With closer Félix Bautista still dealing with left knee discomfort, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said Bautista will be shut down for the final three games of the season.

With his high-velocity fastball and captivating entry that included flashing lights and Omar’s Whistle at Camden Yards, Bautista became one of the top-level closers this year. Hyde said there’s no concern about the knee discomfort leading to anything more serious after he landed oddly in the eighth inning of Friday’s game against the New York Yankees.

Bautista was officially placed on the 15-day injured list Monday, with right-hander Yennier Cano recalled to replace him. The Orioles finish their season on Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

When the Orioles traded closer Jorge López to the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline in August, Bautista, 27, was the next in line to assume those save situations. He took the role with aplomb, and he finished with 15 saves with just two blown saves.

His splitter took center stage as one of the most dominant pitches in baseball, with a run value of -6, according to Statcast — no other reliever had a splitter with a better run value, and Bautista ranked fifth overall. Bautista’s four-seam fastball, which topped 100 mph on 203 occasions, was the best on the Orioles with a -14 run value. (Run value measures a pitch’s impact on how many runs an opponent scores based on the situations it’s used, with lower being better for pitchers.)

Bautista finished with a 2.19 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings in 65 games. Bautista also dealt with arm fatigue near the end of the season after he completed a six-out save last month.

“Just so happy with the season he’s had and him going forward,” Hyde said. “What a great story. Great story for us, great story for him.”

Before the season began, Bautista, who didn’t reach the Triple-A level until late last season, was somewhat of a wild card. He began his career with the Miami Marlins but was released in 2015. He joined Baltimore the next year, navigating his way through rookie ball in the Dominican Summer League for his first two seasons with the organization.

He reached affiliate play in 2019, then took off in 2021 by rising three levels by the season’s end. While he averaged 5.8 walks per nine innings last year, he increased his strike-throwing capabilities entering spring training and broke camp with the team. He quickly earned a late-inning role, then took over as a closer to finish the season with a 0.93 WHIP.

“Loved watching him pitch,” Hyde said, “and looking forward to him next year.”

The start of recovery

Infielder Ramón Urías said his right knee sprain will take eight to 12 weeks to heal, with the first month requiring rest before he begins rehab.

Urías suffered the injury last week against the Boston Red Sox. He first felt the pain sliding into home plate Wednesday, but he figured he could play through it. Later in the game, as he ran from second to third, Urías felt “a pop and some pain,” but the injury won’t require surgery.

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Two of the four former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights during the May 2020 restraint that killed him are scheduled to begin serving their federal sentences Tuesday.

J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao are scheduled to report to the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday morning. The Bureau of Prisons typically would assign them to a federal facility, but authorities have not publicly said where they will go. They are scheduled to go to trial on state charges of aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter later this month.

Messages left with their attorneys were not returned. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office said it anticipates Kueng and Thao will be transferred into its custody for the trial, but further specifics were not provided for security reasons. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill issued an order Monday saying the sheriff’s office must provide the men with access to three sets of clothing for the trial — as well as for two hearings scheduled for later this week — further suggesting that they will be in local custody.

There is nothing in the public record to indicate that Kueng’s and Thao’s federal sentences have been delayed. The U.S. Marshals Service said the former officers were not in its custody on Monday.

The federal Bureau of Prisons said it cannot release information about Kueng and Thao until they arrive at their destination. But in the cases of their co-defendants — former officers Derek Chauvin and Thomas Lane — a federal prison assignment was made public before the men reported to custody.

Kueng, Thao and Lane were convicted earlier this year of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as the 46-year-old Black man was pinned under Chauvin’s knee for 9½ minutes while handcuffed and facedown on the street. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back.

Thao and Kueng were also convicted of a second count for failing to intervene and stop Chauvin during the killing, which was captured in bystander video and sparked worldwide protests as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.

In July, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Kueng to three years in prison and Thao to 3½ years on the federal counts. After their sentences, there were questions about whether they would take a plea deal on the state aiding and abetting charges. But they told Cahill in August that they rejected plea agreements in the state case.

Their state trial begins Oct. 24 with jury selection; opening statements are set for Nov. 7.

Lane avoided a state trial by pleading guilty in May to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to three years on the state conviction and 2½ years on the federal conviction. He is serving both sentences concurrently at a low-security federal prison camp in Littleton, Colo.

Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter and was given a 22½-year state sentence in 2021. He also pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years on the federal charge. He is serving the sentences at the same time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Ariz.

A 22-year-old St. Paul man was sentenced Monday to nearly five years in prison for shooting a man who interrupted the theft of a catalytic converter at a business in the city’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood.

Kaw Bleh Htoo in August pleaded guilty to second-degree assault-dangerous weapon-substantial bodily harm and two counts of first-degree attempted aggravated robbery in connection with the Feb. 21 incident that wounded the man, who suffered a broken pelvis from the gunshot.

Ramsey County District Judge Adam Yang sentenced Htoo to 58 months in prison, giving him credit for 132 days already served in custody.

Htoo’s accomplice, Eh Ler Pweh, was sentenced in July to three years of probation on a first-degree attempted aggravated robbery conviction; a second count was dismissed. Pweh, 19, of St. Paul, also was given 70 days in the Ramsey County Correctional Facility, a sentence that he had already completed by being jailed after his arrest.

According to the criminal complaint against Htoo:

Police were called to the business at 2350 Territorial Road around 3:40 p.m. on a report of a shooting and attempted theft. Officers spoke to the man, who’d been shot in the buttocks, as he was being loaded into an ambulance.

He told officers he had been at work and saw a dark Toyota Scion sedan park next to a co-worker’s Toyota Tundra pickup truck. He said it is a quiet parking lot, but they have had catalytic convertor thefts in the past.

He said he went to the parking lot to investigate and saw someone in the driver’s seat of the car and someone under the truck. He said he heard a sawing noise and saw legs sticking out, so he put his foot on one of the legs and yelled, “Stop that!” the complaint states.

He said he heard a gunshot, then realized he’d been shot. He fell to the ground and crawled back to the business, where co-workers helped him until police arrived.

Surveillance video from the business shows the incident as the man had described, according to police. It shows the two suspects flee the area in the sedan while the wounded man was lying in the parking lot.

Two days later, officers on patrol near Rice and Front streets spotted a car matching the Scion. It ran a red light and crashed into a snowbank on Sylvan Street. Three males fled on foot.

Officers chased and arrested Pweh, who’d been driving, and three other males. A black 9mm semi-automatic handgun was found in the area where Pweh was taken into custody. The gun’s magazine was missing and its serial number scratched off.

The car had been reported stolen from Forest Street in St. Paul on Feb. 2.

When interviewed, Pweh said that when he bought the gun, the serial number had already been scratched off. He admitted to trying to steal the catalytic converter, but refused to tell investigators who shot the man, according to the complaint. Pweh said he knew the car was stolen.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Pweh’s cell phone, which showed text messages between him and Htoo that referenced “cutting,” the complaint read. Htoo’s cell phone was also traced back to the business at the time of the shooting.

Htoo was arrested May 25 at a residence on Bush Avenue in St. Paul. He had an active Dakota County warrant.

In an interview with investigators, Htoo initially denied involvement in the shooting. When faced with evidence, he admitted he was the shooter and asked how much time he faced. He said it was an accident and that he was scared of the victim, who was bigger and was kicking Pweh while he was under the car.