TORONTO – After two good nights for Orioles’ bats at Rogers Centre, producing 7-2 and 10-1 wins, the Birds look for three in a row against the Blue Jays tonight as this series continues.

Last night’s win improved the Orioles to 13-4 (.765) in American League East games and they are 3-1 versus the Blue Jays. The O’s also hold a 13-4 mark against the Blue Jays since the start of last season. And the Orioles are 9-1 in their past 10 games at Rogers Centre with a plus-39 run differential, outscoring the Blue Jays 66-27 in those games.

The Orioles are 6-2 in the first eight of 14 straight games within the division, playing in order, the Red Sox, Rays, Jays and Rays again.

The Orioles' plus-88 run differential for the year ranks third-best in the majors and second in the AL. The New York Yankees are first at plus-111. And New York (43-19) continues to lead the division by 2.5 games over the Orioles. The red-hot Yankees have won six in a row, 10 of 12 and 17 of their past 21 games.

Toronto had won five of its last six and nine of the past 14 heading into this series. But with Tuesday’s loss the Blue Jays are 28-32 and fall to 7-10 in division games. They have scored two runs or less 23 times this season including twice in this series.

TORONTO – Moments after confirming that O’s pitching prospect Cade Povich is in fact in Toronto and on the taxi squad for the Orioles, manager Brandon Hyde was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to provide the next date for a Kyle Bradish (1-0, 3.18 ERA) start.

“I don’t know yet, no,” Hyde said when asked if he has a day for Bradish’s next outing.

Bradish last pitched on Saturday at home versus the Rays. He presumably will not be on the mound tomorrow, which would have marked his spot in the rotation.

On May 26 versus the White Sox in Chicago, Bradish pitched seven no-hit innings on 103 pitches and lowered his ERA to 1.75. But pitching with an extra day of rest in that game with Tampa Bay he allowed five runs over 2 2/3 on 76 pitches.

Bradish’s season got a late start after he had a platelet-rich plasma injection in January to promote the healing of a right elbow UCL sprain.

TORONTO – The Orioles are eight games into a stretch of 14 consecutive games versus AL East opponents. With how well this team now plays within its own division, this is good news.

And with Tuesday’s 10-1 blowout win at Rogers Centre over Toronto, the Orioles are now 6-2 in this stretch versus Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

The Orioles are 13-4 (.765) against AL East clubs this year. For just the second time in team history they have won 13 of their first 17 division games. That also happened in 2005.

The Birds just keep hitting since they got swept at St. Louis and scored eight runs total in those three games.

They are now 10-2 the past 12 games. They have scored 17 runs this series, 29 in the last four games, 52 in eight games and 75 runs in those past 12 games. In this span they have 118 hits, including 22 home runs and are batting .280 with an OPS of .844.

TORONTO – Ryan Mountcastle likes hitting against Toronto and in Toronto. That point was reinforced again tonight as he hit a three-run homer to left in the Orioles' four-run third and later added another homer as they were on their way to their latest victory.

Mountcastle hit Nos. 9 and 10 as the Orioles beat the Blue Jays 10-1 to improve to 39-20. They have won five of six and 10 of their past 12 games. They are now 18-8 on the road.

Since being swept three straight in St. Louis, they are 10-2, scoring 75 runs. 

The Orioles have now gone 20 straight American League East series without losing one as they will at least split this four-game set after winning the last two nights. Their outstanding record in the division is now 13-4.

This game also featured the first major league hit and homer of Connor Norby's career. Playing his second big league game and having gone 0-for-6 in the bigs to that point, he hit a two-run shot to left in the eighth off right-hander Nate Pearson for a 10-1 lead. 

TORONTO – In going 6-1 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre last year, the Orioles batted .293 as a team and had an OPS of .808 against the Blue Jays.

But over those seven games, they hit just eight homers. Last night, in beating Toronto again at Rogers Centre by a 7-2 score, they mashed four home runs.

That tied an O’s season high and they did it for the second time in three games after also hitting four on April 11 at Boston.

The Orioles are now 12-4 this year versus American League East teams, going 5-1 versus the Red Sox, 3-1 against the Yankees, 2-1 versus the Blue Jays and 2-1 against the Rays.

