The Orioles are set for another rubber match game today, this one with the Cleveland Guardians in the third and deciding game of their series at Oriole Park. Cleveland won 6-3 behind Shane Bieber on Friday night as their pitchers fanned 15 Orioles batters. And Baltimore hit three homers, accounting for all its runs on Saturday in a 5-4 win.

Austin Hays hit No. 6 in the third inning and his three-run shot gave the Orioles a 4-2 lead. Trey Mancini homered in the first inning to tie the game at 1-1 and Rougned Odor’s solo shot in the fourth extended the Baltimore lead to 5-2. The Orioles had just four hits for the game.

The Orioles are now 2-3 on this homestand, which has three games left, and 14-14 at home for the year. They are 5-5 over their past 10 games, 9-8 in the last 17 and 17-18 over their past 35 games.

Today the Orioles will play their 10^th rubber match game of the year and they are 6-3:

* April 13, lose 4-2 to Milwaukee.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said today that baseball's top pitching prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, could return this year to pitch in September. He added that whether that happens or not, the club is very much expecting that Rodriguez will begin the 2023 season in the Orioles rotation from opening day on.

Rodriguez, who is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts with Triple-A Norfolk, left his outing Wednesday after throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings on two hits. He was closing in on his major league debut when he walked off the mound with the trainer in what was described last night as a lat issue.

Elias confirmed the same today and said that, after additional medical review, Rodriguez has been diagnosed with a grade II lat strain.

“He’s going to, basically, have to rest and build back up, ramp back up, and it’s going to be a process that takes at least several weeks,” Elias told reporters in the Orioles dugout. “There is probably a lot of variability to the exact amount of weeks this takes to get back out to competition. It just kind of depends how it goes. He’s feeling really good right now, so that’s a good sign. But statistically, you look at these professional pitchers and I think that the bull's eye right now is on the month of September, when we would have the option of getting him back out on the field. We’ll see. He may beat that timeline, it may take longer than that.

“Whether or not we decide to pitch him again in September, or just let the season end, it’s going to be TBD (to be determined). So we’ll see. The good news is this is an injury we have a very, very high degree of confidence that it’s going to heal. And he’ll back to himself in no time. And at the very least put himself in position to join our rotation out of spring training. That’s our hope. We’re looking forward to getting him back to work. He’s a tough kid and a very hard worker, so I expect he’s going to do very well.”

It was the fifth inning of a game for Triple-A Norfolk at home on April 20 versus Durham. Terrin Vavra, playing center field that night, lined an RBI single to right to give the Tides a 3-0 lead.

Added to the Orioles 40-man roster over the winter, he was off to a good start for the Tides, batting over .300 through his first 13 Triple-A games. Then came another hit. Now that he was on the 40-man, maybe that first call to the big leagues would not be that far away.

“Felt like I was seeing the ball pretty well, our team was winning and we were having a lot of fun,” Vavra remembered yesterday during an interview at high Single-A Aberdeen’s Ripken Stadium. “As I was rounding first on a ball I was going to try and go to second on, my hamstring grabbed on me. Had a Grade II strain in there that took some time to heal. We wanted to make sure that we gave it the adequate space to heal so it is not something that lingers or comes back.”

So Vavra has played this week in minor league rehab games with Aberdeen and last night played nine innings for the first time this week. He said he expects to rejoin Norfolk for its series beginning Tuesday at Nashville.

Vavra dealt with some back issues last season that limited him to 40 games at Double-A Bowie, where he posted an .818 OPS. The Colorado Rockies' third round pick out of the University of Minnesota in 2018, he was acquired by the Orioles on Aug. 30, 2020 in the deal that sent pitcher Mychal Givens to the Rockies. The O's received Vavra along with Tyler Nevin and a player to be named, who turned out to be young Dominican outfielder Mishael Deson.

Now 1-3 on an eight-game homestand, the Orioles will look to even their series with Cleveland at a win each today as they host the Guardians at Oriole Park. 

Cleveland right-hander Shane Bieber took a no-hitter to the sixth and a one-hit shutout to the eighth last night as Cleveland won 6-3 in the series opener. The Guardians took an early 5-0 lead on lefty Bruce Zimmermann on Friday.

