Mancini on knee injury, Britton on feeling "normal"

Trey Mancini said his right knee is swollen and he's having difficulty flexing the leg, which suggests that he's probably unavailable for today's game against the Indians at Camden Yards.

Mancini underwent a CT scan to confirm that he hadn't suffered any structural damage. He has a couple of sutures in the knee to close the gashes he sustained last night while sliding into the brick wall in foul territory.

"It's really sore today," he said. "Just four inches or so under the wall that isn't padded is where my knee hit. It obviously doesn't feel too good, but luckily avoided anything too serious there, like no tears, no break. I just had to get a couple stitches and it's just really swollen today and it's tough to bend my knee, but I'm hoping within a couple days it will be good.

"The second I feel like I can play, I'll be back out there."

The CT scan was administered to make sure the cut didn't reach the bone.

"It would have been at a higher risk of infection there," he said. "That was the main concern and that was all OK. So, in that aspect I'm good there."

The disabled list isn't a consideration at the moment. Mancini is the proverbial day-to-day.

"I really don't think so," he said. "Last year, I ran into the padded part, granted, but I missed one game because of that. I remember it feeling much better every day, so I'm hoping it's the same case here because the swelling is pretty much what's keeping me out and not being able to bend it. I'm hoping it rapidly feels better."

Mancini should be able to play with the sutures in his knee. He feels fortunate that the injury isn't more serious, considering the pain he experienced that left him writhing in pain on the track.

"I at least didn't go in with a straight leg or anything like that," he said. "That I think would have been more susceptible to a tear in that case, but I was just trying to go make the play there and came up to the wall a little quicker than I expected. I thought I slid early enough and everything, but it's just a very unfortunate occurrence there."

Mancini learned the hard way that the padding doesn't extend all the way to the dirt.

"I'm sure there's a reason," he said. "That's something I had never noticed before. With how much I've played out there, you look around and I didn't notice that the bottom part wasn't padded. And that's not something you think about anyway when you're going to catch a foul ball. You want to make the play for your team and for your pitcher.

"I wasn't sure why it wasn't padded, but yeah, I'm sure there's a reason."

The Orioles seem inclined to keep a short bench, which is down to infielder Danny Valencia and catcher Caleb Joseph.

Closer Zach Britton sat at his locker trying to catch his breath after finishing today's workout, which included full fielding practice. He broke off the mound to cover first base, fielded bunts rolled toward him from head athletic trainer Brian Ebel and ran sprints for the first time since the activity caused him to rupture his right Achilles tendon.

Britton probably will throw off a half-mound again on Sunday.

"Just kind of eased into it at first and then picked up the intensity a little bit after," he said. "After we were done there, we went through a circuit of agilities, just kind of some other things that I would have to off the mound. So, everything was good. A little tired afterward, but that's kind of how you feel anyway after the first day of spring and you do PFPs all day, which is a good sign.

"I feel really good. No reservations on touching first or anything, which was good. I felt normal."

The half-mound session and fielding drills are huge steps for Britton in his recovery and goal of being ready to join the active roster by early June at the latest.

"I think yesterday and today more so than any other day was probably the biggest jump for me, knowing that I could go off the mound," he said. "I know it's not game speed, but you try to simulate that as much as you can. The stop, plant, throw, run and touch first base, stuff like that was big for me.

"Today, we did the thing I did when I ruptured it, so that was like another big mental hurdle to get through a couple sets of that, which was just like a shuffle into a sprint. So, that was maybe the biggest thing for me today.

"It was good. Those are the things that I think mean more to me than actually pitching on the mound. I think that's going to be fine. It's reacting to the ground balls and just being normal again."

Mark Trumbo ran the bases today to further test his right quadriceps muscle and still could go on an injury rehab assignment Monday.

Team orthopedist Dr. Michael Jacobs will examine pitcher Cody Sedlock's right shoulder this afternoon. Sedlock, the club's first-round pick in 2016, is on Single-A Frederick's disabled list with a shoulder strain.