The Orioles have gone 4-0-1 in five AL East series and they are 5-1 in the series-opening games against the division after Monday’s win.

TORONTO – For a team that has sent five starting pitchers to the injured list already this year and just recently lost both John Means and Tyler Wells for the season, seeing TBA listed as the Orioles' starters Wednesday and Thursday in this series presented some intrigue.

But today, O’s manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that right-hander Albert Suárez (2-0, 1.57 ERA) will start tomorrow against the Blue Jays and righty Kyle Bradish (1-0, 3.18 ERA) could go on Thursday.

“We are still TBA for Thursday. Probably announce that sometime tomorrow. But Suárez for tomorrow,” said Hyde.

Hyde was asked if there are any health concerns with Bradish.

“No, we’re considering giving him an extra day (of rest) or two," he said. "Just kind of from how he is feeling. But we are just monitoring it daily. So we are keeping that TBA right now."

TORONTO – Maybe this had nothing to do with the Orioles getting swept three straight in St. Louis and is just about the ups and downs of the season. And the Orioles offense is having an up for a stretch right now.

But since losing those three games and scoring eight total runs at Busch Stadium, the Orioles are 9-2 and scoring 5.9 runs per game.

The team in the last 11 games has scored five or more runs seven times, with 21 doubles, 19 homers, a .282 batting average and .833 OPS.

Last night they tied a season high with four homers in beating Toronto 7-2. They are 25-3 this year when hitting two or more homers.

For the Orioles, homers lead to runs and runs lead to wins.

TORONTO – Once a very tough place for the Orioles to get wins, Toronto’s Rogers Centre saw the Birds go 6-1 last year, on their way to going 10-3 against the Blue Jays in 2023.

The Orioles enjoyed their first visit north of the border this year as well.

Austin Hays produced his first two homers of the season and Anthony Santander added a two-run shot – all off former Oriole Kevin Gausman – and later Ramón Urías got one as the O’s beat Toronto 7-2 in the opener to the series and road trip.

The Orioles improved to 38-20 for the season and to 17-8 in road games as they opened a four-game series here. The eight-game trip will next take the team to St. Petersburg, Fla. to face Tampa Bay.

Hays, swinging it much better in recent weeks with his stats slowly trending up, hit a two-run shot in the fourth and added a solo blast in the seventh. He had not homered all year and not since last Sept. 18 at Houston, which also was his last two-homer game. It was the sixth multi-homer game of his career.

TORONTO – The Orioles, who are 16-8 on the road this year and are 5-2-1 in road series, begin their latest road trip tonight at Rogers Centre facing the Toronto Blue Jays. 

The Orioles (37-20) will play four games at Toronto and then four more in St. Petersburg, Fla. against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Birds took two of three from Tampa Bay over the weekend. They let a 3-0 lead get away Sunday and lost 4-3 to the Rays, missing the chance to sweep them.

The O’s 13 total runners left on base Sunday are a season high. Their 15 hits tie a season high, matching their total on April 20 at Kansas City. Sunday’s game marks the team’s first loss when outhitting an opponent in the 2024 season. and they are now 29-1 in those games.

Overall, the Orioles have won three of four and eight of their last 10 games, and they just completed a 4-2 homestand against Boston and Tampa Bay.

The Orioles are 11-4 (.733) versus American League East teams. This is their best 15-game start in division play since the 2017 Orioles also were 11-4.

TORONTO - Orioles prospect Connor Norby got an important phone call on Sunday. On the other end of the line was Orioles assistant general manager Eve Rosenbaum, calling to tell him he was finally headed to the major leagues.

Drafted by the club in the second round of the 2021 draft (No. 41 overall) out of East Carolina University, Norby’s first chance at this level has finally arrived.

Since the 2022 season he has played 198 games and taken 913 plate appearances at Triple-A. He has played in 344 minor league games overall.

“I started shaking,” Norby said of that phone call yesterday. “I think I shook for about an hour. I kind of settled down a little bit. Not much sleep though. But getting here and getting in the stadium, it’s what you dream of.”

Norby said when he got to the ballpark, coach Tim Cossins handed him a lineup card that had his name on it. He was in there batting ninth at second base. He will wear No. 12.

