Orioles reliever Tommy Hunter offers more than innings and experience. He also brings perspective.
Players inside the clubhouse can do the math. They know the Red Sox lead them by three games in the American League East as they prepare for a four-game series at Camden Yards. But just how much importance should be placed on games this month compared to earlier in the season?
They all count.
Leave it to rookie Dylan Bundy, who's starting tonight, to drive home the point during a brief exchange...
The Orioles' bullpen appears to be back at full strength with Darren O'Day's return yesterday from the disabled list.
O'Day offered a positive report on his right shoulder today before heading outdoors.
"It feels pretty good," he said. "I won't know for sure until I go out and throw, but yeah, it feels good."
O'Day joins closer Zach Britton, right-handers Brad Brach, Mychal Givens and Tommy Hunter and rookie left-hander Donnie Hart to create a formidable group that can pass the baton...
The tarp is off the field and the Orioles don't expect any issues tonight with the weather.
Steve Pearce will undergo surgery Wednesday in New York to repair his flexor tendons, a procedure not to be confused with "Tommy John."
Pearce will head to Tampa later for his recovery and rehab, which is projected at four-to-six months.
Wade Miley threw today and reported that his back much better. He left yesterday's game after four innings with a mild muscle strain.
Reliever Darren O'Day said his...
Mark Trumbo remains in the Orioles' lineup tonight as the designated hitter and Hyun Soo Kim is playing left field and batting second for the series opener against the Red Sox.
Pedro Alvarez is out of the lineup.
Michael Bourn is in right field and batting ninth. Shortstop J.J. Hardy is batting sixth.
Adam Jones has hit safely in eight straight home games, batting .455 (15-for-33) with a double, home run, three RBIs and six runs scored. He's batting .297/.346/.492 with 26 extra-base hits and...
Watching the Yankees play the Red Sox over the weekend reminded me of the classic Seinfeld episode when Jerry lectures the rental car agent on not knowing how to "hold a reservation."
It's the same with a lead.
That's really the most important part of the lead, the holding. Anybody can just take one.
The Orioles remain three games out of first place in the American League East because the Yankees didn't know how to finish, which I suppose is understandable from a seller that briefly...
Orioles starter Wade Miley left today's game with a mild muscle strain in his upper back. Mark Trumbo played today because his back spasms subsided and he hit a tie-breaking home run off Rays reliever Ryan Garton in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Don't try to figure it out. Just enjoy the ride.
Trumbo's 43rd home run, a 433-foot shot to the visiting bullpen in left-center field, also produced his career-high 101st RBI and more importantly gave the Orioles a 2-1 win before 28,427 at Camden...
Wade Miley can't catch a break.
The much-maligned left-hander shut out the Rays today on one hit over four innings. He warmed up for the fifth and walked off the mound with head athletic trainer Richie Bancells.
Darren O'Day has been rushed into the game in his first appearance since Aug. 11. The Orioles activated him from the disabled list this morning.
Corey Dickerson greeted O'Day with a home run to left field on the first pitch to break a scoreless tie.
This is an unusually early...
The Orioles were late posting their lineup compared to most days because they needed to check on Mark Trumbo's back.
It was fine during pregame drills with first base/outfield coach Wayne Kirby. But what about later in the morning?
"Kirb and him went out and ran around in the outfield," said manager Buck Showalter. "I wanted to make sure that didn't all of a sudden 20 minutes later tighten up on him. In order to get (Pedro Alvarez) in the lineup, (Trumbo) has got to play right field. I...
You want news? We've got news.
Steve Pearce will undergo surgery after being placed on the 60-day disabled list today with a strained right flexor mass. It's not ligament-replacement surgery, according to manager Buck Showalter, but tears will be repaired and the rehab will last four to six months.
Pearce wants to be ready by April and made the decision, after consulting with a doctor and his agent, to have the procedure done right away. The Orioles understood and will move forward without...
Mark Trumbo has returned to the Orioles lineup today after missing the past two games with back spasms.
Trumbo took fly balls in right field this morning and said he felt great and was ready to play.
Hyun Soo Kim is starting in left field and batting second. Pedro Alvarez is the designated hitter. Caleb Joseph is catching.
Kim and Alvarez are in the lineup despite Jake Odorizzi's reverse splits.
For the Orioles Adam Jones CF Hyun Soo Kim LF Manny Machado 3B Mark Trumbo RF Chris Davis 1B...