The Orioles (22-32) are now 13-14 at home, 4-5 in their past nine games and 16-18 over the last 34 games. Cleveland (23-24) has won four in a row by a combined 25-9 score, winning three in a row versus Kansas City before the series opener in Baltimore. 

Cleveland pitchers have a team ERA of 2.55 the past 16 games and their rotation ERA is 2.78, with 13 quality starts in that span.

The O's rotation has struggled recently, with just one quality start the past 11 games. And that was by today's starter, right-hander Tyler Wells (2-4, 3.71 ERA), who pitched six scoreless innings his last time out.

Cleveland right-hander Shane Bieber was a pitcher on a roll when he took the mound at Camden Yards last night. He was still rolling when he left the same mound in the last of the eighth. He flirted with a no-hitter into the O’s sixth before Trey Mancini singled but the Orioles lost the series opener to Cleveland to fall to 1-3 on this eight-game homestand.

Two runs would score after Bieber left the game as the Orioles rallied in the eighth on Mancini’s two-run double and Anthony Santander’s RBI single. But he got the 6-3 win, allowing just three hits over seven innings with two walks and 11 strikeouts.

Bieber had posted an ERA of 1.71 his previous three starts and the Orioles found out why on Friday night when he got 23 whiffs on 52 swings against his pitches. He got 14 whiffs on 24 swings versus his slider.

Bieber's 11 strikeouts were his most since he recorded 12 on May 27, 2021 at Detroit. Last night marked his 16th game with 11-or-more strikeouts since he debuted in 2018, the sixth-most among MLB pitchers during that span. He has allowed three-or-fewer earned runs in 34 consecutive road starts, marking the longest such streak since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913. And Bieber is 18-8 with a 2.26 ERA during that span. So, yep, pretty impressive.

Mancini has reached base safely in nine straight games and is batting .382/.462/.647 (13-for-34) with four doubles, a triple, a home run, six RBIs, four walks, and seven runs scored during the streak. And he has also reached safely in 26 of his last 27 games since May 8 and leads the O’s with 19 multi-hit games.

The next team to hit town on the current Orioles homestand is the Cleveland Guardians. The Orioles and Guardians begin a three-game series at the Yard tonight that continues on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Cleveland (22-24) got off to a 7-5 start to its season, but has gone 15-19 since April 22. Most recently though, the Guardians swept three from Kansas City, winning by 7-3 and 8-3, and then 4-0 on Wednesday night. Cleveland is in second place in the American League Central and is 4 ½ games behind the Minnesota Twins.

Cleveland is 11-16 on the road, 3-4 versus American League East teams, and is 7-10 over its past 17 games.

Cleveland only ranks 10th in the American League in rotation ERA (4.09) and seventh in overall team ERA (3.73) in the league, but has been getting outstanding pitching lately. Over its past 15 games, the Guardians overall ERA is 2.52 and its rotation ERA is 2.80 in that span.

Cleveland’s José Ramírez, a three-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger, is having another big year. He is batting .292 with a 1.025 OPS to go with 13 homers and 52 RBIs. He ranks first in the AL in RBIs, and no one else is close. New York’s Aaron Judge is second with 39 RBIs. Ramírez is second in slugging (.632) and OPS. His whiff rate of 11.2 is third lowest among qualifying hitters in the league.

Last night was not his best effort – lefty Cionel Pérez walked two of the three batters he faced in the Seattle sixth inning – but overall he has had a big year for the Orioles this season out of the bullpen.

A waiver claim from the Cincinnati Reds in November, Pérez entered that outing last night having allowed just one run and 15 hits over 16 1/3 innings with seven walks to 17 strikeouts. His fastball is averaging 96 mph and he touched 97.5 in the game Wednesday night when he threw 1 1/3 scoreless and was the winning pitcher against the Mariners.

But he gave up one run in just 1/3 of an inning last night and his ERA increased to 1.08.

Before last night’s game Pérez mentioned that one reason he has had a nice comfort zone with the Orioles is his previous relationship with O’s pitching coach Chris Holt. When both were in the Houston organization, Pérez had Holt for his pitching coach when he was with high Single-A Buies Creek in the 2017 season.

“He has been a big help,” Pérez said through O’s interpreter Brandon Quinones about Holt before Thursday’s game. “Now that we are both here together he keeps me in check with my movement on the ball and if something is off with my delivery, he lets me know that and we work together with getting on the same page. Plus we are a big team here within the bullpen and if anyone notices something is off with another pitcher in delivery or whatever, we let each other know.”

