{"id":700253,"date":"2026-06-12T19:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/700253\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T19:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:06:10","slug":"orioles-key-reliever-encouraging-in-first-rehab-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/700253\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles’ Key Reliever Encouraging in First Rehab Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Orioles<\/a> sorely miss Ryan Helsley<\/a> at the back end of their bullpen.<\/p>\n

Their 5.13 bullpen ERA<\/a> since May 1 is indicative of that. The mark ranks fifth-worst in baseball. Coincidentally, May 1 is also when Baltimore placed its closer on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation, retroactive to April 29.<\/p>\n

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However, there is positive news regarding Helsley. The 31-year-old impressed in his first rehab appearance with Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday. Although he surrendered a single, Helsley struck out three batters and threw 12 of his 14 pitches for strikes.<\/p>\n

Helsley’s outing is an encouraging sign for an inconsistent Orioles bullpen.<\/p>\n

When Helsley went down, everyone in Baltimore’s bullpen was forced into greater responsibility. The Orioles have since navigated high-leverage innings with relievers who either lack experience in those situations or are better suited for different roles.<\/p>\n

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While Rico Garcia<\/a> (1.26 ERA) and Yennier Cano<\/a> (2.38 ERA) have impressed, much of the bullpen has struggled. Even after five scoreless innings in a 7-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners<\/a> on Thursday, Baltimore’s overall relief numbers remain less than ideal.<\/p>\n

Keegan Akin<\/a> owns an 8.00 ERA in 18 appearances, while Andrew Kittredge<\/a> has posted a 6.75 ERA across 17 outings. Anthony Nunez<\/a> has also struggled, recording a 5.29 ERA in 30 appearances, second on the team only to Garcia.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Baltimore has been hesitant to use Cano in late-inning, high-leverage innings this season. Although he struggled to a 5.12 ERA in 65 appearances last year, Cano has looked much improved in 2026.<\/p>\n

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More importantly, Cano possesses a track record of success that many of Baltimore’s current high-leverage options do not. Expanding responsibilities for inexperienced relievers has produced mixed results, making Helsley’s eventual return even more important.<\/p>\n

A healthy Helsley would provide much-needed stability and structure to the Orioles’ bullpen. His return would also allow Baltimore to use Garcia and Cano more flexibly while reducing the load on other relievers who have struggled in critical moments.<\/p>\n

Before landing on the injured list, Helsley converted all seven of his save opportunities. He owns a 2.53 ERA across 10.2 innings in 12 appearances this season.<\/p>\n

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The Orioles (33-37) remain firmly in the mix of the American League Wild Card picture. To gain ground, though, Baltimore will need a healthy and dominant Helsley, who was brought in to fill the closer role while F\u00e9lix Bautista<\/a> recovers from a torn rotator cuf and labrum.<\/p>\n

Baltimore opens a three-game series against the San Diego Padres<\/a> on Friday at 7:05 pm ET.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Baltimore Orioles sorely miss Ryan Helsley at the back end of their bullpen. Their 5.13 bullpen ERA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[38632,255051,371,291099,302904,255053,10002,363,18703,37962,2328,481,99,85905,302905,246441],"class_list":["post-700253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-andrew-kittredge","tag-anthony-nunez","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-bautista","tag-jacob-calvin-meyer","tag-keegan-akin","tag-ketel-marte","tag-mlb","tag-rico-garcia","tag-ryan-helsley","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-the-orioles","tag-triple-a-norfolk","tag-yennier-cano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}