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Baltimore Orioles reliever Richard Bleier is likely lost for the year with a shoulder injury Minkah Fitzpatrick Color Rush Jersey , yet another setback for the team with the worst record in the major leagues.

Bleier (3-0, 1.93 ERA) was the most effective pitcher in a bullpen that only recently got back injured Zach Britton and Darren O’Day.

Bleier walked off the mound in pain Wednesday after throwing a seventh-inning pitch against Boston. An MRI determined the injury to be a left shoulder latissimus strain, which probably will require surgery to repair.

”I don’t expect him to play again this year,” manager Buck Showalter said Friday. ”The worst case is that it’s a Grade 3 (strain) and he has surgery and returns sometime next season.”

Bleier, whose 31 appearances are most on the staff, was placed on the 10-day disabled list.

”It’s a loss,” Showalter said. ”It’s very valuable to have a left-handed pitcher who can pitch to both sides. He keeps you from having to (warm up) behind him because you know you can leave him in there for an extended period of time.”

The Orioles made a flurry of moves Friday, recalling left-handed reliever Tanner Scott from Triple-A Norfolk, selecting the contract of infielder Corban Joseph from Double-A Bowie, optioning right-hander Yefry Ramirez to Norfolk and designating lefty D.J. Snelten for assignment.

Joseph was poised to make his big league debut at first base Friday night against Miami in place of Chris Davis, who has essentially been benched in the wake of a season-long slump.

Davis is batting .150 with four home runs, 15 RBIs and 86 strikeouts in 52 games. Making matters worse is that the slugger in the third year of a seven-year, $161 million contract.

Davis hasn’t played since Monday, and there’s no telling when he will be back in the lineup.

”Chris is continuing with some things that he’s working on,” Showalter said. ”When they come to me and say they think he’s ready to get back in the lineup, we’ll put him back in there. But it’s nothing imminent.”

Asked to disclose whom Davis is working with, Showalter said Mike Hughes Color Rush Jersey , ”I’m not going to get into all that. When they think that he’s ready to play, he’ll play. I hope it’s tomorrow. I hope it’s the day after tomorrow. It’s not today, and there’s no closed end on it. I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later.”

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What the Detroit Tigers were hoping would be a very big week in Ohio is off to a very slow start.

With the surprising Tigers’ biggest series of the season coming up this weekend, they’re not getting much time to turn things around.

The Tigers brought a five-game winning streak and plenty of confidence into a week that’s beginning with two games against the last-place Reds in Cincinnati and ending with three against the first-place Indians in Cleveland. They started out the week 2 1/2 games behind the Indians in the AL Central, and were talking openly of leaving Cleveland with the division lead on Sunday night.

But they’re now four games back following the Indians’ home-field wins over the Chicago White Sox on successive nights and the Tigers’ 9-5 loss to the Reds on Tuesday night. The Tigers let their game get away from them in a hurry after Joey Votto hit a grand slam in the third inning off Detroit starter Matthew Boyd (4-5).

The Tigers put up the kind of late-inning outburst that often wins games — a five-run ninth inning, against Reds reliever Wandy Peralta — but the trouble was they were down 9-0 when the inning began. Reds starter Sal Romano (4-7) shut them out on four hits over seven innings and now has allowed only one run over 15 innings in his last two starts.

“This wasn’t a good game for us,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “The other guy was throwing the ball well. … It wasn’t one of our better nights. You walk a few people (six), give up a few hits and (have) some long innings, and there you have it.”

Now, the Tigers don’t have much time to bounce back as they face an afternoon game Wednesday in Great American Ball Park, with right-hander Michael Fulmer (3-5, 4.13 ERA) going up against the Reds’ best pitcher of late in Tyler Mahle (5-6, 3.96). The Reds right-hander has permitted only two earned runs over 16 1/3 innings in his last three starts.

“Detroit, you look at their record, they’re getting after it every night,” said Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman, whose team has won five of seven. “Ron Gardenhire’s got them playing hard and you’d better play the whole nine. They’re going to come after you.”

Neither pitcher in Wednesday’s game has faced the opposing team before.

Boyd hadn’t seen the Reds before Marcus Davenport Color Rush Jersey , either, but Cincinnati made quick work of him, chasing him after getting five runs, six hits and three walks off him while he labored through four innings, throwing 80 pitches .

Some of the Reds’ low-average hitters did the most damage against Boyd and a Tigers bullpen that was almost flawless during the winning streak. Billy Hamilton, batting .203, went 2-for-4 with a home run and Adam Duvall, batting .196, was 3-for-4. Tucker Barnhart also was 3-for-3 as the Reds collected 13 hits.

Detroit wasted a big night at the plate by leadoff hitter Leonys Martin, who went 3-for-3 with a double and walked twice while reaching base five times.

Mahle got off to a rough start this season, losing six of his first nine decisions, but he pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Kansas City Royals in a 7-0 win last Wednesday and five shutout innings against the San Diego Padres on June 1. In between, he gave up two runs to the Rockies in five innings on June 7.

“It’s nice to put a couple (of no-run outings) close together like that,” Mahle told reporters after beating the Royals. “I was able to put some zeros up there and our team is always going to be able to score at some point.”

Fulmer is coming off a strong start, beating the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Thursday while giving up only one run on five hits over seven innings. The win was Fulmer’s first at Comerica Park in nearly a year, or since July 15.