Tate goes on injured list (and other notes)

The Orioles made a roster move impacting their bullpen this morning, but in the opposite direction than expected.

Dillon Tate has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain and the Orioles recalled outfielder Ryan McKenna from Triple-A Norfolk.

Tate sustained the injury while covering first base in Friday night's game. He did the splits while taking the throw, an impressive move for a pitcher, and it cost him.

Xander Bogaerts beat the relay and Tate landed on the IL again. He didn't make the opening day roster last summer after being hit on the elbow by a comebacker in an intrasquad game.

Tate worked 1 1/3 innings on Friday and allowed one run and two hits. He's registered a 3.46 ERA and 0.923 WHIP in 11 appearances covering 13 innings.

"He went in for treatment that night, yesterday was a little bit sore. We wanted to see how it was going to be the next couple days and still really sore," manager Brandon Hyde said in his Zoom call.

McKenna provides an extra bat and defensive replacement as the Orioles head to New York on Tuesday for a two-game series against the Mets at Citi Field. The additional position player comes in handy.

McKenna made his major league debut last month and has gone 3-for-15 with a triple and an RBI. He's on a four-man bench today.

"Mac's going to give us a little help position player-wise, just because we're a little banged up on the field, too, and we have some guys who are kind of playing through some stuff" Hyde said. "Ryan provides an extra body for us position player-wise, so I'm sure there are more moves on the horizon."

Third baseman Maikel Franco is on the bench, but apparently it's related to performance rather than health. He's in a 3-for-38 slump.

"Nothing wrong with him physically," Hyde said. "I'm just giving him a day. He's scuffling a little bit at the plate here in the last week and just want to give him a day to sit back and relax."

Zac Lowther made his first major league start last night and he's headed to the bullpen, at least temporarily

"Right now, we're kind of mapping out our rotation here coming up this week," Hyde said. "It's still a little bit in flux, so right now, he's going to probably go in the bullpen and we'll go from there."

Pat Valaika impressed Hyde last night with his relief appearance and the first-pitch strikes in the ninth inning.

Five pitches thrown and the only baserunner was the result of Ramón Urías' error.

"I'll take that position player outing every time, hopefully not too often," Hyde said.

Hyde sensed that Valaika wasn't eager for the assignment.

"It was probably in the sixth or the seventh and I said, 'Ever pitch before?' And his answer was, 'No.' I said, 'Do you want to?' And he said, 'Sure,' " Hyde said.

"So I didn't get the greatest reaction back. I was hoping for a little more excitement."

Major league coach Fredi González tried in the eighth, upon instructions from Hyde. Gauging whether Valaika's heart was in it.

"He was excited to Fredi, so I said, 'Boom, he's in,' " Hyde said. "If we didn't score there in the bottom of the eighth, then Val was in the game. Took over for John Means in the first-pitch strike success."

The Orioles bring a 4-12 home record into today's game. They've gone 11-6 on the road.

"Still really early for me with that," Hyde said. "We just got beat by a really good team the last two days, haven't played very well on this homestand, so hopefully we start playing better today.

"I think it's coincidence and early right why we're not playing better at home. We have played very well on the road. Hopefully we can start playing like we are on the road here at home."