BALTIMORE -- Right-hander Aaron Civale will rejoin the Guardians’ starting rotation on Friday and Triston McKenzie could also return sooner than later, which will make for at least one difficult roster decision before week's end, manager Terry Francona said before Tuesday’s 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Amid that backdrop, Cal Quantrill struggled to make his case Tuesday night to stay in the rotation in a second consecutive inconsistent outing.

Quantrill allowed eight earned runs in 4 1/3 innings to continue his roughest patch of the season. Coupled with his previous outing against the White Sox, the right-hander yielded 14 earned runs in his last 8 1/3 IP to see his ERA rise to 5.61, more than a run-and-a-half higher than it was a week ago.

To his credit, the 28-year-old recovered from a five-run second to reach the fifth inning and spare some of his bullpen.

“You can't just abandon your team,” Quantrill said postgame. “We had to cover some innings so that we have a good chance to win tomorrow.”

Civale worked 4 2/3 innings in his final rehab outing for Triple-A Columbus on Sunday and will pitch on turn in the second of four games at the Twins on Friday night, Francona said.

McKenzie is set for another rehab outing on Tuesday and then will re-join the team in Minnesota on Thursday, though it's not yet clear when he'll be activated or what role he will assume.

Rookie Hunter Gaddis will return to a bullpen role after making two of his better outings of the year as a starter, including throwing six scoreless innings on May 22.

Even with Civale (left oblique) and McKenzie (right teres major) combining to make only two combined Major League appearances this season, Cleveland’s starters had a respectable 4.06 ERA entering Tuesday’s middle game of three against the Orioles.

That was good for sixth-best in the American League and eighth-best in all of baseball. And it’s based partly on the work of rookies Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, who are both carrying sub-3 ERAs after Allen posted career highs with seven scoreless frames and 10 strikeouts in Monday’s 5-0 win at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Yet if the Guardians decide to stick with a five-man rotation, some tough decisions loom on what to do with Allen, Bibee, Gaddis and maybe even Quantrill.

Allen has been slotted to make another start on Saturday. Bibee starts the day before Civale’s return. Quantrill -- who has a Minor League option but far more big league experience -- would pitch Sunday if he stays on turn.

“We try to cover everything,” Francona said pregame of the decision-making process and his discussions with pitching coach Carl Willis. “Carl and I have been talking about it for the last week because we're probably a little stressed about it because we care about these guys. We live with 'em every day.

“I still think if you have a problem where you think you have too much pitching, it's a heck of a lot better than not having enough. But saying that we still stress over it and we talk about it a lot and try to, we owe these guys one, to be honest, and two, to really be conscientious when we're trying to think about it. And we will always do that.”

Allen perhaps cemented his safety for now with what was his best start of an already promising rookie year, equaling rookie achievements accomplished by club greats Bob Feller and Herb Score.

Across 39 2/3 innings of work, Francona says he’s seen enough to believe it’s not just a fleeting run of excellence.

“A lot of times you'll see a kid come up and make a start and be like, ‘Whoa, that's pretty good. Is that sustainable?’” Francona said of Allen. “But when you watch him pitch you're like, ‘Oh yeah, that looks sustainable.’ He's got three pitches and works quick, fields his position. It's hard to run on him because he doesn't have a whole big leg kick. And so I mean, there's some things that really kind of lead you to think this is pretty good.”

As for Quantrill, he allowed eight hits, walked two batters and hit one, but was unlucky in the first when Gunnar Henderson’s two-run double froze right fielder Will Brennan and landed behind him.

He hurt his own cause an inning later by plunking Ramón Urías with a 1-2 count and issuing a bases-loaded walk to Adley Rutschman before Anthony Santander’s bag-clearing double hammered just fair of first base.

“It just looks like he's rushing through his delivery,” Francona said. “The stuff is fine. It's coming out good. Just location caught up with him.”