The Baltimore Orioles are coming off a fantastic weekend where they swept the Cincinnati Reds in dominating fashion. They are now 23-11 after going 7-3 over their last 10 games and hold a one game lead in the AL East.

What might have been the most impressive aspect of what occurred in their past series was the performance of their pitching staff.

They held the Reds to just two total runs and 11 hits over their three games, and did so without having Corbin Burnes or their returning star Kyle Bradish on the mound.

That bodes well for them going forward as John Means was able to look extremely sharp in his return, throwing seven shutout innings where he allowed just three hits and struck out eight.

Baltimore is getting closer to having the starting rotation they envisioned when the front office traded for Burnes this offseason, but with Grayson Rodriguez now on the injured list with shoulder inflammation in his throwing arm, they’ll have to wait a bit longer.

Good news is the star right-hander started his throwing program this weekend where he played catch at around 60-75 feet.

There was some initial concern when he was placed on the 15-day IL, and it sounds like the Orioles are going to be cautious with this progression as pitching coach Drew French said the team “will take it slow” until he reaches his bullpen stage of rehab.

Rodriguez had an incredible start to his year before hitting the injured list. He has a 4-1 record and 3.71 ERA across his six outings with a team-high 37 strikeouts.

No return date has been set or approximated as of now, but if everything continues to go well during the early portion of his rehab, then Baltimore is hoping he can return at some point during May.