Hyde on Trumbo's timetable and Tate's role (O's down 6-2)

SARASOTA, Fla. - As Mark Trumbo attempts to reach his target date of March 12 to play in his first exhibition game, manager Brandon Hyde continues to exhibit patience and understanding through the process with no intention of rushing it.

The desire to have him in the opening day lineup won't override common sense.

"Mark knows how I feel," Hyde said. "I want him to be healthy, so I'm not putting any date on it. I think a player wants to try to get back and I don't want to put a date on it for him because I just want him to be fully ready to go when he's ready. If that's the 12th or if that's the 22nd or if that's the third week in April ..."

Trumbo didn't play after Aug. 19 in Cleveland and underwent surgery on this right knee the following month, a relatively new procedure for a cartilage defect known as "DeNovo." As explained here previously, it's a juvenile cartilage implant from a donor that's packed into the opening and requires time to harden.

"He had a significant knee injury, but everybody's been super excited about how he's come back off it, and the work he's put in to come back has been unbelievable and his knee's responding well," Hyde said. "I don't want to have setbacks. I want him to be healthy. So when we feel like he's healthy, we're going to be patient with him from then on, too.

"I just don't want to throw him in a situation where he could potentially reinjure or him not feel 100 percent."

Dillon Tate continues to be used out of the bullpen, entering games in the later stages while twice working only one inning. He surrendered a solo home run yesterday in the ninth and has allowed three runs and four hits in four innings.

The Orioles haven't abandoned the idea of continuing Tate's development in a rotation. It's a fluid situation.

"I don't think we've given up on the idea of him being a starter," Hyde said. "Yesterday just fell because of the game and the innings situation. He's going to be a multiple-innings guy."

Tate, acquired from the Yankees in the Zack Britton trade, has made 57 starts among his 65 career appearances as a professional. He's been used exclusively in the rotation since 2017.

I think we're still deciding on what the plan is for him going forward," Hyde said. "He's done a little bit of both. When he was drafted he became a starter for the development of pitches and to see if he could start. I think he's still developing the three pitches, so we're still going to extend him multiple innings-wise and then kind of make a decision from there.

"Him kind of being new to the organization, we're going to give him every opportunity to ... Obviously, we'd love for him to be a starter, so we're going to continue to evaluate and stretch him out."

The Orioles are listing Andrew Cashner as Friday's starter against the Red Sox in Sarasota. Left-hander John Means gets the assignment Wednesday against the Rays in Port Charlotte and Mike Wright starts Thursday versus the Pirates in Bradenton.

The available pitchers behind Means include Luis Ortiz, Pedro Araujo, Cody Carroll, Paul Fry and Tanner Scott.

Infielder Sean Miller, a Crofton native who attended Archbishop Spalding in Severn, also is part of the group arriving from minor league camp.

Update: The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Adam Frazier's run-scoring double off Alex Cobb. Patrick Kivlehan drew a leadoff walk.

Update II: The Orioles took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Stevie Wilkerson's sacrifice fly after Joey Rickard's double and Jace Peterson's RBI single after Alcides Escobar's double.

JB Shuck led off the fifth with a home run off Mychal Givens.

Update III: Melky Cabrera had an RBI single off Givens in the fifth and Josh Bell clubbed a three-run homer to give the Pirates a 6-2 lead. Givens retired only two batters.