TORONTO — For two days, Félix Bautista sat anxiously in his folding chair out in the visitor’s bullpen at the Rogers Centre.

The closer had already waited 19 months to return to the Orioles’ active roster, spending the greater part of the past two years recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery. But the first two games of the season were blowouts in either direction, leaving Bautista in his seat while the bullpen phone rang with orders for his teammates to start warming.

Finally, he got the call Saturday. Bautista entered Saturday’s game with a four-run lead over the Toronto Blue Jays and closed out the win with a scoreless outing. He allowed a double to Bo Bichette and walked Anthony Santander but recorded all three of his outs on swinging strikeouts and flashed 97.9 mph on the radar gun with his fastball.

“I was waiting for my chance, waiting for my opportunity, just waiting for whenever my name was called,” Bautista said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I continued to support the guys and stay in-tuned with what’s happening in the game, but yeah, no, I’m happy when we score that many runs. And even though when we do, I’m just waiting for them to call my name whenever I’m needed.”

Bautista, 29, was one of the best relievers in the sport the last time he was healthy. The right-hander won the 2023 Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year Award with a 1.48 ERA and 33 saves in 56 games, emerging as a force in the back end of the Orioles’ bullpen.

However, his breakout season ended in August when he suffered a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. He tried to rest the elbow and come back late in the season but ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery in October, knocking him out for the playoffs and the entire 2024 campaign.

“That was so exciting for all of us,” Hyde said of Bautista’s return. “All the people in this room know what he’s gone through and how he was itching to be a part of our team last year so badly and unable to do that. I was hoping for a situation that was as low-pressure as possible. Maybe a three-run lead with the bottom of the order. But it worked out and great to see him out there. Everybody was pumped up that he was coming into the game.”

Bautista has yet to reach the high velocity that he showed in 2023, when he maxed out at 103 mph. Yet his fastball was still effective, sitting in the upper 90s, and his splitter, his primary strikeout pitch, generated four whiffs on five swings against it.

“I felt a lot looser today, I think the adrenaline definitely helped,” Bautista said. “I think playing in a game that counts, as you guys mentioned, definitely helped me today, but I did feel really good with it.”

His return is a welcome sight for an Orioles bullpen trying to bounce back after a disappointing season without him. Craig Kimbrel, signed to be the stopgap closer, lost the job in the second half of the year and the Orioles released him before the playoffs. After Seranthony Domínguez and Yennier Cano had to step in for Kimbrel at times, a healthy Bautista should allow the rest of the Orioles’ setup to settle into more comfortable roles.

“It’s exciting,” Cano said through Quinones. “I was in the gym when I saw him come out. I was like, ‘Wow, it’s incredible.’ I got goosebumps watching him run onto the field. It was needed. It was needed for him to get on to the field and feel what it’s like again and have an outing. It was super nice to see.”

The Orioles plan to be cautious with Bautista, not using him on back-to-back days or pitching him for more than one inning at a time to begin the season. Hyde also said this week that he doesn’t want to have Bautista warm up in the bullpen and sit him back down if the game situation changes.

It will be a difficult balance for the Orioles to get the most out of their star closer without putting him at greater risk of aggravating his elbow injury. Just how much he can return to 2023 form will also go a long way in determining whether their bullpen can once again be a strength of their roster.

But after a long road back to the field, Bautista is no stranger to uncertainty.

“Keep working. Keep doing what I need to do,” Bautista said of what he needs to do to stay on the field. “Not thinking too much about when I’m pitching next. I think, on those days where maybe I don’t pitch, doing what I need to do to continue supporting the team and then take those days as rest days to keep myself healthy.”

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