in D.C.

Today's doubleheader consists of two seven-inning games, which take Hyde back to his days in the minors. He isn't a novice.

"I haven't seen one of these since 2009, so I've managed a lot of seven-inning doubleheaders in my minor league managing career," Hyde said. "I've never seen one in the big leagues, obviously. I'm excited about the new rule this year. I think it's really helpful to everybody in the league for the health of our pitchers. It's a big deal right now.

"It's just a shorter game and bullpen guys have to be ready earlier in the game than normal. The game kind of goes a little bit quicker. So we'll see how it plays in the big leagues."

The mental adjustments for Hyde include how the sixth inning, for example, is the latter portion of the game and he's got to act accordingly. The pace is faster.

Can't be slow out of the gate or to react.

"All of a sudden it's the fourth and it's not the fourth, but it's starting to get in a normal game in the sixth-, seventh-inning range," Hyde said. "Instead of your late-leverage guys not having to get ready two hours after the game starts, might be an hour, 45 minutes. You never know. That's just the difference is the game is shorter, more emphasis, possibly, to score earlier, to score first. It's just different.

"I haven't seen it in a while, so I'm looking forward to seeing it today."