BALTIMORE—Cole Irvin is back with the Orioles after a month with Triple-A Norfolk, and for now, he’s here as a reliever.
“We wanted to bring up somebody who’s a length option out of the ‘pen,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Cole’s been throwing the ball great down at Norfolk, so we’re excited to have him back. “
Irvin was sent to Norfolk after just three starts, an 0-2 record and 10.66 ERA and was 4-1 with a 3.19 ERA for Norfolk.
“Uncharacteristically, the command wasn’t quite there at the beginning of the season,” Hyde said. “He feels a lot better and commanded his fastball well and had a great start his last time out. The improvement of his command has been helpful.”
Irvin believes the time at Triple-A was helpful.
“I got away from what I know how to do best which is throw sinkers at the bottom of the zone and changeups,” Irvin said. “Go back to some good pitch mixes, go back to good locations. I’m here to do a job, so I’ll be prepared to do it.”
He said he wasn’t taken aback by his demotion.
“It’s part of the process,” Irvin said. “When you’ve got options, teams are going to use them when you have them. If you’re not performing well, that’s just what happens in our game. It’s part of our job, part of our work. My process is to keep my head down, keep working and get back, so here we are.
“It was just getting back into a rhythm, understanding what made me successful at this level. One thing that I wasn’t doing was doing things that made me successful. We just go back to doing good things, working with [Norfolk pitching coach Justin] Ramsey down there was incredible. He does such a great job with all the pitchers down there to make them prepared to come up.
“We talked about things with the staff here and ironed some things out, got back on to good locations, got my confidence back up, feeling good and really happy to be back in this clubhouse.”
Irvin knows he’s in the bullpen for now. “I’m here to win. I want to help this team in any capacity. I have a lot of confidence to be able to execute pitches the way I know how. Whatever role that is, I’m not going to complain. I’m here to get my work in.”
Bullpen usage: Hyde says he doesn’t think he’s overworking his bullpen. Bryan Baker has been in 20 of the Orioles’ first 41 games. Félix Bautista has been in 19, Mike Baumann, Danny Coulombe and Cionel Pérez have each made 18 appearances. Even though he didn’t join the Orioles until the season was 2 weeks old, Yennier Cano has been in 15 games.
“I think our guys are pretty rested right now,” Hyde said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job managing that.”
Mountcastle sits: Ryan Mountcastle, who has played in each of the Orioles’ 41 games, is not in the starting lineup for Tuesday night’s game against the Angels. Mountcastle is hitless in his last 11 at-bats.
“I’m just giving him a little bit of a rest. DH yesterday, rest today,” Hyde said. “I’m sure he’ll be in the game at some point today.”
Anthony Santander will play first base again on Tuesday night.
Urías sets a goal: Infielder Ramón Urías said his left hamstring muscle is improving. He injured the hamstring on May 8th and was placed on the 10-day injured list the next day.
“It’s been going good. I feel much better,” Urías said. “I start doing stretching with the team today and probably start running tomorrow on the field. From there, we’ll see.”
Urías is hoping to play on May 26th when the Orioles return from their road trip to Toronto and New York.
Call for questions: I’ll be answering Orioles questions later this week. Please email yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com