Sifting through the mailbag leftovers over the weekend, I came across the following question:

“How did you spend your break?”

The short answer is, what break?

Without taking an informal poll, I’m going to assume that the Orioles were one of the busiest teams in baseball. But I’ll go further back, to the two-day draft, the pair of video calls with vice president of domestic scouting Will Robertson, and Blaze Alexander’s fractured left hand.

Some of it can’t be planned in advance.

Last Monday, the Orioles optioned left-handed reliever Nick Raquet to Triple-A Norfolk without a corresponding move. They acquired right-hander Cam Sanders from the Pirates and optioned him, and lefty Keegan Akin was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

The Sanders move will seem like a much bigger development later.

Outfielder Vance Honeycutt, the Orioles’ first-round draft pick in 2024, went on High-A Frederick’s seven-day IL Tuesday with a left oblique strain. They also announced that pitcher Zach Fruit underwent a successful right shoulder arthroscopic debridement procedure with Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas.

Meister also performed Tommy John surgery on Akin Wednesday after examining the reliever’s elbow the previous day. Everyone was braced for it, so to speak.

The roster had some holes in it and the Orioles filled one Thursday by recalling corner infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand from Norfolk, with Alexander going on the 10-day injured list.

The Orioles completed the other half of the Raquet transaction on Friday by recalling Sanders, who on back-to-back days in Houston recorded his first major league win and save.

Sanders became the fourth Oriole with a win and a save in his first two appearances with the team, joining Craig Kimbrel (2024), Mickey Weston (1989) and Doyle Alexander (1972). Saves became an official statistic in 1969.

Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reported that the Orioles signed left-hander Zane Adams, their sixth-round draft pick. Adams is listed on the team’s transactions page. And Collazo also reported that they signed 10th-round utility player Carlos Sanchez.

We also found out that outfielder Eric Booth Jr., the seventh-overall pick, debuted at No. 65 in Baseball America’s updated top 100 prospects list.

Coming in just under the wire Friday was confirmation from the team shortly before midnight Eastern Time that it acquired outfielder Rudy Martin Jr. from the Royals for cash considerations and moved Chris Bassitt to the 60-day injured list. The Orioles selected Martin’s contract and optioned him.

The Orioles announced on Saturday that they signed Booth, who received the third-largest bonus in franchise history at $7,324,700. That’s big news to report about two hours before first pitch at Daikin Park.

It got much bigger with the Orioles revealing – and breaking their own news, which is hard to do these days – that they signed Kyle Bradish to a five-year extension. The game had just started.

Whoa!

Winning in 11 innings later that day seemed like a footnote compared to everything else happening around them.

A fan on social media commented on my post about Bradish’s extension with the following: “Soooo my BIL was sitting next to him on a flight yesterday from Houston to Baltimore, so I was thinking the worst! He did tell him it was good news and the fans would be happy. Yes we are!”

The Orioles came closer to not breaking their own news than they might realize.

About 20 minutes before the start of yesterday’s series final, the Orioles dropped more news on us by announcing that Sam Huff had his contract selected from Norfolk and Sanders was optioned. Huff was placed on the catcher taxi squad in the morning.

Going with 12 pitchers and a short bullpen seemed odd and led to speculation about Adley Rutschman’s physical condition, since he was the designated hitter Saturday and on the bench yesterday. And then, the plot thickened when Samuel Basallo grimaced after a swing in the second inning and again while running to first base with his arm at his side on a bouncer. He exited with right shoulder soreness.

Huff put on the gear instead of Rutschman.

Manager Craig Albernaz told the assembled media afterward that Basallo’s shoulder discomfort has been lingering, and that Rutschman is bothered by left wrist soreness. He didn’t elaborate.

Need proof that this team is back? It swept the Astros in Houston and won yesterday despite the catching drama. Despite the short bullpen and Huff being forced into action and batting fifth – which he’s actually done seven times in his career. Despite the many chances that the Astros had to win Saturday’s game in extra innings.

Despite injuries that keep piling up to important players, including closer Ryan Helsley.

The rotation and bullpen are doing outstanding work, with ERAs of 2.38 and 0.77, respectively, during the streak. The bats are delivering just enough in the clutch, early or late, to keep the team on a roll. The Orioles are two games below .500 for the first time since June 5. The American League is weaker than a wet paper towel.

Jeremiah Jackson came off the bench Saturday and delivered a go-ahead sacrifice bunt in the 10th inning, his first professional sac bunt in his 693rd career game between the majors and minors. Jackson was the first Oriole with a go-ahead sacrifice bunt since former Rule 5 pick Richie Martin in the fourth inning on Sept. 23, 2021 against the Rangers, and the eighth – and ninth occurrence – to do it in extra innings.

Most recently, it was Jeff Fiorentino’s 11th-inning walk-off on Oct. 4, 2009 against the Blue Jays.

Basallo and Huff were behind the plate yesterday. Orioles catchers have totaled 71 RBIs, the most in the majors ahead of the Brewers (67) and Royals (62). The club’s catchers combined before yesterday to rank among major league leaders in slugging percentage (third at .478), home runs (tied for third at 19), doubles (fourth with 21), hits (tied for fourth with 95) and batting average (fifth at .259).

The Orioles led the majors with 24 catcher caught stealing. Pitchers don’t count.

Also, the Orioles have drawn at least one walk in 91 straight games since April 6, the longest active streak in the majors ahead of the Mets (32). Overall, the Orioles lead the American League and rank fourth in the majors with 388 walks.