Baltimore scratched Samuel Basallo from Monday night’s lineup against the Yankees because of left knee discomfort, a day after the 21-year-old collided at home plate with the Athletics’ Carlos Cortes and stayed in the game.

The Orioles opened a three-game series at Camden Yards carrying fresh concern over a player they had expected to use as the designated hitter. Basallo’s discomfort followed Sunday’s seventh-inning collision and came after Baltimore’s 2-1 win over Oakland, a game in which he finished despite the hit at the plate.

Manager Craig Albernaz did not describe the issue as severe, but the timing mattered. The Orioles had just been battered by New York in a four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium last week, getting outscored 39-10, and Monday night offered an early chance to reset the tone against the same opponent.

That sweep had exposed the gap Baltimore must close if it wants this week to look different from the last one. A lineup missing Basallo, even briefly, narrows the margin. The young hitter had been slated for designated hitter duty against the Yankees before the knee discomfort forced the change.

There was also movement on the pitching side, though not enough to put Ryan Helsley back in uniform. The reliever remains on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation and was eligible to return this week, but he will not be activated.

Helsley said the issue began with stiffness a couple of weeks ago, then lingered. He said he went home for a few days hoping it would improve, but he threw only once in eight or nine days and said he was not feeling any better. “I knew something probably wasn’t quite right,” he said, adding that he had “a little bit of swelling and stiffness in there.”

The right-hander said the scans and doctor reviews were encouraging, but he still does not sound close to a clean return. He pointed to June 1st as a realistic goal and said he would love to be back by then. “That’s three weeks away, so I would think so,” he said, while adding that arm injuries are hard to rush and often take longer than expected.

Helsley’s absence leaves Baltimore without a reliever it hoped to count on in the short term, and his own numbers show why that matters: he is 0-2 with a 2.53 ERA and seven saves. Trevor Rogers is also still on the injured list with the flu, though Albernaz said he could start on Tuesday and was not ready to say Rogers was fully set to go.

For now, the Orioles are trying to absorb small setbacks while keeping pace in a stretch that already turned rough in New York. Albernaz’s blunt view of that series still hangs over the club. “It was a punch in the face the last time we played them,” he said, and Monday offered the first chance to answer it.