The improvements in the Orioles rotation during the last road trip and John Means' ability to gut out five innings last night after a laborious first could open some doors for manager Brandon Hyde. Maybe shuffle the hand that he's been dealt.
Hyde finds it much easier to rest certain relievers with fewer innings to cover. A burden finally is lifted from the bullpen, for however long it lasts.
Game management is simplified. Hyde will take it.
There's also the possibility that the club finally...
Extending the Orioles' streak of quality starts to six tonight became a tall order for left-hander John Means after a 33-pitch top of the first inning.
Making it through the fifth was now an issue.
Means managed to complete five innings while continuing to impress in his rookie campaign and the Orioles claimed their fourth series opener in the last five opportunities with a 4-2 victory over the Blue Jays before an announced crowd of 12,524 at Camden Yards.
The bullpen held the Jays to one run...
Orioles pitcher Alex Cobb will undergo surgery on his right hip later this week in Nashville that's going to close out his 2019 season after only three starts.
Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias provided a rare update on Cobb this afternoon in the home dugout during batting practice.
Cobb has been attempting to rehab his lower back and hip in Sarasota. The decision was made for Cobb to visit orthopedic surgeon Dr. J.W. Thomas Byrd in Nashville.
The surgery is intended to...
Chris Davis returns to the Orioles lineup tonight after sitting out the last two games in Houston. He's batting eighth again.
The Blue Jays are starting right-handers in all three games of the series, so Davis could stay in the lineup.
Richie Martin and Keon Broxton are on the bench. Jonathan Villar is playing shortstop with Hanser Alberto at second base and Stevie Wilkerson is in center field.
Anthony Santander is playing left field and batting second. Catcher Chance Sisco is in the cleanup...
Rather than take a deep dive into my "mailbag," and I realize that I'm getting loose with the language when I refer to it as such, I've chosen to tackle a few prevalent questions. No real heavy lifting this morning.
Why are the Orioles wasting their international signing bonus slots instead of using them on the top foreign-born players?
Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias was very clear with this point while addressing the crowd at FanFest. He wasn't going to spend just...
Major League Baseball released the first update on All-Star Game balloting in the American League and only two Orioles register in the top 10.
Trey Mancini is 17th among outfielders and Chris Davis is 10th among first basemen.
Mancini has received 100,457 votes to put him at a significant distance from leader Mike Trout, who paces all AL players with 951,002. George Springer is second with 776,352 and Austin Meadows is third with 468,111.
Davis has accumulated 70,010 votes. Luke Voit ranks...
The Orioles need rotation help at the Triple-A level. Their options have been limited due to the ineffectiveness of starters who otherwise would have been under consideration for promotions.
A move was made this morning to address the issue.
The club announced that it's acquired right-hander Tom Eshelman from the Phillies in exchange for international signing bonus slots. He's been assigned to the Norfolk Tides.
Eshelman, 24, has ties to executive vice president and general manager Mike...
A few thoughts on the Orioles after they completed a 2-4 road trip, playing four consecutive one-run games, and reach another off-day today prior to division battles with the Blue Jays and Red Sox at Camden Yards:
The information on starter Alex Cobb is scarce, to say the least.
No one is talking much about him, the assumption being that there's nothing new to pass along.
Cobb is rehabbing in Sarasota after soreness in his lower back forced him onto the injured list - his third trip since...
HOUSTON - One question had been answered today before the Orioles took the field. They wouldn't use 162 different lineups.
But could they win a series for the first time since April 22-24? Could they win back-to-back games for the first time since May 4-6?
Not if they can't score.
Wade Miley carried a shutout into the seventh inning, the Orioles came up empty after loading the bases with no outs and top prospect Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer in his second major league at-bat in the...
HOUSTON - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde didn't know that he'd used a different lineup through the first 64 games until told about it last week. It wasn't done intentionally. It wasn't devised as some sort of a plan.
Hyde has been basing his decisions on personnel and how the club is approaching the 2019 season. Nothing more to it. But today marks the first repeat, with Hyde posting the exact same lineup as yesterday.
The Orioles were the last team to come up with a different combination for...
