Mountcastle goes on IL with vertigo (Henderson hits grand slam in 11-6 win)

Ryan Mountcastle has lost his day-to-day status with the Orioles.

The club announced a few minutes before first pitch that Mountcastle was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Saturday with vertigo.

Catcher Mark Kolozsvary had his contract selected from Triple-A Norfolk, and he reported to the club today.

The Orioles designated pitcher Noah Denoyer for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Mountcastle hasn’t played since Tuesday, with the club explaining his absence as an illness. Manager Brandon Hyde said Mountcastle came to the ballpark yesterday to take some swings and was going to be a full participant this afternoon in batting practice.  

The session apparently didn’t go as intended, and the Orioles decided to make the move and carry a full bench against the Blue Jays.

Mountcastle is 4-for-30 in his last eight games. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Thursday in Milwaukee and is batting .227/.264/.421.

The lineup already is missing center fielder Cedric Mullins to a groin strain.

A third catcher again allows the Orioles to put Adley Rutschman and James McCann in the same lineup without risking the loss of their designated hitter.

McCann fielded ground balls at first base again today. Anthony Santander has made three starts this season. Ryan O’Hearn is starting at first tonight, and Josh Lester can play the corner infield positions.

This kind of depth could have allowed the Orioles to avoid designating a player on the 40-man roster – infielders Terrin Vavra and Joey Ortiz were among the alternatives at Norfolk - but a third catcher must have been important.

For however long it lasts.

Kolozsvary, who’s wearing No. 56, is batting .162/.250/.265 in 20 games with Norfolk. He went 4-for-19 in five games with Double-A Bowie.

Denoyer, 25, had a 5.04 ERA and 1.747 WHIP in 14 games (four starts) with Bowie. The Orioles put him on the 40-man roster in the offseason.

MLP Pipeline ranks Denoyer as the No. 27 prospect in the system.

Dean Kremer gave up a run in the first inning tonight on George Springer’s leadoff double and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s one-out single into center field. Guerrero is 7-for-20 with four home runs lifetime against Kremer.

* The shakeups can’t rattle the Orioles.

They lose Mullins to a strained groin. They lose Mountcastle to bouts of vertigo. The roster keeps changing and unheralded players are thrust into larger roles.

And they keep winning.

Adam Frazier and Ryan O’Hearn hit two-run homers off Chris Bassitt, followed by Gunnar Henderson’s grand slam, and the Orioles ran their winning streak to five games with an 11-6 victory over the Blue Jays before an announced crowd of 16,018 at Camden Yards.

Aaron Hicks nailed the right field foul pole against reliever Bowden Francis in the fourth, and the Orioles improved to 42-24, moving 18 games above .500 for the first time since July 25, 2016. They’ve scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time since June 6-8, 2021.

"We're basically puzzle pieces, you know?" Kremer said. "One guy goes down and we expect him to come back stronger, and we just kind of fill the gaps."

Asked about Mountcastle after the game, Hyde said, "Yesterday he worked out, he felt a lot better. Today, following doing some physical activity, he didn't feel very good, so we decided to put him on the IL."

Frazier homered in the second inning for a 2-1 lead, his eighth of the season to draw within two of his career high. He had three last season in 156 games with the Mariners.

Mountcastle leads the club with 11 homers, followed by Henderson with 10, Anthony Santander with nine, and Frazier, Mullins and Rutschman with eight.

"I wasn't expecting eight at the beginning of June," Hyde said of Frazier, "so, a nice little bonus."

"I was out there talking to Springer," said Frazier, who collected his 800th career hit. "He asked me how I was hitting and I was like, 'Well, I'm hitting more homers than I ever have, so it's pretty cool.' We've been making some changes in the cage and it's paying off. Not necessarily trying to hit homers but to be able to drive the ball like I've been doing is pretty good."

O’Hearn homered into the bullpen in the third inning, his fifth of the season, after Santander’s leadoff single to give the Orioles a 4-1 lead. He hit one last season in 67 games with the Royals.

