Scott placed on injured list (and other notes)

The Orioles are placing reliever Tanner Scott on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left knee. Pitcher Keegan Akin is taking his place on the active roster and in the bullpen.

Akin is reinstated today from the COVID-19 injured list. Pitcher Thomas Eshelman has been designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Scott is 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA and 1.488 WHIP in 48 games. He's averaging 6.8 walks and 13 strikeouts per nine innings.

The injury came as Scott remained in the organization at the trade deadline, with the Orioles unable to find a suitable offer. He's pitched in Detroit the last two nights and failed to retire any of the seven batters faced, charged with four runs with two hits, three walks and two hit batters.

Scott loaded the bases last night in the ninth inning and Cole Sulser bailed him out in a 5-2 win.

"It's been going on and off for a little bit for the last week to two weeks," manager Brandon Hyde said in today's Zoom call. "Yesterday, he felt really good, so he was available to pitch, wanted to pitch, and then it was pretty clear about the second hitter, I noticed that he was landing differently.

"Unfortunately, with the three-batter minimum I had to keep him in there because he felt fine, but after the game the knee was sore, so he got evaluated today and we're putting him on the IL."

Akin hasn't pitched since July 16 and is 0-5 with an 8.19 ERA and 1.800 WHIP in 48 1/3 innings. He's out of the rotation but stays on the major league roster as an additional left-hander in the bullpen along with Paul Fry.

"For the most part I've used the same three or four guys in the higher-leverage spots. Now, it's just somebody else is going to have to pitch when the game's tight through the sixth to the ninth. One more pitcher needs to step up," Hyde said.

"But Tanner's been a weapon for us and has really had some inconsistent moments. The last couple nights weren't his best, but he's gotten a lot of big outs for us. I'm just going to continue to try to match up as best as I possibly can without him, and hopefully he's back soon."

Hyde is trying to keep guys healthy and fresh coming off a shortened season, which explains today's decision to sit center fielder Cedric Mullins and shortstop Ramón Urías.

"I think if you look around the league, everybody's in the same boat," Hyde said. "There's a lot of guys taking days off. You see a lot of day-to-day guys in and out of the lineups. I think we've been really fortunate this year, a credit to our medical team and Joe (Hogarty) and Ryo (Naito) and (Brian) Ebel and his staff for really doing a great job of keeping us healthy for the majority part of the year.

"Now, we'd just like to finish that way and finish the last couple months and continue to keep guys on the field as much as we possibly can."

Eshelman has an 8.02 ERA and 1.828 WHIP in six games, including five starts. He was optioned on Friday.

The Orioles are starting Jorge López, Alexander Wells and Matt Harvey in the three-game series against the Yankees that begins Monday in New York. The Yankees are starting Andrew Heaney, Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon.