The brother vs. brother matchup that did not materialize and other notes

It would have been a cool story to watch unfold for the two brothers. When the schedule was released for the 2022 season, both Ramón Urías of the Orioles and his younger brother, Luis, of the Brewers noted the April dates on the calendar. Ramón’s Orioles would host Luis and the Brewers, and their family would made the trek from Mexico to see it.

But in his first spring training game, Luis, 24, suffered a quad injury.

“We felt bad about it. We were waiting for this time. My family would be here for sure if if we both were playing,” said Ramón, the older brother by three years, today in the O’s clubhouse.

Just like his older bro, Luis also plays second, shortstop and third base. He moved around the infield for the 2021 division-winning Brewers, slashing .249/.345/.445 with a .789 OPS, 23 homers and 75 RBIs.

“When we were growing up together, we talked a lot of baseball,” Ramón said. “We prepared together this offseason in Phoenix. I am proud of him, he’s a good player. We are very close.”

Ramón also told me the brothers have never played against each other before in pro ball. He said if the brothers had played each other this time, it would have been a big story in his native Mexico.

The battle with RISP: For the Orioles, the challenge to get the clutch hit resumes tonight not long after 7 p.m. The club went 1-for-13 last night against Milwaukee in a 5-4 loss and is 4-for-47 this year with RISP.

Trey Mancini is 0-for-5 this year in such situations but has a career .250 average and .758 OPS in those spots. He was asked how long a tough loss like last night can linger for the hitters who could not get the clutch hit Tuesday.

“You think about it that night,” said Mancini. “You think about what you could have done differently. I know we haven’t been doing too well with runners in scoring position. I think our approach overall with swing decisions (have) been pretty good, but we haven’t been getting the results. So you have to stick with it and that’s all you can do.

“I think maybe we’re just making the situations a little bit bigger (than we need to) obviously whenever someone is in scoring position. You can think about it a little bit and get a little tight, but you can’t change your approach too much. You still have to get a good pitch to hit and do that. We still have 157 games left, so there is still a lot of room for improvement and we can make up for that. It’s five games out of a lot, but it’s something we certainly have to improve on.”

Mancini was also a victim of sorts of the deeper outfield wall last night when he lined a ball into the left-field corner that would have been a 2021 homer but was a 2022 double.

“Yeah, that ball has gotta go,” he said. “I thought it was no doubt a home run, so I was pretty surprised when it stayed in.”

Tonight, Mancini and the Orioles, who have scored just 10 runs in five games this year, have to try and hit the 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner in Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes.

“His whole repertoire is elite,” said Mancini. “Started watching film on him starting last night. An amazing pitcher as we all know. Won the Cy Young, an incredible pitcher, so we have our work cut out tonight.”