Monday was a day of rebounds for hitters who had gotten off to miserable starts. Alex Bregman homered twice to triple his season total on a three-hit day. Spencer Torkelson homered for the second consecutive day, extending his hit streak to eight games. Yandy Diaz went 3 for 5 and is now batting .362 (17 for 47) in May. Bo Bichette went 3 for 4 to give himself a modest little five-game hitting streak. Bryan Reynolds went 5 for 5, and suddenly his percentages don't look so different from last year.

Bregman bouncing back was the most obvious thing in the world, and I was counting on Torkelson and Diaz getting hot at some point. I suppose if there's one of these hitters who I'm still worried won't quite live up to expectations still, it's Bichette, but that's partly because those expectations were so high to begin with. He's of course a buy low and sure to bounce back in batting average especially, but his pull rate has trended down every year of his career and is only 23 percent now, according to FanGraphs. He's undermining his power potential in that way and may be hard pressed to reach 20 homers this year if it continues.

As for the pitching side, the biggest standout Monday was probably Mitch Keller, who followed up a complete game effort with six shutout innings at Milwaukee. His velocity was up nearly 1 mph across the board, too, bringing it more in line with last year's. Michael Lorenzen, meanwhile, threw seven one-hit innings, but he also had four walks and four strikeouts, showing no evidence of growth overall. Jose Berrios rebounded from a rough start with seven strong innings at Baltimore, but he's still sporting a 4.66 FIP that suggests we haven't seen the last of his regression to the mean.

Who is the Orioles closer now? 

We dove deeper into that and more on the recent bullpen report.

Some may be inclined to say Yennier Cano because he's secured two of their past three saves, with the other going to Jacob Webb in a 12-inning affair. Others may say it's a committee given that Cano was tasked with the eighth inning as recently as Monday. Still others would say it's  Craig Kimbrel just because they know that's ultimately what the Orioles want.

"We're going to stick with him," manager Brandon Hyde said after a stretch of five appearances in which Kimbrel allowed a total of six earned runs. "This guy's got a big-time track record, he's a Hall of Famer, and we need to get him right. He's big for us. It's important that we get him right."

But here's the problem: All three of Kimbrel's appearances since that comment from Hyde have come in an inning other than the ninth. It's why the Orioles lead off this discussion of eight bullpens in flux.

The first time Hyde brought in Kimbrel to pitch the seventh, which came only two days after saying he'd stick with him as the closer, he said he just wanted to give him "a little bit of a different look." Well, that different look is quickly becoming a familiar one for Kimbrel, who also worked the seventh inning Monday. In between, he was the pitcher of record in an 11-inning contest that ended as a walk-off win. Cano handled the ninth inning in that contest, as one would expect a closer to do.

So why do I still have Kimbrel at the top of the pecking order? Again, I think it's the Orioles' ambition to have him be the closer. They brought him in just for this one year with Felix Bautista  on the mend from Tommy John surgery. I think the biggest hint that Hyde hasn't moved on from Kimbrel is that Cano came in for the eighth inning Monday after his previous two outings were in the ninth. He struggled, too, serving up a home run and two walks before being removed. Kimbrel, meanwhile, has been virtually flawless in his three appearances out of the closer role, with the only baserunner coming on a hit by pitch.

Kimbrel has had occasional bouts of wildness dating back to his time with the Red Sox, but then he rights himself and gets back to dominating. I think he's close to reassuring Hyde that he's ready to handle the ninth inning again, especially since it's not like Cano is any sure thing himself.

Twins bullpen

A week ago, I feared that Rocco Baldelli's time without Jhoan Duran  had rekindled his interest in a closer committee. Now, it seems like a foregone conclusion. In seven appearances since returning from an oblique injury, Duran has handled the eighth inning three times, with some other reliever following up for the save in each instance. Duran does have three saves of his own and most recently worked the ninth inning with a four-run lead Sunday, but it's clear that Baldelli feels emboldened to use him in the highest-leverage spot regardless of whether it's the eighth or ninth. As such, Griffin Jax , who appears to be Baldelli's second in priority, is worth rostering still in leagues where saves are scarce. He might get double-digit saves the rest of the way.