"What hasn't he done? He's swinging the bat great," Hyde said.

"Of course, with a six-month season you're going to have guys go down, you hope for short amounts of time when they do go down. Good teams have guys step up in their place and depth is so important. Fortunately, we have Ryan, and he has done a great job here in the last week to 10 days with the at-bats he takes and power he's brought. Just a quality at-bat. He's been excellent."

And then, there was Henderson, who’s plenty heralded.

The American League’s Player of the Week came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the third, was awarded a ball on a pitch clock violation and launched a cutter over the fence in left-center. A few relievers raised their arms to confirm that Kevin Kiermaier’s leaping attempt failed.

"You can't expect a guy to hit a grand slam," Frazier said, "but you expect him to hit a ball hard like he's been hitting."

Henderson had 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats as he circled the bases and teammates waited at home plate to slap hands with him. And he lined a single into right field in the fifth, at 103.6 mph, for his third three-hit game in the last four.

"You're just seeing him playing with a ton of confidence right now," Hyde said. "Really swinging the bat with a purpose, and he's always had really good strike zone awareness. He was in between a lot the first month or so, and he's being more aggressive early in the count and doing damage on strikes, so it's been fun to watch him progress. You never want to see somebody deal with adversity but it's all part of the process and part of being a major league player, and Gunn just hadn't done that up here yet. Now he's gone through it and he knows how to get out of it.

"There's going to be peaks and there's going to be valleys, and he's swinging the bat really, really well, and hopefully he can keep it going for a while."

The slam was the first of Henderson’s career, the fourth by the Orioles this season, and their first since Santander on May 5 in Atlanta. Henderson is the first rookie since Mountcastle on May 22, 2021 versus the Nationals.

Henderson is the first Orioles rookie with home runs in three straight games since Mountcastle in June 2021.

What's better, the 462-foot home run onto Eutaw Street or the slam?

"That was my first grand slam ever throughout my whole baseball career, so that was pretty cool," Henderson replied with a grin. "They're probably pretty neck and neck."

Bassitt was way off his game, allowing eight runs and 11 hits in three innings. He surrendered only two runs this month in 15 2/3 innings, and five of his starts in 2023 were scoreless.

Francis struck out the first two batters in the fourth inning and Hicks homered for a 9-2 lead. Hicks singled in the third and walked in the eighth, and has reached base in his first 11 games with the Orioles.

Santander and Frazier had RBI singles in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, raising the Orioles’ season-high hit total to 17.

The leadoff batter reached in five of six innings against Kremer, but he allowed only two runs with eight hits, no walks and six strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches, 63 for strikes, and registered his sixth quality start.

Kremer stranded Daulton Varsho after a leadoff double in the second, and George Springer and Bo Bichette after consecutive singles to begin the third.

Varsho led off the fourth with a double and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s single, but Kremer retired the next three batters. His only clean inning was the fifth, but the Orioles turned a double play in the sixth after Whit Merrifield’s single.

Cavan Biggio, pinch-hitting for Guerrero in the eighth, greeted Austin Voth with a home run. Voth surrendered a home run in his first five appearances and none in the next 17.

Cionel Pérez allowed a run in the ninth and left the bases loaded for Mike Baumann, who recorded the final out after Kirk's infield single.

* Kolozsvary caught in the ninth inning.

* Kyle Bradish opposes José Berríos Wednesday night, and Tyler Wells opposes Yusei Kikuchi Thursday afternoon.

* Baltimore native Bruce Zimmermann tossed a six-hit shutout for Norfolk, walking one batter and striking out nine. It’s the first complete-game shutout by a Tides pitcher since Zach Clark in 2012.

Joey Ortiz hit his fifth home run, and Terrin Vavra had two more hits and an RBI.

Double-A Bowie’s Coby Mayo doubled, tripled and drove in three runs. Billy Cook doubled and hit his fifth home run.

High-A Aberdeen’s Dylan Beavers had four hits, including his fourth home run, and four RBIs. Jean Pinto allowed two runs in five innings, both on solo homers.