Blaze Alexander leaves game with knee discomfort

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.

Alexander has been swinging a hot bat for much of the season and has recently taken over the starting third base job from Coby Mayo. The 27-year-old has gone 21-for-48 (.438) with two home runs, nine RBI, and two steals in his last 15 games. He should be added in most formats while he’s swinging the bat like this.

Taveras had three of the Orioles’ six hard-hit balls and was the offensive player of the game, but he was nearly the goat after botching what seemed to be a game-ending fly to right in the ninth, giving the Dodgers their second run. Fortunately, the Orioles held on to win 3-2. Taveras is batting .255/.332/.368 through 236 plate appearances. He’s fourth on the Orioles with 28 runs scored and sixth with 29 RBI despite having homered just twice in 66 games.

Alexander was a .237 hitter in 451 plate appearances over two seasons in Arizona, but he’s at .310 right now, and his improved exit velocity numbers largely back it up. He’s also 8-for-11 stealing bases after going 7-for-14 the last two years. He’s probably still not worth picking up in 10- and 12-team mixed leagues, but those in deeper formats could consider him while he’s playing regularly.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 27-year-old outfielder. Tyler O’Neill will start in his place in right field and will bat eighth for the O’s against Griffin Canning and the Padres.

Alexander made things interesting by socking a run-scoring single into left field off Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo in the eighth inning. The 26-year-old utility specialist has put together an encouraging Orioles debut, hitting .286/.340/.400 with two homers, 18 RBI and seven steals through 56 games.