The Orioles have fared quite well in rubber match games this season and hope that trend continues when they wrap up a series with the Mariners at Camden Yards. The Mariners won 10-0 Tuesday night and the Orioles hit four homers and won 9-2 last night. So the winner tonight takes the series.

The Orioles are 6-2 this year in rubber match games:

* April 13, lost 4-2 to Milwaukee.

* April 17, beat New York Yankees 5-0.

* May 1, beat Boston 2-1 (10).

Orioles lefty reliever Cionel Pérez, who is having a big year out of the bullpen, was a member of the high Single-A Buies Creek Astros in 2017. He pitched in just 25 1/3 innings for that team, but his pitching coach was Chris Holt. The same guy who is Baltimore's pitching coach now.

Pérez remembered today that Holt helped him, and having Holt here made his transition to his new team easier this year. He made the Baltimore roster out of spring training this year after the Orioles claimed him, via waivers, from the Reds in November.

“He has been a big help,” Pérez said today through O’s interpreter Brandon Quinones about Holt. “Now that we are both here together he keeps me in check with my movement on the ball and if something is off with my delivery, he lets me know that and we work together with getting on the same page. Plus we are a big team here within the bullpen and if anyone notices something is off with another pitcher in delivery or whatever, we let each other know.”

I asked Pérez if Holt had a hand in bringing him to Baltimore?

“In reality I don’t know if he played any part in the Orioles getting me, but I’m really thankful and grateful that I’m here. Especially with the year I’m having and the team is having a lot of fun. Been a great year so far,” he said.

Sure the Orioles mashed four homers last night in a 9-2 win over Seattle and sure they even crushed a couple of balls over the left-field wall. That seems to make news around here these days.

But maybe the biggest development for the Orioles came on a single and double. Because they came off the bat of center fielder Cedric Mullins. He set a very high bar for himself going 30-30 last season and winning unanimously the Most Valuable Oriole award.

But Mullins was hitting just .169 with an OPS of .410 his previous 16 games, going 11-for-65, when game time on Wednesday rolled around. Then lefty Robbie Ray made Mullins look bad in the last of the first when he chased a slider down and struck out.

His average had dropped to .236 and his OPS to .662.

But when I interviewed Mullins about his offense before the game last night I found a player not stressing or pressing. One still confident and one feeling that a couple of very good swings he had put on balls that were caught on Tuesday night was going to be a good sign for him.

During a season when the Orioles have played so many close games – with 30 of 51, or 59 percent, decided by one or two runs – the last three Orioles games were blowouts. All three produced 10-run margins.

Sunday at Boston the Orioles lost 12-2 to the Red Sox, and then Monday night the O's beat the Sox 10-0 at Fenway Park. And last night the Orioles fell behind 8-0 in the third inning and were held to just five hits in a 10-0 loss to Seattle. Yep, back-to-back 10-0 games, so at least the run differential is zero for the two games.

But the Orioles fell to 21-30 with that loss that started a three-game series and eight-game homestand against the Mariners, Guardians and Cubs. The O’s are now 12-12 at home. They had a chance to produce a month of .500 baseball, but instead finished May at 14-16. Their last non-losing-record month was July 2019, when they went 12-12.

The Orioles have been held to two runs or fewer in 24 games this season, and five hits or fewer 12 times.

Baltimore is now 7-9 in series-opening games and 9-25 when their opponent scores first. They are 5-22 when they score three or fewer runs. Over their past 13 games the Orioles have a 7-6 record, and they are 15-16 in 31 games since April 30.

After hitting two balls last night that he felt were pretty squared up and neither resulted in a hit, O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins continues to work to get his stats more in line with his own expectations of himself.

While no one around the Orioles seems concerned about his current stats, they are well off what he posted during a 2021 season that ended with him as the unanimous choice for Most Valuable Oriole and finishing ninth for the American League MVP Award. He posted an .878 OPS and recorded the first 30 home runs/30 stolen bases season in Orioles history.

He set the bar pretty darn high last year.

“That’s on me. That is a good thing,” Mullins said this afternoon in the Orioles clubhouse.

Through 50 games he is batting .236/.296/.365/.662, and he is batting just .169 (11-for-65) with an OPS of .410 his past 16 games.

