SEATTLE — The Orioles designated right-hander Mychal Givens for assignment Sunday, all but ending his second stint with the organization with just four innings pitched this season.

Givens, signed during the offseason to a one-year deal with a base salary of $3 million, will be due that money in full unless another team claims him off waivers. Givens’ contract included a mutual option for 2024 worth $6 million, with a $2 million buyout should the club decline, bringing the total deal to $5 million guaranteed.

Givens joined with the expectation that he would be an experienced late-inning option, but it never materialized. Instead, Baltimore’s bullpen has been filled ably by a cast of pitchers who weren’t on the radar earlier in the year.

“If you would’ve asked me in March if [Yennier] Cano was gonna look like this, or Danny Coulombe was going to be in our bullpen…” manager Brandon Hyde trailed off with a chuckle. “That’s what you need. You need breaks along the way and you need some surprise stories, and Félix [Bautista] was a surprise story for us last year and Cano and Danny have been this year for us, and [Jacob] Webb.”

Givens dealt with a knee injury during spring training, and he broke camp on the injured list.

Once Givens returned, he appeared in six games in May yet completed just four innings with six walks, six runs and a blown save against him. In early June, Givens landed on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation. He began a rehab assignment in late June, then felt soreness in his shoulder that prompted an evaluation by team doctors in Baltimore.

As a result, he was transferred to the 60-day injured list in July and began a rehab assignment at the end of last month.

But Givens’ rehab outings have been poor. In his two most recent appearances for Triple-A Norfolk, he allowed three runs each. On Saturday, he completed one-third of an inning with two walks and two hits, one of which was a home run.

It ends a lackluster return to Baltimore. In Givens’ previous stint, he pitched from 2015 to 2020 before he was traded to the Colorado Rockies midseason. His best year came in 2017, when he threw to a 2.75 ERA in 78 2/3 innings.

Without Givens, however, Baltimore’s bullpen has been fine. Entering Sunday, the Orioles’ 3.64 bullpen ERA is the sixth best in baseball, and no team has a better wins above replacement value for its relief staff than Baltimore’s 6.2, according to FanGraphs.

“This time of year, we’re trying to win every game we can right now, and we’re coming down the stretch and we need guys who are durable, able, to be able to win some games down the stretch,” Hyde said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out with Myc. But we have some other guys who have thrown the ball extremely well.”

andy.kostka@thebaltimorebanner.com