Odor makes impact in order during yesterday's loss

Rougned Odor has worked in the type of platoon role anticipated after the Orioles signed him in late November. In the lineup against right-handers, which should put him on the bench again tonight against Red Sox lefty Rich Hill.

Odor entered yesterday’s game batting .150/.255/.200 with six hits in 40 at-bats. He had two doubles and four RBIs and struck out 14 times.

Jameson Taillon got him twice yesterday with strikeouts that closed the first and third innings and stranded three runners in scoring position. Austin Hays doubled twice ahead of him.

Former Oriole Miguel Castro replaced Taillon with two outs in the fifth inning and Odor, batting fifth again in the order, lined a double into right field. Odor reached on an infield single in the seventh inning for his first multi-hit game and added an RBI double in the ninth.

Odor’s last two-double game was Sept. 7, 2019.

A breakthrough, perhaps.

The homestand begins tonight with Odor’s average reaching .200 with a .577 OPS. The Orioles are paying him the league minimum, with the Rangers still on the hook for the remainder of his salary after giving him a six-year, $49.5 million extension in March 2017.

They included two horses in the deal and are saddled with almost all of the $12.3 million left on it.

The guaranteed money owed by the Orioles, no matter the sum, made it more likely that they’d break camp with him instead of cutting ties, as they did last spring with Yolmer Sánchez. Give it a few months, see how Odor is hitting and perhaps re-evaluate.

They could consider their options at Triple-A, including Jahmai Jones, Richie Martin and Rylan Bannon, but it’s only been 51 plate appearances. Odor is supposed to provide experience and some stability at a position that lacked it in 2021.

Has it been only a year since the Rio Ruiz experiment?

Odor has committed three errors, and he avoided a fourth yesterday when Aaron Judge’s blazing one-hopper off the veteran’s glove was ruled a hit.

Yesterday marked Odor’s 11^th start at second base. Ramón Urias and Chris Owings have made four.

Urías is batting .203/.242/.237, going 12-for-59 with 15 strikeouts. He pinch-hit yesterday and walked. Owings is 2-for-14 with 10 strikeouts.

Orioles second basemen began yesterday batting a combined .138/.250/.190, the fourth-lowest OPS in the majors at .440, but Odor jacked up the line to .175/.274/.254. They slashed .192/.245/.282 last season, their .527 OPS ranking last.

Let’s see what Odor can do in his half of the platoon.

* The Orioles used a four-man outfield multiple times against Joey Gallo, and dropping back another infielder in the grass yesterday with the shift made it appear more like five.

Gallo’s at-bats weren’t impacted unless the alignment caused him to strike out.

He did it twice more yesterday. In Gallo’s second at-bat, Jorge Mateo didn’t go to left field until there were two strikes and Giancarlo Stanton standing on first base. Third baseman Kelvin Gutiérrez rotated to shallow right.

Or maybe it was the other way around. No, I think I had it right the first time.

Four, five, whatever. Gallo had no answer for it.

* Catcher Anthony Bemboom caused a delay in the second inning by requiring a bandage on the middle finger on his left hand. Head athletic trainer Brian Ebel did the honors.

The top of the inning began late because Mateo stayed in the dugout to get the c-flap attached to his batting helmet.

I’d call shenanigans if the players ran a time of game pool in the clubhouse.

Actually, Bemboom’s finger was cut and bruised, and he tried later to explain how it happened. The ball striking the top of the finger through the mitt and bending it awkwardly.

“Honestly, it felt like the bat hit my hand,” he said. “It was just kind of like a weird play, a weird pitch that I caught over here and it just hit me more square on the finger. I might have closed (the mitt) too soon and it maybe turned it. I don’t know.

“I’ve never had one like that before. It should be all right.”

Nothing real serious, especially on that hand, but it’s an ugly shade.

“It looks worse than it is,” he said.

The yellowing contributes to that and made me almost do a double-take, but Bemboom said he soaked the finger in iodine.

My finest reporting to date.

* Kyle Bradish is starting tonight in Baltimore.

DL Hall is starting in Aberdeen.

Who ya got?