LOS ANGELES—Ryan Mountcastle is traveling with the Orioles, though the team put him on the 10-day injured list on Monday, retroactive to August 23rd. Mountcastle is out with a sprained left wrist that occurred when he slid headfirst into second last Thursday.
“It’s a blow to us,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We were hoping that Mounty would bounce back from the wrist. He’s going to need a little bit more time, so we had to put him on the IL, unfortunately.
“We were hoping it was going to improve over those couple of days with the offday. It just wasn’t showing much improvement. It’s going to be a lot of treatment here this next week. Timetable of that I don’t know. I’m staying optimistic that when the IL stint is over, the days are over, he’s able to join us. We’re hopeful he’ll get better.”
Mountcastle is eligible to return on September 2nd.
Centerfielder Cedric Mullins, who sustained a left quadriceps injury on Friday night, will return to the lineup after missing two games.
“Great to see Cedric back in there,’ Hyde said.
Starting pitcher Zach Eflin, who’s on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation, continues to throw, and is feeling better. Hyde hopes he’s ready when he’s eligible to pitch on Sunday, which is coincidentally when the rosters expand from 26 to 28.
“I’m going to knock on wood, cross my fingers and hope that happens, and he’s back,” Hyde said. “Everything’s going well so far, a few more days to go. Hoping he can come back from the IL is over.”
Reliever Jacob Webb, who’s on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, is joining Triple-A Norfolk for a rehab assignment.
“He’s going to throw here in the next few days,” Hyde said. “If all goes well, it can be anytime, so sometime beginning of September, which would be huge.”
Hyde knows how much the team has been affected by having so many key players on the injured list.
“We haven’t picked up very well for guys that have gotten hurt, and we need to this last stretch,” Hyde said. “It’s been a tough couple of months. Injuries have played a part in that. They’re happening around the league, also.
“We need to do a better job of picking up for the guys that are hurt waiting for them to come back, but we’re missing some important pieces right now. Hopefully, we can start playing better.”