Orioles’ Albernaz back on job after breaking jaw, shattering cheek bone; Holliday put on hold; O’s-D-backs lineups

BALTIMORE—A day after Orioles manager Craig Albernaz was forced to leave the dugout after a Jeremiah Jackson line drive hit him on the right side of the face, breaking his jaw, he was back at work and in good spirits.

“I don’t have sick days,” Albernaz said. “I kind of have to show up every day. We play every day, to work. This is what we’re here for. We’re here for the players. We have a game. I’m physically able to be here, so let’s go.”

Albernaz has a broken jaw and suffered what he said were “at least seven fractures in my cheek area. The ball hit me pretty flush in the cheek, but feel good. Luckily, no surgery,” he said.

Albernaz is restricted to soft foods and can’t do anything strenuous for six weeks. He won’t be able to throw batting practice, which he enjoys.

“I just have to watch what I do, because I can’t blow my nose for six weeks,” he said. “Because one of the fractures is kind of like where my orbital bone is, and it’s a small spot, but it’s shattered pretty good. So, if I blow my nose, it’s going to go up into my eye.”

His injury happened in the fifth inning. Albernaz positions himself at the end of the dugout and tried to turn away from the line drive, but he didn’t have time to do anything more. He immediately went into the tunnel.

Jackson singled during the at-bat, the start of biggest night of his young career.

“When it initially happened, like, obviously I felt it. It squared me up pretty good,” Albernaz said. “My initial thought was, ‘I’ve got to cover up my face because if it was really bad, I didn’t want my family to see it on TV, and also guys in the dugout.’ So I put my hand over my face and that’s when I kind of took the steps down toward the dugout, get underneath the tunnel.

“And when [head athletic trainer Scott Barringer] came over I told him I’m fine, but I think my cheek is shattered. But the only part that was a little bit scary was when I took my hand off my face, I saw the blood on my hand, I had no idea where the blood was coming from. My fear was my eye, but medical team did a great job. I was trying to get back out there after the concussion protocol was fine, but they wanted to get a CT scan and I was trying to get it after the game, but obviously, medical team has better judgment than I do, so they wanted to do it then.”

Albernaz went to his office to FaceTime his family to assure them he was fine. Jackson ran down to his office as did pitchers Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer to check on him.

In the sixth, he saw that Jackson had hit a grand slam to cut the Orioles’ deficit to 7-6 after the Arizona Diamondbacks had built a 7-1 lead in the top of the inning.

“I heard the crowd and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going out in the dugout,’” Albernaz said. “That’s when I went out to the dugout. I wanted to be a part of it. I was on the top step and I looked over and I saw Scott [Barringer] standing there, and he kind of looked at me like, ‘Let’s go.’ I was like, ‘Do I have to?’ and he’s like, ‘Yes.’ So that’s when I had to go, yeah.”

Albernaz made sure of give Jackson a hug before he left the dugout.

The 43-year-old first-year manager went to the hospital and was examined for some time but was able to watch Ryan Helsley’s ninth-inning save in the Orioles’ exciting 9-7 win. Pete Alonso put the Orioles ahead, 8-7, with a two-run homer in the seventh, and Jackson hit his second home run in the eighth for the final margin.

Albernaz’s family was at home in Pennsylvania listening to the game on the radio. His wife, Genevieve, was driving the family home from the oldest son’s, CJ, baseball game.

“That kind of magnifies it a little bit, where everyone’s in the car listening, line drive in the dugout, hit someone and it’s their dad, their husband,” he said. “But we have such a great organization, such great people here, where immediately they were reaching out to Gen to give her updates.”

His wife posted on X (formerly Twitter) “And we’re back in the dugout. This guy……. 🤣” 

The Orioles have won six of seven and Albernaz is back in the dugout for Tuesday’s game.

“I might wear a mask in the dugout today,” he joked. “I might grab that Ravens’ helmet that’s on my desk and bring it out there. But, no, I’ll be in the same spot in the dugout.”

Holliday’s rehab paused

Second baseman Jackson Holliday took batting and fielding practice on the field on Monday. His recovery from surgery to remove the hamate bone from his right wrist hasn’t been linear.

He went on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Norfolk, which was supposed to end on Wednesday. He was hitting .167 with three RBIs in 11 games. The Orioles decided to end it on Sunday because of right wrist soreness.

The team will shut him down for a few days to allow symptoms to subside, and then he’ll begin a new rehab assignment.

“It’s still the middle of April, so the whole rush component is — actually, at any point, a player shouldn’t rush to come back when they’re on the IL — but with Jackson, it’s making sure that he’s ready to come back,” Albernaz said.

“He also missed spring training, so there’s a lot of components to this. With Jackson, he got to see the docs, get to see where he’s at, get a little plan in place as far as preparation, rehab and what other aspects he needs to take to kind of nip that in the bud.

“Selfishly, it also gets him around with the boys for a little bit, gets [him] around our coaches. So when he leaves here, when he goes to play again, he’ll be in a better spot.”

Notes: Reliever Keegan Akin, who’s on the injured list with a strained left groin muscle, will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk. … Reliever Andrew Kittredge, who’s on the IL with right shoulder inflammation, paused his rehab assignment for the birth of his third child.

Orioles-Diamondbacks lineups:

Orioles

Gunnar Henderson-SS

Taylor Ward-LF

Pete Alonso-1B

Samuel Basallo-C

Dylan Beavers-DH

Leody Taveras-CF

Colton Cowser-RF

Jeremiah Jackson-2B

Blaze Alexander-3B

Trevor Rogers-LHP

Diamondbacks

Ketel Marte-2B

Corbin Carroll-RF

Geraldo Perdomo-SS

José Fernández-DH

Ildemaro Vargas-1B

Nolan Arenado-3B

James McCann-C

Tim Tawa-LF

Jorge Barrosa-CF

Merrill Kelly-RHP

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com