Orioles put Alexander on injured list; hope Henderson avoids similar fate

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles have placed versatile Blaze Alexander on the 10-day injured list and are hopeful that shortstop Gunnar Henderson can recover quickly from a knee injury that kept him out of Wednesday night's game against Cleveland.

Alexander was sidelined less than 24 hours after experiencing lower back spasms in a 9-5 loss to the Guardians. His condition did not significantly improve by Wednesday, so the Orioles put him on the IL with lower back discomfort and recalled Jeremiah Jackson from Triple-A Norfolk.

After the Orioles beat Cleveland 9-5 on Wednesday night, manager Craig Albernaz did not rule out the possibility that Alexander could return before the end of the regular season.

Alexander has played three different infield positions and all three spots in the outfield during his first season with Baltimore. Despite missing significant time with a fractured hand, he's batting .303 with four homers and 31 RBIs in 93 games.

Jackson started at second base in the series finale, going 1 for 4 with an RBI.

Henderson fouled a pitch from Hunter Gaddis off his left knee in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game. Henderson stayed in the game, but the knee locked up him as he ran toward second base on a grounder. At that point, he was removed from the game.

The Orioles are off Thursday before facing Toronto on Friday, so there's a chance Henderson could be back for that important series against a team competing with Baltimore for the final AL wild-card slot.

“He's banged up,” Albernaz acknowledged. “Day to day. Get him an off day today and off day tomorrow.”

Although Henderson is struggling through a down season in which he's batting just .219, he he's tied for second with 22 home runs and trails on Pete Alonso in RBIs with 57.

Jackson Holliday started at shortstop on Wednesday night.

Despite winning Wednesday, the Orioles have lost seven of nine and are in danger of falling out of playoff contention.

“We're still in the fight,” Albernaz said after Baltimore used an eight-run third inning to beat the Guardians in the decisive matchup of the three-game set.

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