It has not reached triple digits, like the Orioles' sweepless streak in the regular season that finally ended at 106 straight in St. Louis. But it’s impressive in a different kind of way.

In an American League East division where the Orioles finished 48 games behind in 2021, 49 back in 2019 and were 61 games out at the end of the 2018 season, the Orioles suddenly don’t lose series.

Actually, it is not that sudden. But when the Orioles won the first two games of their series with the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend at Oriole Park, it marked another division series that they had either won or tied (even though they lost to the Rays on Sunday).

When the 2023 season started, the O’s lost two of three games to both Boston and New York in their first two AL East series. They didn’t lose another one the rest of the year.

This season they are 4-0-1 in AL East series, so the streak of not losing one has reached 19 in a row with the Tampa Bay series. The Orioles have won 14 series and tied five. It is the longest streak in team history since division play began in 1969, per Elias Sports Bureau.

The Orioles have recorded four series sweeps of three or more games this season and can record a fifth today if they beat the Rays at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (37-19) have posted weekend wins by 3-1 and 9-5 over the Rays to get to a season-best 18 games over the .500 mark.

The Orioles have won three in a row by a combined 18-7 score and are 8-1 over their last nine games by a 55-32 score.

A look at their four series sweeps:

* April 9-11, went 3-0 at Red Sox

Considering how well he has pitched before it and after it, it's fair to ask if Craig Kimbrel's six-game slump was mostly about a back issue?

Kimbrel's start to his season included one run allowed over 10 innings. Then came his struggles which lasted about two weeks. And now over his past eight games, he has not allowed a run.

For the year, over 24 games, he is 4-1 with 13 saves in 16 chances with a 3.00 ERA, a 13.29 strikeout rate and 0.95 WHIP. Those numbers are not bad, even with his brief struggles.

Kimbrel's 13 saves rank third-best in the American League and seventh-best in the majors. A season-long question the Orioles have to answer is: How well can they replace injured closer Félix Bautista?

In his first 10 games, Kimbrel was 3-0 with an 0.90 ERA and six saves in seven chances. Over 10 innings, he gave up one run with one walk to 16 strikeouts. His OPS against was a miniscule .288.

Having gone 18 straight series against American League East opponents without losing one - winning 13 with five ties in this span - the Orioles can extend that streak with one more win this weekend.

They beat the Rays 3-1 Friday to take the opener of a three-game series. The Orioles are 36-19 for the season, 3-1 on this homestand, 20-11 at home 10-3 against division teams and 13-6 in series-opening games.

The Orioles, winners of seven of their last eight games, begin play today in second place, two games behind the New York Yankees. 

Friday was another well-pitched game by Baltimore pitchers. They have allowed one run in back-to-back games and three times the past five games. Over their last 28 games since April 29, they have a team ERA of 2.73 and have allowed two runs or less 13 times. Only the Yankees (2.43) have a better mark in baseball during this span.

O's starters have a 3.01 ERA for the year, the third-best rotation ERA in MLB behind the Phillies (2.69) and Yankees (2.72). In 28 games since April 29, the rotation's ERA is 2.26, second-best in MLB during that time behind the Yankees (2.19).

As play began on Friday night in the majors, Gunnar Henderson was once again tied for the MLB homer lead with 18 with Aaron Judge and Kyle Tucker. His OPS of .938 was fourth-best in the AL and seventh in MLB.

He’s scoring runs, stealing bases, bashing baseballs and fielding them very, very well at shortstop. Cal Ripken Jr. once won the American League Rookie of the Year one year and AL MVP the next, in 1982 and 1983.

There is talk of Gunnar being in the MVP race or near the top of such for this season after being ROY last season.

“I just try to go out there and continue to play my game each and every day. The numbers will take care of themselves at the end of the day. Just trying to help the team win and make another postseason run,” Henderson said of the MVP talk.

He led the O’s to a series-clinching win Wednesday over Boston when he hit a grand slam that was his 50^th career homer. Another successful AL East series.

After Thursday’s off-day, the Orioles return to Oriole Park tonight to begin a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. It continues a 14-game run of playing all American League East foes.