Rays bullpen

It turns out Pete Fairbanks needed a little over three weeks to recover from a nerve issue in his arm. He returned to close out a five-run win Saturday, striking out one in a perfect inning. It was actually Jason Adam , though, who handled the team's latest save chance Monday. Apparently, Fairbanks was unavailable due to a cut on his finger. The Rays are saying it's just a small nick that isn't about to land him right back on the IL, and that's all well and good. The bigger issue for Fairbanks than what happened Monday, though, is what happened Saturday. His velocity, which has been down about 2 mph on both his fastball and slider this year, wasn't any better after his stint on the IL. Suffice it to say I'd be reluctant to part with Adam in leagues where saves are scarce.

• Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup after missing Sunday with back tightness.
• Austin Riley was out of the lineup Monday and an MRI revealed he has inflammation in his left side. Zack Short started at third base against the lefty Shota Imanaga.
• Luis Robert could begin playing in games in the Arizona Complex League later this week.
• Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said it's possible that Grayson Rodriguez will return from the IL to make a start this weekend against the Mariners.
• Blake Snell made a rehab start Sunday, throwing four perfect innings with seven strikeouts. He's expected to make one more rehab start before rejoining the Giants.
• Kodai Senga won't face hitters again until he works through some mechanical issues. He threw 32 pitches in a live bullpen last weekend, but wasn't satisfied with how it went.
• Reynaldo Lopez left his start early due to back tightness. He threw five scoreless innings with four strikeouts before leaving. 
• Christopher Morel exited Monday night after fouling a ball off his left foot. He's day-to-day.
• Nolan Jones will join Triple-A on Tuesday but will not immediately begin a rehab assignment.
• Evan Carter underwent an MRI on his back Monday. He's now sat out four straight games with a lower-back problem.
• Kyle Schwarber has missed three straight with lower-back soreness. J.T. Realmuto has missed two straight with right knee soreness.
• Brutal news for TJ Friedl who was placed on the IL with a fractured left thumb. I haven't seen an official timeline but my extensive research revealed 6-8 weeks. 
• Wyatt Langford said Monday that's running at about 85-90 percent speed. He's on the IL with a hamstring injury.
• Brandon Lowe felt something in his right oblique during a rehab game and will visit a specialist Tuesday.
• The Blue Jays have some kind of sickness going around the team right now as George Springer, Justin Turner and Kevin Kiermaier were out sick Monday.
• Rhys Hoskins left Monday with a lower body injury.
• Zack Gelof rejoined the A's and could be activated during their four-game series in Houston.
• J.P. Crawford will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Tuesday. He's been on the IL since April 25 with a right oblique strain.
• Jung Hoo Lee was placed on the IL with a left shoulder dislocation. Luis Matos was recalled and expected to play in center field.
• Paul Blackburn was placed on the IL with a stress reaction in his right foot.
• Adbert Alzolay was placed on the IL with a right forearm strain.
• Tim Anderson was placed on the IL with lower-back tightness.
• Danny Jansen was out of the lineup due to back spasms.
• Jack Leiter will start again Tuesday against the Guardians.
• A.J. Puk was activated and will pitch out of the Marlins bullpen. He's a name to watch in case Tanner Scott gets traded.
• Austin Hays was reinstated from the IL but was out of the lineup Monday. This is notable because Colton Cowser has really slowed down. Cowser in his last 21 games (since April 19): 9-for-60 (add Monday) with 2 HR, still hitting the ball very hard but K rate is up over 30% during this time
• One other Orioles move: Heston Kjerstad was optioned back to the minors and Kyle Stowers was recalled. Stowers was on the bench Monday.