The Orioles have brought first baseman Trey Mancini to Camden Yards.
Mancini, 24, has a locker set up in the clubhouse and a No. 67 uniform jersey hanging in it. No word yet from the Orioles on the transaction.
Mancini, the organization's minor league Player of the Year in 2015, batted .280/.349/.427 with 22 doubles, five triples, 13 home runs and 54 RBIs this season in 125 games at Triple-A Norfolk. He's been working out in Sarasota.
This would be Mancini's major league debut if he...
If the Orioles fail to make the playoffs, and they're still tied for the top wild card spot, they can look back to the three losses last month in Oakland and how the bats went silent against Kendall Graveman, Zach Neal and Ross Detwiler. And they may point to this series against the last-place Rays, which threatens to produce three more losses in four games.
Matt Andriese was 0-3 with a 9.24 ERA in five career games against the Orioles before last night. They scored two runs off him in 5 2/3...
Getting Chris Tillman through tonight's start with a healthy shoulder will be deemed a win for the Orioles. Just not the kind that's going to aid them in their pursuit of a playoff berth.
They lost a game and ground on the first-place Red Sox, with Tillman giving up the lead in the sixth inning in a 5-2 loss to the Rays before 27,823 at Camden Yards.
The last-place Rays have taken two of the first three games of the series. The best that the Orioles can achieve is an unsatisfying split, and...
The Orioles need a win tonight to stay within two games of first place in the American League East. The Red Sox already took care of business.
The lineup is missing Mark Trumbo again, but center fielder Adam Jones continues to start after fouling a ball off his foot a few nights ago.
"A lot of guys wouldn't have played last night," said manager Buck Showalter. "Adam hammered one off his foot the night before. We went through some things last night before we decided to play him.
"That hurt....
Mark Trumbo is available to pinch-hit tonight for the Orioles despite not being in the lineup with back spasms.
Manager Buck Showalter said Trumbo is "better, improved, close."
"A lot more of a potential option tonight than he was last night," Showalter said.
"It has nothing to do with post-Tampa series, but we have a day game tomorrow and it'll be a quick turnaround, but he's close. He wanted to give it a shot tonight, but we're going to be a little cautious with it. He's feeling...
Mark Trumbo remains out of the Orioles lineup tonight with back spasms.
Hyun Soo Kim is in left field, Michael Bourn is in right and Pedro Alvarez is the designated hitter.
According to Elias, the Orioles' previous win in a game that ended with the tying run being thrown out at the plate on a ball hit to the outfield occurred on May 10, 2013 against the Mariners, when Josh Wilson was cut down by Corey Patterson while trying to score on an Ichiro Suzuki single.
Last night marked the fifth time...
Chris Tillman came off the disabled list to make his last start and gave the Orioles six innings of one-run baseball in Detroit.
What will they get in his second game?
Tillman walked only one Tigers batter after issuing five free passes in two innings against the Astros and going on the disabled list with bursitis in his right shoulder. I'm taking it as a signal that he's feeling much better.
The Orioles seem confident, as well, but not to the point where they stop monitoring him.
"We...
In order for manager Buck Showalter to get a clearer read on Donnie Hart's potential in the majors, he's going to need the rookie left-hander to fail at the job.
Hart knows adversity and the doubts that creep into a young pitcher's mind at the minor leave level, the long bus rides providing ample time to think and overthink, but his Orioles tenure has been smoother than a bowling lane.
Hart hasn't allowed a run in 16 games since the Orioles selected his contract from Double-A Bowie on July...
The Orioles need to figure out a way to start games in the second inning. Petition Major League Baseball to eliminate the first inning. That would speed up the game and provide a huge assist to the club's rotation.
The starters have registered a 6.00 ERA in the opening frame this season, and Ubaldo Jimenez fattened it up tonight on Evan Longoria's two-run homer.
Richie Shaffer hit a two-run shot in the second inning, his first of the season, before Jimenez settled down. The good Ubaldo was...
With Darren O'Day making it through his second simulated game, everything about it making the Orioles more confident that he'll come off the disabled list in a few days, the question is how he's going to be used.
Does O'Day go back to his usual eighth inning set-up role or is he eased back into it?
O'Day hasn't pitched since Aug. 11 in Oakland, when he allowed two runs and walked a batter in one-third of an inning and alerted manager Buck Showalter to his shoulder discomfort. He's made...