May has tested the Orioles’ ability. The next few weeks will test their resolve.

In their first game without Cedric Mullins, the Orioles played well enough that his absence was at its most apparent with two outs in the ninth inning.

As Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez came up against closer Félix Bautista, outfielders Ryan McKenna and Austin Hays ran past each other. The Orioles’ typical left fielder, Hays had played center for the game’s first 26 outs, getting the first shot at the position after Mullins landed on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain before the game. McKenna had entered as a defensive replacement for left fielder Terrin Vavra before the inning, but as the lights flashed and the music blared for Bautista’s signature entrance at Camden Yards and the pitch clock ticked down, there was miscommunication between the outfielders and Baltimore’s bench over who would man center.

There often is no question.

“We’re so used to having Mullins in center field,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

Monday’s Orioles game marked their first on the other side of a difficult portion of the schedule. Tuesday’s opened a stretch that could prove even more challenging.

Baltimore handled its first game without its All-Star center fielder, defeating the Cleveland Guardians, 8-5. But in the same way spending much of the past month matching up against some of baseball’s best teams tested the Orioles’ ability, the weeks to come will measure their resolve.

The Orioles (35-20) followed a relatively soft early schedule with a stretch of 22 straight games against teams with winning records. It went 13-9, taking series from some of baseball’s best teams while establishing themselves as one of them. Mullins appeared in all but one of those games, hitting .293 with a .926 OPS as the Orioles’ primary leadoff hitter. In both that role and his place in center field, Mullins trails only star catcher Adley Rutschman as the Orioles’ most irreplaceable player, evidenced by the fact they had to go outside of the organization to even try.

Veteran outfielder Aaron Hicks, days removed from the New York Yankees releasing him when Baltimore signed him Tuesday, can’t fill Mullins’ vacancy, nor will he be asked to. He, Hays and McKenna will primarily handle center in Mullins’ absence, making their best efforts to fill in for a player who is immensely valuable to Baltimore on both sides of the ball.

“I don’t think it’s on Hicksy to come in and replace him or do anything special,” said starting pitcher Kyle Gibson, a teammate of Hicks’ with the Minnesota Twins. “If he’s the best version of himself, then that’s gonna work for us.

“We’ve got a lot of really good players. Haysy can move to center. Hicksy can play center. That’s the beauty of this team, I feel like. We’ve got three guys that can play shortstop, three guys that can play center field, maybe more. It’s gonna be tough to replace [Mullins’] bat and replace his defense all in one player, but around the team, we can pick him up.”

Hays agreed with that notion, saying the team’s position players have a mantra that goes beyond who’s in a given day’s lineup.

“It’s not necessarily one through nine, but one through 13,” Hays said. “That’s kind of been our motto this year. I think this is really something that’s gonna show a test for that, just one through 13, guys being ready off the bench, matchups, different things of that nature to just be ready in any situation because he’s our leadoff hitter and center fielder every single day. Obviously, we’re gonna miss that for a little bit right now, hopefully just for a short amount of time.”

Neither Hyde nor executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias had a set timeline for Mullins’ return, though both offered optimism he would be absent for weeks, not months. But with an Orioles team for whom each game matters in pursuit of a playoff berth, that remains a significant time frame.

Including this matchup with Cleveland — the reigning American League Central champions — nine of the Orioles’ 12 series leading to the mid-July All-Star break are against teams who either reached the playoffs last year or are positioned to do so this season. It does not help that they often play games decided by narrow margins; Tuesday’s victory, in which they twice held a seven-run lead, became the 49th of their first 55 games decided by four or fewer runs.

It’s been a dejecting homestand for Baltimore, which was coming off 5-1 road trip against AL East foes Toronto and New York. Friday, Elias revealed starting pitcher John Means and reliever Dillon Tate both suffered setbacks while recovering from their respective arm injuries, though he noted neither was related to their original ailments. That night, top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez had another disastrous start in his roller-coaster rookie season, prompting a return to Triple-A. Mullins’ injury came amid the Orioles’ third loss in four games, only their third such instance through the first third of their season.

The infrequency of those dips speaks to how well Baltimore has played with Mullins on the roster. The Orioles will have to show their mettle without him. They proved their ability to weather absences last season, when Means, their lone dependable starter for much of the prior three years, required season-ending Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery after only two starts. Other pitchers stepped up, and now, for the time being, other hitters will be asked to do the same for Mullins.

“The good news for us is we’ve got other good players,” Elias said. “It would be completely unrealistic to expect to go all year without one of our star players going down for a stretch.”

Tuesday exemplified the Orioles’ capability of getting production from elsewhere. Hays handled center field without issue, with McKenna doing the same for one batter. Adam Frazier took over Mullins’ place atop Hyde’s lineup, contributing twice to rallies with singles. Rutschman did the same with walks; he’ll bat second behind someone else for the foreseeable future. Santander, the other third of Baltimore’s typical outfield, hit a three-run triple ahead of a pair of doubles. Gunnar Henderson continued to turn around his rookie season with two hits, including an RBI double.

Hicks did not appear in the game. Of course, neither did Mullins, and the Orioles managed to win, regardless.

“This is kind of something that just happens, and you know it happens,” Hyde said. “We’ve played other teams that have been missing guys, and it’s part of a six-month season in a sport where you play every night, and you never want to see it, and it hurts to have one of your main guys missing time, but it’s part of the game.

“Good teams are able to deal with some adversity and have other guys step up and give other guys some opportunities. Hopefully, we’ll get Cedric back, and he can continue on the great season he was having.”

The Orioles will try to keep theirs going without him.

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