The Baltimore Orioles have activated left-handed reliever Cionel Perez from the 15-day injured list, the team announced Tuesday afternoon. Left-hander Nick Vespi has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room for Perez.
Perez spent the minimum amount of time on the injured list, initially getting placed on it on July 3 due to forearm soreness.
In Perez's absence, Vespi posted a 3.00 ERA and 1.111 WHIP in 9.0 innings across five appearances.
The last time Perez took the mound for the Orioles was back on July 2 against the Minnesota Twins, tossing a scoreless eighth inning in Baltimore's 2-1 win. Before he went down, the 27-year-old was 2-1 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.780 WHIP.
Perez was one of the most reliable relievers in all of baseball last season, going 7-1 with a 1.40 ERA and 1.162 WHIP in 66 outings.
The first three months of 2023 were not as kind to Perez, however, as he allowed seven earned runs across his first 12.0 innings of action. After he posted seven scoreless appearances in a row, Perez gave up eight earned runs in five innings over his next six appearances.
Perez was riding a streak of five games in a row without allowing an earned run before he hit the injured list.
After going 43-23 when Perez pitched last year, the Orioles are 17-16 when he takes the mound so far this year.
Baltimore is sitting at 57-36 overall, which is good for 1.0 game back of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East. The Orioles are currently in the top AL Wild Card spot with 7.0 games between them and the first team out.
The Orioles will face the Los Angeles Dodgers at 7:05 p.m. ET at Camden Yards. The Dodgers took game one of the series by a score of 6-4 on Monday.
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