HOUSTON - The Orioles will try again today to win their first series since April 22-24, going 0-11-1 leading into today's finale against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
They're repeating a lineup for the first time this season, sticking with the group that produced a 4-1 win yesterday afternoon.
Hanser Alberto is leading off, Jonathan Villar is batting fifth and Anthony Santander is batting sixth. Stevie Wilkerson is playing left field again and Richie Martin is the shortstop.
Everyone is in...
HOUSTON - While the Orioles continued to audition Anthony Santander in right field yesterday with DJ Stewart on the injured list, one of their top prospects joined the highest affiliate for the first time in his professional career.
Austin Hays started in center field last night with Triple-A Norfolk and went 2-for-5 with a double. Release the streamers and confetti.
The rehab portion of Hays' season is finished. His thumb is healed and he no longer needs at-bats below his assigned level.
Hays...
HOUSTON - Astros left fielder Derek Fisher didn't flinch. Didn't move a muscle. Renato Núñez launched a ball over his head today in the sixth inning and he had no interest in watching its flight or checking where it landed. He knew only that he couldn't touch it and a scoreless tie was history.
Anthony Santander raced to the fence in right-center field in the bottom half of the inning and made a leaping catch to rob Yuli Gurriel of a three-run homer. It went down in the books as a...
HOUSTON - Sending down reliever Branden Kline last night had less to do with performance than the need to have someone available out of the bullpen.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde is sifting through his options today after using Shawn Armstrong, Richard Bleier and Mychal Givens last night. Kline surrendered the walk-off double to Robinson Chirinos, threw 23 pitches in two-thirds of an inning and headed out while the Orioles recalled Evan Phillips from Triple-A Norfolk.
"We needed a fresh arm,"...
HOUSTON - Trey Mancini is playing first base this afternoon and Chris Davis heads to the bench, as the Orioles continue their series against the Astros.
A right-handed lineup includes switch-hitters Anthony Santander in right field and Stevie Wilkerson in left, Hanser Alberto at third base, Pedro Severino behind the plate and Renato Núñez as the designated hitter.
Severino and Jonathan Villar return to the lineup after being absent the past two games.
The Orioles are using their 64th...
HOUSTON - The latest bullpen move for the Orioles has returned Evan Phillips to the majors.
Phillips has been recalled again this morning after the Orioles optioned Branden Kline following last night's 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Astros. He's a fresh arm with his last appearance coming Wednesday.
Phillips' next appearance with the Orioles will be his 13th. He's allowed 10 runs and 14 hits with 11 walks and 17 strikeouts in 13 innings.
The results are strikingly different with Triple-A...
HOUSTON - The Orioles lost another game last night on a walk-off, this time with catcher Chance Sisco holding up the ball and sprawled in front of the plate and the Astros' Yuli Gurriel somehow able to touch it while disappearing from sight.
The latest defeat for the Orioles, their 44th in 63 games, didn't come at the usual price on this trip.
No one dislocated a body part. Chalk outlines weren't drawn on any walls. The Orioles, for at least one night, were safe on the road.
Stevie Wilkerson...
HOUSTON - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde keeps challenging his younger and less experienced players to seize an opportunity. Run with it. Do what's necessary to become established at the major league level.
Anthony Santander has played only two games for the club this season. He homered last month in the second game of a doubleheader in Chicago and doubled and scored in the first inning tonight.
Chance Sisco was behind the plate again, batted cleanup, and homered to extend a lead that Rio Ruiz...
HOUSTON - Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias anticipates that the club can begin announcing draft-pick signings next week, and he remains convinced that the process with catcher Adley Rutschman, the first-overall selection out of Oregon State University, will be a smooth one.
The July 12 deadline shouldn't trip up the Orioles.
"We've got a big effort on our hands now getting all these guys signed," Hyde said earlier today. "I'm working on that. Brad Ciolek,...
HOUSTON - Dwight Smith Jr. has joined the Orioles in Houston, allowing the medical staff to check on him again before he dressed and headed out of Minute Maid Park this afternoon.
Smith isn't available to the media because he's under concussion protocol.
In his place is outfielder Anthony Santander, who's starting tonight in right field after the Orioles recalled him from Triple-A Norfolk.
"I feel good," Santander said via interpreter Ramón Alarcón. "Very thankful to the team for...