Orioles’ O’Neill out with shoulder injury; Hyde on Rutschman: ‘He’s in a better place’

BALTIMORE—Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who was in Friday night’s lineup against the Washington Nationals, was scratched because of left shoulder discomfort. He was replaced in the lineup by Ryan O’Hearn.

“A couple of days ago in the cage, it got a little sore on him, and I guess this morning, he woke up feeling pretty sore,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

O’Neill is hitless in his last 13 at-bats and just 1-for-15 since he returned to the lineup after a stint on the 10-day injured list with neck inflammation. Overall, O’Neill is hitting .188 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

Heston Kjerstad, who was hit in the right elbow by a pitch in Thursday’s game against Minnesota, isn’t in the lineup because the Orioles are facing left-hander MacKenzie Gore, but Hyde reports that he’s better.

“He got hit twice in pretty much the same spot. Fortunately, we have those elbow guards,” Hyde said. “Squared him up pretty much.”

Kjerstad leads the Orioles with four hit-by-pitches.

“I don’t think it’s a personal thing,” Hyde said. “Teams throw him in, trying to get that upper inside corner of the box with fastballs and sometimes they miss in.”

Hyde said there was no new information on starter Grayson Rodriguez (right elbow inflammation) or catcher Gary Sánchez (right wrist inflammation).

Rutschman’s puzzling numbers

Hyde doesn’t believe that Adley Rutschman’s lackluster numbers (.200 average, .629 OPS) are related to his struggles from last season. Rutschman was elected as the American League’s All-Star catcher, and he went to Arlington, Texas for the game with a .270 average, a .780 OPS, 16 home runs and 59 RBIs. In the second half, he hit just .207 with a .585 OPS and only three home runs and 20 RBIs.

“After the first series of the year, I though he went into a spell where he had some bad luck,” Hyde said. “I thought he was swinging the bat OK. He wasn’t getting any hits to fall. There’s a lot of pressure he’s putting on himself to get hits and get his numbers up. That’s where you see the chase, the chase up, come out of his swing because I think he’s trying to do too much at times. Been more encouraged this past week. The best swing he’s taken in a long time was that base hit the other way yesterday.

“That’s a really good start. That’s who he is, the guy who can beat you when he’s going right. Up until the second half of last year, it was line drives all over the ballpark with the ability to take you deep. I know he’s working his butt off to get back to that.”

Hyde thinks Rutschman’s at-bats this season are better than the ones he took in the second half of 2024.

“I think he’s in a better place. I think he feels better at the plate, too,” Hyde said. “I could see him getting hot at some point. We need him. He’s a huge part of our lineup, the reason we’ve had so much success. We’re all pulling for him. He’s in a good place mentally to get out of this thing.”

Last year, Hyde had a different view of Rutschman.

“He wasn’t himself. He was in a funk that he had a hard time getting out of,” Hyde said. “I think this year, mentally, he’s in a really good spot. He feels good. He’s seeing the ball well. He’s swinging at more strikes. Last year, there was a lot of chase. He was chasing hits. He was taking unAdley-like at-bats. I’m seeing more Adley-like at-bats this year.”

Hyde also said he’s considered dropping Rutschman down in the lineup. He’s batting third on Friday night.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it,” he said. “I moved him down to [number 5] the other day. With the way our roster and the construction of it is right now, we have so many lefties. If I’m hitting Gunnar third, the option to hit fourth right now is pretty limited.

“If I hit O’Hearn behind him, it’s a layup for the opposing manager. … That’s not fair to O’Hearn, that’s not fair to Gunnar. I need to sandwich them, I need to help them out any way I can. … I’d love to have a right-handed guy be able to hit behind Gunnar, that’s the bottom line. Looking for somebody to step up to be able to do that.”

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