Blaze Alexander leaves game with knee discomfort

Alexander has been on the injured list since July 16th, when he suffered a fractured left hand after being hit by a pitch. The fielding drills obviously involved him fielding balls with his glove hand, which is his left hand, and even though they weren’t hit hard off the bat, it’s a nice step in the right direction. There is still no stated timeline for his return.

Taveras scored the Orioles’ only run of this game and nearly scored their second – which would have tied the game in the ninth inning – but was thrown out at home on a perfect relay from Brandon Nimmo to Nicky Lopez. Alas, Taveras has been mildly productive in a nearly full-time role this season with six home runs and 10 stolen bases across 100 games.

Alexander suffered the injury during Sunday’s game against the Royals as he was drilled by an inside pitch. No word yet on how long he’ll be shelved for, other than manager Craig Albernaz saying he’s “going to miss some time”. Christian Encarnacion-Strand was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to take his spot on the Orioles’ active roster.

Alexander is “going to miss some time” according to manager Craig Albernaz The 27-year-old has been a quality contributor for the Orioles since the start of June, but now will assuredly be placed on the injured list prior to Friday’s game, and Baltimore will have to turn to Norfolk for a replacement.

Taveras got the Orioles on the board in the second inning, tagging right-hander Seth Lugo for a 448-foot (107.8-mph EV) two-run shot that gave the O’s a 2-1 advantage. He then put his squad on top to stay with an RBI single in the sixth inning before coming around to score on a balk. With his two-hit afternoon, the dynamic 27-year-old outfielder finishes the first half hitting .237/.314/.364 with four homers, 34 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 290 plate appearances.

With Dylan Beavers back in the mix, we could start to see Taveras’ playing time start to dip a bit. The Orioles are rolling with Colton Cowser in center field and Beavers in right against Nationals’ right-hander Zack Littell on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.

Alexander has had a scorching June and came up big for the Orioles on Friday. In addition to throwing out James Wood at home in the fourth inning to keep the Nationals off the board, Alexander also drove in two of the Orioles’ three runs on the night when he singled home Tyler O’Neill and Jackson Holliday in the bottom of the fourth to give the O’s an early 2-0 lead. He’s currently slashing .385/.441/.615 in June with two homers and 11 RBI.

Alexander was forced to leave Monday’s game, leading to Leody Taveras playing third base for the first time as a pro. He is batting ninth against the Angels.

Alexander takes a seat following an early exit from Monday’s series opener with right knee muscle contusion. It’ll be Coby Mayo at the hot corner in his place. The versatile 27-year-old is day-to-day heading into Wednesday’s series finale.

And he got to stay in left field the whole way through. That wouldn’t typically be noteworthy, but the Orioles needed someone to play third base after Blaze Alexander got hurt in the third inning tonight. The seemingly obvious move with Jackson Holliday unavailable would have been to lose Coby Mayo as the DH and play him at his natural position, but the Orioles instead galaxy-brained using Leody Taveras at the hot corner, even though Taveras had never played any infield as the pro. Ward, on the other hand, has started at third 42 times as a major leaguer and 101 times as a minor leaguer. Still, Ward stayed put and all worked out in the end. Taveras played five innings at third without incident, and the Orioles did finally sacrifice the DH and stick Mayo at third for the final two innings of a 6-1 win.