BALTIMORE -- The Orioles' lengthy list of injury concerns continues to grow more than a quarter into a season in which the club has been struggling to find consistency -- and more bad health luck hasn’t helped.
Prior to Wednesday's 7-0 win over the Yankees, outfielder Dylan Beavers was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain, a day after he was scratched from the O's lineup with discomfort ahead of a 6-2 loss at Camden Yards. Catcher Maverick Handley (who was already in Baltimore on the club's taxi squad) was recalled from Double-A Chesapeake for the series finale between the American League East rivals.
Beavers' IL placement also came a day after left-handed reliever Grant Wolfram was placed on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain. Right-hander Tyler Wells was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to take Wolfram's spot in Baltimore's bullpen.
Nineteen Orioles players have now spent time on the IL this season, with 13 currently sidelined.
Beavers first felt discomfort while hitting in the cage prior to Tuesday's game. The 24-year-old outfielder also didn't appear in Monday's series opener vs. New York, having last played in Sunday's 2-1 win over the A's.
Albernaz said Beavers' oblique strain is low grade, so there is optimism he may not miss too much time.
"He's feeling good, relatively speaking," Albernaz said. "It's not like one of those ones where when you walk around you're wincing. He's moving around fine."
Beavers is hitting .243 with seven doubles, two home runs, 12 RBIs and a .700 OPS in 33 games this year, his first full big league season. But he was heating up, going 7-for-20 (.350) over his past seven games.
“It's tough. Baseball is going to just beat you up sometimes, and hate to hear that for Beavers,” left-hander Trevor Rogers said. “He was really starting to play well and get his footing.”
Colton Cowser filled in for Beavers, starting in center field and batting seventh in Tuesday's loss.
Baltimore probably won't carry three catchers on its 26-man active roster for long. The team is likely to add another outfielder to its roster following Thursday's off-day and ahead of Friday's opener against the Nationals in Washington.
Wolfram, meanwhile, hadn't pitched in a game since last Wednesday in Miami. The 29-year-old left-hander has a 4.85 ERA in 16 outings this year.
Albernaz said Wolfram’s back “locked up on him a couple days ago.”
“We were kind of hoping that it would subside; it just didn’t,” Albernaz said. “He just wasn’t bouncing back, and earlier today, he tried to go out and throw and tried to feel it and he still felt it, so we had to make the move.”
There has been some positive injury news for the O's (19-24) this week, though, as Rogers was reinstated from the 15-day IL to start Tuesday's contest vs. the Yanks. The 28-year-old hadn't pitched since April 25 due to an illness. Right-hander Jose Espada was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Rogers on Baltimore's 26-man active roster.
However, Rogers showed some rust. His first pitch of the night was jolted over the left-field wall by Paul Goldschmidt for a leadoff home run. Rogers also yielded five runs in the third, a New York rally capped by Trent Grisham’s three-run homer.
In 2025, Rogers was the Most Valuable Oriole Award winner for a season in which he posted a 1.81 ERA over 18 starts and placed ninth in American League Cy Young Award voting. In ‘26, he has a 5.77 ERA through seven outings -- and a 10.57 ERA over his past four appearances.
“I love where my stuff’s at. I loved where my stuff was at today,” Rogers said. “Just got to keep controlling what I can control, not really caring what the scoreboard says. Obviously, I want to minimize damage as best I can, but it just comes down to executing pitches better and just continuing to keep doing what I’m doing and it will turn around. We’ve got a lot of baseball ahead of me.”
The Orioles need better starting pitching -- their 5.19 rotation ERA ranks last in the AL and 29th in MLB ahead of only the Rockies (5.22). They need Rogers to help lead the staff to better results.
And, of course, it would help if Baltimore -- which hasn’t won more than two consecutive games since a three-game run from April 11-13 -- would get healthier along the way and could add returning players without others taking those spots on the IL.
“It's kind of that next-man-up mentality and just continuing to grind and put games together and just try to figure out a way to win,” Rogers said. “I have no doubt in my mind that we'll get there.”