Orioles preparing for demanding June schedule; X-rays negative for Westburg

BALTIMORE—The Orioles have their fourth scheduled offday in May on Thursday, and they’d better enjoy it. After the offday, the Orioles play every day from Friday through June 30^th, with the exception of June 17^th.

Their opponents will be difficult, as well. They will play three current division leaders, New York (American League East), Cleveland (American League Central) and Philadelphia (National League East).

Their other opponents have been historically difficult. They’ll play the Atlanta Braves, who are in second place in the NL East, and they’ll have two series with longtime rival Tampa Bay and one at Toronto.

The Orioles also have a series at Houston, which is 24-31 but has seven consecutive appearances in the American League Championship Series, and at home with Texas, which beat them in three straight games in the Division Series in October.

“We talked a lot about it last year,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I remember there was a lot of leadup into our late August/September schedule last year, which is really similar to what our June looks like this year.”

From September 1^st-25^th, the Orioles had only one offday, and that was after an all-night flight from Los Angeles to Boston. During that stretch, the Orioles went 14-9 and secured their first playoff appearance since 2016.

“We performed really well. We played great last year with that,” Hyde said. “A lot of people talked about these stretches we were going to be on and how we were going to get through it, and we got through it.

“I expect us to do it the same this time around. I don’t think the players look ahead in the schedule to see who we’re playing down the road … I think they’re really series-to-series and game-to-game. I think that’s the right approach.”

Notes: Infielder Jordan Westburg is out of the lineup for Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox after he was hit in the right hand by a pitch. “I think we caught and break and got lucky,” Hyde said. “He’s sore and feels a lot better than he did last night. It squared him up pretty good in the hands. X-rays came back negative and he’s just sore … With an eye on the schedule, Hyde is sitting catcher Adley Rutschman but said he’ll probably play at some point on Wednesday night.