More on Orioles missing Coulombe (Basallo named to Futures Game)

SEATTLE – Danny Coulombe hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Orioles since June 8. He faced six batters at Tropicana Field, retired all of them and struck out the side in the eighth inning. Five straight scoreless appearances lowered his ERA to 2.42.

Talk of a possible berth in the All-Star Game sounded legit.

Out of the many losses to the roster due to injuries and surgeries, Coulombe’s stings as much as any. It isn’t a knockout punch, but it can stagger a team.

Rather than feel around for the mouthpiece on hands and knees, manager Brandon Hyde keeps hunting for ways to compensate in close games.

Bring up Coulombe’s name to people in the industry, as I did again over the weekend, and they tend to cringe, shake or tilt back their heads and convey just how badly it hurts the club. As if Coulombe is the one guy who has a lower profile but a higher impact because of the clutch outs he gets – and doing it more than every fifth or sixth day.

Kyle Bradish was better than the 2023 version that finished fourth in Cy Young voting in the American League, the ideal No. 2 starter in the postseason behind Corbin Burnes. John Means brought his no-hit stuff, experience and leadership to the rotation. Tyler Wells could help as both a swingman and a late-inning weapon in the bullpen, a pitcher who’s found success in multiple roles in the majors.

None of them are coming back this season. Coulombe could return in September after having bone chips removed from his right elbow, the lesser of the team’s medical procedures. At least he wasn’t subjected to a ligament reconstruction or repair.

An activity that’s developing in games is pointing out how many situations normally would call for Coulombe. Not a knock on the other relievers, but he’d be the first choice.

The Orioles defeated the Rangers 2-1 on Friday despite the bullpen issuing five walks over the seventh and eighth innings. Afterward, manager Brandon Hyde said, "I think we escaped one there."

Hyde brought up the five walks that night and again the following day.

Two different relievers surrendered home runs Saturday night to reduce a 5-2 lead to 5-4 in the sixth and a 6-4 lead to 6-5 in the eighth. Maybe Coulombe doesn’t pitch that night, but any stumble carries the mind back to him. The exact same happens after a successful escape that requires using relievers or getting some warm who probably needed a night off.

Asked whether he kept thinking how he would have used Coulombe Friday, Hyde said, “I thought that way all the time, even when Danny was here and not available.”

“There’s a lot of good situations to put Danny Coulombe in the game,” he added. “Especially in a switch-hitting pocket or they could pinch-hit the righty, you always feel comfortable with Danny there if they wanted to line up three righties or pinch-hit or not pinch-hit. Danny was so good against left and right.”

So good that left-handers are batting .171 with a .400 OPS against him and right-handers are batting .130 with a .490 OPS. The matchup game for opposing managers is ruined.

Jacob Webb is making it harder, too. Right-handed hitting Adolis García homered off Webb Saturday, but left-handers are 4-for-48 against him this season.

“When his changeup is really good, he’s really tough on lefties because he’s got that sneaky 94-95 that he can locate at the top, and then the changeup, he’s got really good arm speed with it,” Hyde said. “That’s why his numbers against lefties have been really good this year.”

* A reminder that rosters for the Futures Game, which features top prospects from around the minors, will be announced later today.

The game will be played July 13 at Globe Life Field.

* Triple-A Norfolk's Chayce McDermott struck out a career-high 12 batters last night in seven innings, with one run and three hits allowed.

Kyle Stowers hit his 15th home run and Jackson Holliday hit his eighth. Billy Cook was removed from the game with right hamstring tightness.

* High-A Aberdeen's Michael Forret was removed from his game with left glute tightness.

* MLB Pipeline updated its top 100 prospects and Holliday remains No. 1.

Double-A Bowie catcher Samuel Basallo is 12th, Norfolk third baseman Coby Mayo moves up to 15th, and outfielder Heston Kjerstad is 20th.

Update: Basallo was named to the Futures Game.

Basallo, the No. 2 prospect in the system, is batting .278/.338/.456/.794 with 13 doubles, 11 home runs, 34 RBIs and 39 runs scored. He's hitting .305/.388/.539 since May 21.

Mayo is a notable omission.