The Orioles (35-19) are on a 105-win pace after Wednesday’s 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. They won that series with Boston and extended to 18 their streak of series versus AL East opponents without losing one. They are 39-19 (.672) in this stretch of series within the division. The Orioles improved to 5-1 against Boston, scoring 43 runs in those games, and to 9-3 on the year against AL East opponents.

Against a Boston pitching staff that began that series ranked second in the AL in team ERA (3.09) and starting rotation ERA (2.95), the Orioles scored 20 runs in the series on 27 hits with seven doubles, a triple and two homers, and they went 9-for-28 batting with runners in scoring position.

In the six games this season versus Boston, the Orioles have a team batting line of .271/.346/.449/.793. And in 12 AL East games in 2024 they have scored 61 runs with a .723 team OPS.

Winners of six of their past seven games, the Orioles are 19-11 at home and 12-4-2 in 18 series on the year.

Things have not gone perfectly for the Baltimore Orioles in the 2024 season. I just got an in person look in St. Louis at the Orioles being swept three straight amid all the rain delays and they looked bad in doing so. 

But in looking at this team this year, that series was an outlier.

Mostly they play well and win a lot. As of Thursday morning, they are 35-19 (.648) and on a pace to win 105 games at a point 33.3 percent into the season. That would be four more wins than last year.

As of Thursday morning, they have the second-best record in their division, the third-best in their league and the fourth-best of 30 teams in the majors.

Let’s look at the offense: The Orioles are scoring 5.04 runs per game to rank second in the AL and third-best in MLB. So one-third into the long season they rank third. This is pretty good no matter how you slice it. Sure, there will be poor nights and even poor series, like scoring eight runs in three games versus the Cardinals. But it won’t last too long.

Orioles outfielder Austin Hays got off to a terrible start to his 2024 season, there is no denying that. However, as some around Birdland see a player in decline, others might see a player that has produced an OPS that is above the American League average since the 2021 season.

His 2021 OPS+ was 107 or seven percent above the league, the next year it was 105 and last year it was 114 – his best mark in a full year in the big leagues.

He produced a .769 OPS in the 2023 season and the American League average was .729. In four of six months last season, his OPS was .800 or better.

But that OPS number has plummeted this year, a year when he was batting .073 after his first 17 games. Now, back off the injured list, Hays is trying to improve his personal stats while the team continues to win mostly. He has an uphill climb and he knows it with a batting line right now of .164/.225/.205/.430 through 30 games with just three extra-base hits, all doubles.

But before he went on the injured list on April 22 with a strained left calf, he was feeling better at the plate and taking more productive swings. He felt his bat was slowly trending up.

The last time the Orioles lost an AL East series was April 9, 2023 when they dropped two of three at home to the New York Yankees. They will need a win tonight to keep that run going after splitting the first two games against Boston. 

Since that result with New York, the Orioles have played 17 consecutive AL East series without losing one, going 12-0-5 in those series. That is the longest such streak in team history since divisions were introduced in 1969, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

During this run, five times the O’s needed to win the third and final game of a series, or win the last two games of a four-game series to split it. The most recent such occasion was mid September last year when they lost the first two of a four-game set at home with Tampa Bay and then won the last two games.

They have played the Red Sox four series during this run, going 3-0-1 in those four sets.

During the 17 series, the Orioles are playing .667 ball (38-19) within the division. Last year they went 32-20 in the AL East and this year they are 8-3. That is a combined record of 40-23 (.635) since the start of last season within the division.

The Orioles' Gunnar Henderson has been piling up some walks lately. In the season’s first 31 games, he drew only eight walks. But in the last 22 games he has 19 walks.

He got walked nine times in seven games on the recent road trip and then drew one walk in Monday’s series opener with Boston.

So what is at work here? Is Gunnar looking to walk more? Are teams pitching around him or pitching him more carefully recently?

“I mean I am getting a little more comfortable taking pitches,” Henderson said Tuesday afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Probably earlier in the season I was chasing maybe a touch, but, yeah, just kind of really trying to pick out certain pitches and doing well at taking the ones that are kind of close. Ones that I feel I can do damage with, I usually get off a swing. That’s the biggest thing.”

Taking the close pitches that are balls should be a good thing, right?