Trumbo plays through pain in right knee

The right knee soreness that kept Mark Trumbo out of the lineup for back-to-back games and led to him receive an injection has been an issue since late May and has required various treatments.

It might slow him around the bases, but his bat seems to be fine.

Trumbo posted a .388 average during a 12-game hitting streak that tied his career high. He has five home runs and 13 RBIs this month.

Trumbo could be limited to designated hitter chores to limit the stress on his knee, but Adam Jones' move to right field was going to keep him off the field anyway.

Jones is expected to miss the weekend series in Cleveland while on the bereavement list, but Trumbo probably will remain in the DH role.

"I'm thankful that, so far, it's been better," he said. "I think it's hard because I'd like to be able to help the team in a number of ways, and sometimes on a bad day, as far as the value on the bases or defensively, was a little bit limited, but that comes with the schedule that we have.

"There was really nowhere to find an extended break, so try to do the best I can with where we're at."

Trumbo missed five games in May, including an entire series at Tropicana Field, with an injury to the same knee. He's had it drained a few times and received a platelet-rich plasma injection during Monday's off-day.

Manager Buck Showalter returned him to the lineup the next day after checking on him. An impressive turnaround considering the usual downtime after a PRP shot.

"We're going to give it a go," Trumbo said before the Orioles defeated the Mets 6-3.

"I've been dealing with it for a while. Some days are better than others, but some of the symptoms have been pretty consistent. Some of the range of motion isn't where I'd probably like it to be. I've got it drained a few times, too. Just trying to do the best I can with trying to not only play every day, but kind of manage those things so I'm able to go up there and, hopefully, put some good at-bats together, too."

Trumbo is batting .264/.319/.465 in 86 games. He bounced out 3-1 in the second inning, losing a footrace to pitcher Jason Vargas. The knee was tested right away, of course.

A sacrifice fly in the fourth broke a scoreless tie and didn't require much effort getting up the line. Neither did a walk in the sixth. He grounded to short in the eighth.

"He was good," Showalter said. "Like I said before, he's not going to be back to like he was the year before last, first day of spring training. It's things like this that ...

"I have to talk about why they're not in the lineup, but there are a lot of things that guys go through all year long that don't get broadcast. He felt pretty good today. I'm hoping continue to DH him with another off-day Thursday that we can get him back to about as good as he's going to be."

If the Most Valuable Oriole is required to come from a player on the current roster, Trumbo is going to get consideration based on his offensive production and a limited field of candidates.

Manny Machado probably would have run away with it, and we can debate whether he should remain eligible for MVO. I don't know of any existing rule that eliminates him.

It would, however, eliminate the on-field presentation of the award.

Meanwhile, Tim Beckham has homered in four of his last seven games. He snapped an 0-for-13 streak last night with his two-run shot in the eighth.

Third baseman Renato Núñez is 6-for-18 with six walks in his last six games.

Jones is batting .338 (26-for-77) in 19 interleague games this season. He's batting .329 (26-for-79) since the All-Star break.