Santander provides update on injured knee (plus other notes, starters in St. Louis)

Anthony Santander can hit if he’s sent to the plate. His swollen and bruised left knee can handle it. But playing the outfield is on hold.

Santander is receiving treatment on the knee after he slammed it into the right field wall in the third inning Wednesday afternoon while chasing Bo Bichette’s fly ball that deflected off his glove and resulted in a two-run double.

The knee already was tender, and Santander aggravated it in the eighth inning while running the bases. He was replaced in right field in the top of the ninth and served as the designated hitter the past two games.

“The knee’s feeling OK,” he said. “It’s still swollen and bruised. A couple more days it’s gonna be fine.”

Santander said the soreness has been “the same” since Wednesday.

“I would say the last couple days would be a little tough being in the outfield, able to be quick in the first step,” he said.

Santander led off the eighth Wednesday with a double and advanced on Jorge Mateo’s sacrifice bunt. James McCann made four attempts to lay down a bunt, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero fielded the ball and threw home for the out. More pressure applied to a tender knee.

“At the beginning I hit the wall and I just felt the bruise,” he said, “but after that, I slid into second base and then I slid into home plate. I got to the dugout, it felt like a big ball in my knee. So it got sore pretty quick after I slid twice.”

McCann and manager Brandon Hyde didn’t know that Santander had injured the knee as he stood at third base. Hyde removed the bunt sign after McCann fell behind 0-1, but the catcher was determined to get the bunt down.

“As an athlete, you don’t think about the pain in those situations,” Santander said. “You just prepare yourself to be able to give your all.”

Santander said he anticipated that McCann would bunt again with two strikes. He was ready for it and got a good jump. The out call was upheld after a lengthy review.

Santander still doesn’t agree with it.

“I was safe, by the way.”

Cedric Mullins is in center field again today after reaching yesterday on a bunt single to break an 0-for-17 streak. Mullins has six hits in his last 62 at-bats.

“It’s been a work, and that’s all you can do is just continue to work,” said co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte.

“It’s great to see him lay down a bunt. Uses the whole part of his game that he can. Took a good at-bat, battling 3-2, so we like what we see there. And continue to work through it.”

Colton Cowser drew three walks last night after collecting three hits in his previous two games. He has eight walks in his last seven games.

“That’s what we look to see is guys swinging at good pitches and taking walks when they come,” Borgschulte said. “It’s not always that way and it’s always a good thing to see grinding out at-bats against a tough guy like (Luis) Castillo.”

Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and former Oriole Kyle Gibson start for the Cardinals in the three-game series in St. Louis that begns Monday night.

The Orioles are starting Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish and John Means.