The Orioles have begun the process of building a bullpen with several flamethrowers for the late innings. Throughout baseball, we see playoff-caliber teams that seem to have one mid-to-high 90s velocity reliever after another to parade to the mound.

And up and down the Baltimore farm, the Orioles are looking to develop some hard throwers that could one day find their way to the majors. Right now, at low Single-A Delmarva, the O's have a young Dominican-born right-hander who has hit 100 mph. But, like his velocity, his walk rate is high too. 

So the process to harness that control and command is now underway at ballparks throughout the Carolina League. 

That Shorebirds roster is loaded with young international talent. That part of the O’s pipeline is starting to show its stuff. But there are also players there that are more long-term projects, like 21-year-old pitcher Alejandro Mendez.

When I ranked the top O’s international prospects in February, Mendez was No. 20 on that list, mostly because he has some of the best arm strength in the club’s international program. He has touched 98 mph this year and hit 99 and even 100 on some pitches in the rookie-level Florida Complex League in 2021.

After a 4-4 road trip where they went 1-2 at New York and 3-2 at Boston, the Orioles return home tonight to open an eight-game homestand where they will face the Mariners and Gaurdians for three games each and the Cubs for a two-game series.

The Orioles are 12-11 at home for the year and 4-2-1 in seven home series. They went 3-4 on their last homestand against the Yankees and Rays, and are 7-5 in the past 12 home games at Oriole Park.

The Orioles improved to 6-2 in rubber match games when they won Monday night 10-0 at Boston to win that series. Ryan Mountcastle’s solo homer in the first provided a 2-0 lead following Trey Mancini’s RBI triple. Ramón Urías added a two-run shot and Anthony Santander hit a three-run blast in the ninth, his team-leading ninth of the season. The Orioles hit eight homers in the Boston series and have hit 15 over their past 12 games.

The Orioles improved to 4-4 in series against American League East teams after going 3-19-2 in such series last season. They are 11-16 against AL East teams, including a 5-3 record versus the Red Sox.

Four shutouts of the 2022 season:

The Orioles' level of play has improved, no doubt, over the team that lost 110 games in 2021. That club won just 20 of 76 American League East division games (.263) last year and the current Orioles are 11-16 (.407) in the division.

They just completed a two-week run of games versus the AL East and went 7-8 against the Yankees, Rays, Yankees again and Red Sox. This run started with three straight losses at home to the Yankees and ended with a 7-5 stretch.

The Orioles have gone 4-9 versus the Yankees and 7-7 combined against the Rays and Red Sox, a year after going a combined 7-31 against those two clubs.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora threw the Orioles some props with reporters after Baltimore hammered his team 10-0 last night to win that series, three victories to two.

“Stuff-wise, they’re (pitching) really good,” Cora told reporters Monday night. “You see it. Everybody sees it. We saw it early in the season. … I'm not surprised, because that's how it started in Houston. It started with pitching.”

When the Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 10-0 it was an impressive way to end a five-game series and an eight-game American League East road trip in which they went 4-4 at New York and Boston.

The Orioles are playing better within their division this year, producing this stunning stat: They have already won more series against the AL East in 2022 then they did in all of the 2021 season.

Last year the Orioles went 3-19-2 in series play within the division, and this season they are 4-4, with their win last night providing a series victory over Boston. They are 1-3 in series against the Yankees, 1-1 versus the Rays and 2-0 against the Red Sox. They are 4-9 in games against New York, 2-4 against Tampa Bay and 5-3 versus Boston.

That is a record of 11-16 (.407) versus the AL East after going 20-56 (.263) last season. Winning through the year at their current percentage against the division would produce a final mark this season of 31-45 against AL East teams. Better. Progress.

Right-hander Tyler Wells was so good Monday night, throwing six scoreless innings on two hits and 88 pitches as Boston batters went 2-for-20 against him. Keep in mind the Red Sox came into this game averaging 7.3 runs per game over their previous 19 games and had scored six runs or more in eight of their previous 11 games. They had 10 extra-base hits Sunday and just four hits on Monday night.

The Orioles wrap up a two-city, eight-game road trip tonight at Boston, playing the fifth and final game of their series at Fenway Park. The winner of tonight’s game wins the series, which is tied at two wins each.

O’s pitching allowed five doubles and five homers Sunday as the Red Sox rolled to a 12-2 win – the Orioles' most lopsided loss of the season. Boston led 7-1 after five innings and then added five runs and four hits in the last of the eighth.

