Phillips on injured list (plus lineups and notes)

The Orioles placed reliever Evan Phillips on the 10-day injured list this afternoon with right elbow inflammation and recalled Branden Kline, who traveled with the team as part of the taxi squad.

Phillips won't pitch again this season, but avoided a more serious injury. He walked off the mound in the sixth inning last night after surrendering a three-run homer to Christian Vázquez, and while facing Jackie Bradley Jr.

Kline has made one relief appearance with the Orioles this summer and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

Pat Valaika is playing second base tonight instead of Hanser Alberto. Chance Sisco is behind the plate instead of Pedro Severino.

Ryan Mountcastle is the first baseman and DJ Stewart is back in left field.

José Iglesias remains out of the lineup with a sore left wrist.

Dean Kremer is making his fourth and final start of 2020. He's allowed three runs and eight hits with nine walks and 20 strikeouts in 16 innings.

Left-handed hitters are 3-for-27 (.111) against him and right-handers are 5-for-26 (.192).

Nathan Eovaldi has registered a 4.25 ERA and 1.181 WHIP in eight starts, with six walks and 44 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings.

Two starts have come against the Orioles. He's allowed two runs in 13 innings. Valaika homered in an Aug. 20 game at Camden Yards.

Renato Núñez is 5-for-6 with two home runs against Eovaldi. He's the designated hitter tonight and batting fourth.

The Orioles' bullpen has lost Phillips, but it regained right-hander Shawn Armstrong, who came off the injured list yesterday. He hasn't pitched since Aug. 22 due to left SI joint inflammation in his lower back.

Armstrong didn't expect to be inactive for such an extensive period of time, but the back discomfort lingered far beyond the 10 days. He worked out at the alternate camp site in Bowie and was able to pitch in an intrasquad game.

"I'll be honest with you, I feel better than I did before," he said today in a Zoom conference call. "My body feels good, my back feels great and I'm just excited to be back with the team here."

He returns to a bullpen group that's missing Mychal Givens and Miguel Castro, who were traded at the deadline.

"Obviously, Givens did a phenomenal job in a leadership role and Castro kind of led by example, did a really good job with the team, but I think that says a lot about the Orioles, too, because each guy they bring up really fits into the format of what we're trying to accomplish," Armstrong said.

"You look down in the bullpen, like last night, being gone for three weeks, and it's like nobody missed a beat. Everybody's laughing, everybody's having a good time. Obviously, we're serious when it comes to game time, but the relationship that we have together and just the atmosphere that (Darren) Holmes creates with all of us, it's like nothing ever happened. I think that we really rely on one another to learn from mistakes, we rely on one another to learn from hitter to hitter. And I think overall the Orioles and the coaching staff here have done a great job meshing that together with that clubhouse family atmosphere that they want to accomplish here, and it's a fun thing to be a part of.

"Everyone can see it. Yeah, we struggled a little bit in the past few games, but collectively we're heading in the right direction and it's a fun team to be a part of."

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
DJ Stewart LF
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Renato Núñez DH
Chance Sisco C
Austin Hays RF
Rio Ruiz 3B
Pat Valaika 2B
Ramón Urías SS

Dean Kremer RHP

For the Red Sox
Alex Verdugo RF
Rafael Devers 3B
Xander Bogaerts SS
J.D. Martinez DH
Jackie Bradley Jr. CF
Kevin Plawecki C
Bobby Dalbec 1B
Michael Chavis LF
Christian Arroyo 2B

Nathan Eovaldi RHP