Hyde: "Whether we're winning or losing, it consumes me"

Manager Brandon Hyde said reliever Hunter Harvey will throw one-plus or two full innings tonight with Triple-A Norfolk, which is playing in Durham, and the Orioles will decide whether he's ready to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

"We're going to see how that goes," Hyde said on his Zoom call, "and reevaluate after his outing tonight."

Harvey is making his fourth appearance on his rehab assignment. He's allowed three earned runs (five total) and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. The fastball is in the upper 90s.

Hyde doesn't have the luxury of coddling Harvey after he rejoins the team, a move that will require corresponding moves to create room on the active and 40-man rosters.

"If he feels healthy and we like how he looks - not there in person, but we'll get the report, and I'll wait for Mike (Elias) and his team to let me know what they think," Hyde said.

"When he does get here, whenever that is, I'd like to treat him like a regular bullpen arm. We're not really in the position to protect guys anyway. That's why we're stretching him out with two innings tonight, to see if he can recover from it and see how that goes."

Veteran Matt Harvey is starting Wednesday night's series finale against the Twins, but he's working on three days' rest and basically is the first peg in a bullpen game.

Harvey's never pitched on three days' rest as a starter. He's done it once on two days', facing 11 batters and surrendering a run.

"It will be a side day, so he'll probably go an inning or two and we're going to figure some things out with the bullpen from there," Hyde said.

Hyde is hoping that Harvey takes the mound with a chance to build on a win. The Orioles have lost 14 in a row and a defeat tonight would leave them six short of tying the club record of 21 straight set at the beginning of the 1988 season.

Being in most games, which Hyde has pointed out numerous times, can raise the level of optimism but also create another layer of frustration.

"It's just breaking through," he said. "I feel like our guys are staying positive, I think that we are giving a good effort. It just hasn't happened and that's very, very difficult and it's challenging, but I give our guys credit for being in almost every single one of these games after a lot of tough losses and not hanging their head and coming back the next day.

"Hopefully, we can break through with winning one of these close games."

The defeats don't stay at the ballpark. They shadow Hyde and there's no escape until the Orioles finally win.

"It's not one of my strengths," he said. "Whether we're winning or losing, it consumes me. This is something that, we're going through a tough stretch, it's hard and you try to figure out a way how to help. Our coaches are doing a great job being consistent with our players and I think the mood is still good and I think that our guys are going out and playing to win. It just hasn't happened.

"You want to win for the guys in the clubhouse. It's definitely difficult and I do take it home and do think about it all day."

Hyde keeps in close contact with people he respects who have shared experiences. His phone sounds alerts a little more often these days.

"I think people are checking in with me, and I like to hear thoughts from other people that have been in my shoes or are in my shoes," Hyde said. "This has been hard. Last year, the last month, two years ago, there were a lot of losses, too. The thing is, we're in almost all these games and a break here and there, or a pitch here or there, or a big hit would change things. So it's not from a lack of effort.

"My job is really just to be honest and to be consistent, and I want players to know that I have their backs, as well as the coaching staff, and we're going to pull through this together."

The free fall began with the Orioles only one game below .500 at 15-16, perhaps making it more jarring.

"I don't know if you're ever ready for not winning for a couple of weeks," Hyde said.

"Listen, I'm disappointed that we're not winning more games, for sure. I'd be more disappointed if I felt like the effort wasn't there, and I do feel like the effort is there. I do feel like guys are going out to try to win every single night. I do feel like we're preparing correctly. We just haven't won and that doesn't make it any easier.

"We're in the majority of these games, we're just not pushing runs across and it's tough to win 2-1 every night. So we've just got to be a little more balanced offensively and hopefully our offense can get going and we swing the bats on the same night that we pitch well."