Lefty Bruce Zimmermann allowed six runs over four innings to fall to 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA. He has allowed nine homers his past two starts and 12 in the last four after giving up just one home run over his first six starts of 2022.

O’s starting pitchers began this year with an ERA of 2.97 through their first 15 games. But the rotation ERA is 6.99 and has produced just three quality starts over the past 19 games since May 11.

Right-hander Tyler Wells (1-4, 4.30 ERA) gets tonight’s start. For the year, Wells has thrown 37 2/3 innings, allowing 38 hits with six walks to 25 strikeouts. He has recorded a 1.168 WHIP with a 1.4 walk rate and 6.0 strikeout rate.

Can you build a bullpen and get significant contributions from other teams' castoffs and have that bullpen perform about as well as any in baseball? So far, for the Orioles, that answer is yes.

Over time we will see if this bullpen can keep up its impressive start and how the ‘pen will hold up when having to cover so many innings. But if we gave a 49-game grade, how could they get anything other than an A?

Even in losing 12-2 Sunday, right-hander Cody Sedlock helped preserve the bullpen for tonight by pitching three innings plus in his major league debut. He and Marcos Diplán combined to give up six runs, but no other pitchers were needed on a day when starter Bruce Zimmermann allowed five homers and pitched just four innings.

The O’s ‘pen, in having this big year, has been a real key in the team’s overall improvement and ability to beat good teams and win some close games. The Orioles seem to be slowly getting better at winning those close games as the year goes on.

Through Saturday’s games, the Baltimore 'pen had an ERA of 3.00 to rank second behind Houston at 2.53. And the O’s bullpen compiled a 2.61 ERA in May, also second to the Astros, whose relievers are at 1.94 for the month.

The Orioles (20-28) and Red Sox (22-25) split a doubleheader on Saturday with Boston winning the opener 5-3 before the Baltimore bullpen allowed one unearned run and no walks over 5 1/3 innings in the nightcap as they won 4-2.

The O’s bullpen has allowed four earned runs over 16 1/3 innings this series for an ERA of 2.20. The bullpen ERA for the year is down to 3.00, which now ranks second in the major leagues behind only the Astros at 2.53. The Orioles bullpen has pitched to a 2.61 ERA in 27 May games, the second-best mark in the majors this month, behind only the Astros bullpen with a 1.94 ERA in 26 games.

O’s pitchers allowed seven runs in the doubleheader to a Red Sox team that was averaging 7.5 runs per game over the previous 16 games with 120 runs scored in that span.  

All four O’s runs were scored in the fourth inning of Game 2 on a Ramón Urías RBI single and Rougner Odor’s three-run homer. Odor has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games since May 16, slashing .306/.320/.612 (15-for-49) with four doubles, one triple, three home runs, seven runs scored and 13 RBIs. During this span, he ranks among American League leaders in RBIs (third), total bases (eighth, 30), and slugging percentage (10th). Odor has raised his slugging percentage from .311 entering play on May 16 to .417 entering play today. He produced a career-long 11-game hitting streak from May 16-27, the longest by an O’s batter this season.

On the mound today for Baltimore will be lefty Bruce Zimmermann (2-2, 3.78 ERA) making his 10^th start. The Orioles are 5-4 when he takes the ball this year. He has recorded a 1.217 WHIP allowing 9.1 hits per nine and 1.5 homers with a 1.9 walk rate and 7.4 strikeout rate.

Team Ticker - the team playing with heart and guts - pulled out the second game of the doubleheader Saturday night at Fenway Park.

The Orioles latest win in a close game came after they lost such a game Saturday afternoon. They fell 5-3 in the afternoon but beat Boston 4-2 in the evening. 

The Orioles (20-28) scored all four runs in the third inning on a Ramón Urías RBI single and Rougner Odor three-run homer, his fourth on the season. That gave the Orioles an early 4-0 lead, which was a nice response to the earlier loss. Their pitching took it from there.

Boston (22-25) had scored 120 runs in its previous 16 games or 7.5 per game in that stretch heading into the doubleheader. Then they got just seven runs in the twinbill and just two in the nightcap.

After O's righty Denyi Reyes allowed one run over 3 2/3 in his first major league start, the Baltimore bullpen came up big yet again.