Taylor Ward hit his fifth home run Monday night, his second in two games and his third this month.

The power that the Orioles expected out of Ward finally is beginning to surface.

In the meantime, he remains an on-base machine, with 64 walks before last night leaving him only 11 shy of last year’s career high with the Angels. He ranked third in the majors. His .393 OBP was 10th in the majors and fifth in the American League.

The home runs are noteworthy beyond the modest total compared to the 36 he hit last season, and how they’re more prevalent this month. None of the five have come at Camden Yards.

Ward has gone deep in Cleveland, St. Petersburg, Toronto, Los Angeles and Anaheim.

Of course, I had to know whether he’s approaching the record for most road home runs in his first season with the Orioles before hitting one at home.

According to STATS, the record is shared by first baseman Lee May and infielder Renato Núñez with seven.

May hit his first Orioles homer on April 10, 1975 and his seventh on May 27. His first Memorial Stadium homer was a game-tying solo shot in the eighth inning on June 4 against the Rangers.

Núñez’s streak began on Aug. 9, 2018, and none of his homers were hit at Camden Yards.

The Orioles selected Núñez on waivers in May and he didn’t play for them until July 20.

Curt Blefary is next with six road round-trippers in 1965.

Ward is tied with Mark Trumbo (2016), Jake Fox (2010), Sal Fasano (2005), Billy Smith (1977), Hank Foiles (1961) and Hoot Evers (1955). Fox and Smith didn’t hit any of their homers in Baltimore.

*The .229 average that Gunnar Henderson dragged into last night’s game didn’t impress, to say the least, but he hadn’t reached that mark since May 24 in Game 1 of a doubleheader, when he was hitting .230.

Henderson was 5-for-9 with a double and triple in his two previous games to move him past a .220 average. His on-base percentage increased from .291 to .301 and his slugging from .418 to .431.

Still a long way to go to reach Henderson standards, but one key is that he was hammering breaking balls (.300 average, .500 slugging) and off-speed pitches (.350, .650) since May 17.  But he also was hitting .196/.357 against fastballs during that stretch before last night.

*Triple-A Norfolk’s game against Durham last night was postponed due to rain and rescheduled as part of tonight’s doubleheader.

Outfielder Dylan Beavers had his injury rehab assignment transferred from Double-A Chesapeake to Norfolk. He hasn’t played for the Orioles since May 10 due to a strained oblique.

Beavers was 6-for-12 with four doubles in his last four starts before the injury. He went 0-for-9 with four walks in three games with Chesapeake.

Dean Kremer made his first injury rehab start with the Tides Sunday in Syracuse and allowed one run and two hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. He’s actually pitched five times with Norfolk, counting four games after the Orioles optioned him at the end of spring training.

Kremer threw 66 pitches Sunday, 38 for strikes, after recovering from a strained right quadriceps muscle. His last game with the Orioles was April 18 in Cleveland.

“I thought he looked good, especially the first couple innings. Super sharp, barely missed his spots,” said Norfolk first-year pitching coach Jeff Ware, who spent the 2023-24 seasons as Toronto’s bullpen coach.

“The next couple innings, might have fatigued a little bit, not quite as sharp, but I thought overall he looked really good. The split was really working well, commanded the ball. Gave up a couple hits that just kind of found some holes. But I was really happy with the way he looked and the progress that he’s making.”

*Anthony Nunez followed Kremer and took the loss after allowing two runs and two hits with a walk in two-thirds of an inning.

The Orioles optioned Nunez on June 16 while reinstating closer Ryan Helsley from the 15-day injured list. Nunez posted a 1.35 ERA in his first 12 appearances, but he had a 7.29 ERA over his last 20 dating back to April 28.

Nunez has pitched twice since the Orioles sent him down. He worked two innings on Thursday and allowed a run on a solo homer. He struck out three.

The Orioles didn’t have many choices in counter moves for Helsley, and removing Nunez from their active roster made it easier to control his workload after he made the conversion from infielder only a few years ago.

“It’s a little bit of a break, it’s a little bit of working on some things,” Ware said. “He was in some high-leverage innings there early on. His background in pitching, it’s a small track record. It’s coming down here, we’re fine-tuning some things. Not necessarily like, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to change or anything.’ It’s a breather, it’s fine-tuning a couple things. It’s working on his sweeper, throwing the two-seamer. It’s kind of a little bit of everything.”

*Closer Félix Bautista threw his first bullpen session yesterday in Sarasota. He underwent surgery in August to repair the labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder, and the Orioles remain hopeful that he can return during the second half of the season.

*Infielder Jordan Westburg told the media in Anaheim that he expects to be ready for the start of spring training after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May – whenever camps open.

*High-A Frederick right-hander Kiefer Lord was removed from last night’s game with left oblique discomfort.

Lord, a third-round pick in 2023 out of the University of Washington, tossed 2 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings and lowered his ERA to 5.68 in nine starts with the Keys after moving up from Class A Delmarva.