BALTIMORE—First baseman Ryan Mountcastle has been placed on the 10-day injured list because of vertigo. The move is retroactive to June 10th. He missed the Orioles’ weekend series with Kansas City.
Mountcastle will be replaced on the active roster by catcher Mark Koloszvary, whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Norfolk.
He’d been in a 4-for-30 slump and is hitting .227 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs.
Koloszvary hit .200 (4-for-20) with a home run and three RBIs last season for Cincinnati. This season, he has hit .172 with three home runs and nine RBIs with Norfolk and Double-A Bowie.
Reliever Danny Coulombe is feeling better, he said. Coulomobe hasn’t pitched since June 4th because of illness.. He was available to pitch on Sunday but wasn’t needed in the Orioles’ 11-3 win.
Another rehab assignment for Tate: Reliever Dillon Tate, who is on the 60-day injured list because of a forearm injury, will drive to Triple-A Norfolk to begin a second rehab assignment.
Tate began the season on the 15-day injured list because of an elbow injury and spent 30 days on a minor league rehab assignment. He had a 14.04 ERA in 10 games with Norfolk, Double-A Bowie and High-A Aberdeen.
“Better than the first go-around,” Tate said. “I’m happy that it’s better.”
Tate said that it’s not a stretch to say his inflated ERA was due in part to not being 100 percent during the first rehab assignment.
“I can attribute some of it to that,’ Tate said. “Some of it is getting back in games, but I’m not really paying much attention to rehab numbers. Yes, it’s still competition, and I’m going out there competing at the best of my ability, but that’s not what it’s all about at the end of the day.”
Tate knew he wasn’t ready during the first assignment.
“I just want to give myself a little time to let it develop,” Tate said. “I can’t call it quits right away, not to say that I’ve called it quits initially. I just have to listen to my body. I have to give myself the best possible chance. I’m still a part of this team, and if I can’t give them my best, I end up bringing this team down. That’s not something I want to do.”
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde is hoping Tate can be an asset to the Orioles’ bullpen in the second half of the season.
“I’m hoping he throws the ball extremely well,” Hyde said. “I hope he feels great after every outing. We’re just going to take it outing-to-outing down there.
“D had such a great year last year for us. He’s got a powerful sinker. Last year, he really came into his own with the changeup, the slider, the three-pitch mix that he was able to command. He was able to get huge outs for us the last third of the game last year. If he gets back to that level, it would be a huge boost for us.”
Tate used the full 30 days allotted in his first rehab assignment. He’s nut sure if the second assignment will be that long.
“I’m not entirely sure,” he said. “That’s up to the front office, the training staff, of course. Whatever their discretion is. We’ll see how it goes.”
Another rehab assignment for Givens, too: Reliever Mychal Givens, who’s on the 15-day injured list because of right shoulder inflammation, will pitch for Bowie on Wednesday and Norfolk on Friday.
He’s eligible to come off the injured list on Sunday. He pitched six games with an 0-1 record and 11.25 ERA after spending the first six weeks of the season on the injured list because of left knee inflammation.
Notes: Gunnar Henderson, who was named the American League’s Player of the Week, said the early season struggles were difficult. “When you’re in the heat of it, the hardest thing to do is to trust it. Don’t take the words lightly when someone says to trust the process. It’s hard to do in the heat of things, but once you get through it, you’re very thankful you went through it and you know how to get through it in the future,” he said. … Noelberth Romero hit a two-run home run and leftfielder Ryan Higgins drove in three runs as Single-A Delmarva beat Salem, 10-2. Alfred Vega, Alejandro Méndez (2-0) and Moises Chace limited Salem to three hits.
Call for questions: I’ll be answering Orioles questions next week. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.