Orioles place Chris Davis on injured list while recalling Mountcastle

The Orioles placed first baseman Chris Davis on the 10-day injured list this afternoon to make room for Ryan Mountcastle on the active roster.

Davis is bothered by left knee patellar tendinitis, according to the team's press release.

Mountcastle is wearing uniform No. 6 and waiting to make his major league debut. The lineup hasn't been posted for tonight's game against the Red Sox.

Davis didn't play again last night and is slashing .122/.173/.184 with three doubles, three walks and 16 strikeouts in 52 plate appearances. He's been taking batting practice on the field.

Manager Brandon Hyde has put Davis in the lineup only once since Aug. 14. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Wednesday night's 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays.

Davis has two hits in his last 23 at-bats. He left the team for a few days while undergoing testing for COVID-19, with a low fever attributed to a sinus infection.

The Orioles will try tonight to end a five-game losing streak.

Left-hander John Means is making his fourth start and second since coming off the bereavement and injured lists. He worked two-thirds of an inning on Sunday, the shortest start of his career.

Means is 3-1 with a 4.02 ERA and 1.149 WHIP in six career games (five starts) against the Red Sox. Xander Bogaerts is 5-for-12 with a double and home run against him. J.D. Martinez is 3-for-12 with a double and two home runs.

Right-hander Colten Brewer is making only his second start among 78 career appearances. He was given the assignment against the Yankees on Aug. 14 and allowed two runs and four hits with three walks in 2 2/3 innings.

Brewer's first appearance of 2020 came against the Orioles on July 26, when he tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He's entered eight games against the Orioles in his career and allowed six runs and 10 hits with five walks and 10 strikeouts in seven innings.

Renato Núñez is 3-for-7 with three strikeouts against Brewer. He hasn't homered in the last 11 games.

"I see a guy not getting into hitter's counts and when he's taking passes at the baseball, he doesn't have the same approach for me that he had earlier in the year when he's going well," Hyde said after last night's 7-1 loss. "When he's going well, he's free and easy at the plate, he's centering mistakes, and right now, it just looks like he's pressing offensively. It just looks like a guy that's pressing to me, like a lot of our hitters have been honestly for the last four or five. Ever since Iggy (José Iglesias) went down for me.

"Iggy and (Austin) Hays out of the lineup, I feel like a lot of these guys are just trying. Rio (Ruiz) is trying too hard, Noonie's trying too hard, (Hanser) Alberto's trying too hard. And we just put together better at-bats earlier in the year and we need to get these guys to relax and think about line drives in the middle of the field. Easier said than done, especially when you're facing the guys we just faced."