NEW YORK -  Less than 24 hours after plotting how to navigate the many bullpen restrictions in a regulation game, Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino stood in the visiting dugout at Yankee Stadium and watched Zach Eflin throw 30 pitches in the first inning.

Only one run scored on Trent Grisham’s homer, but it’s become an exercise in this series that Mansolino would rather sit out.

Eflin threw 29 more in the second and surrendered two second-deck home runs. By the conclusion of the third, Eflin’s pitch count had risen to 90 and the Orioles were barreling toward a 9-0 loss to the Yankees before an announced sellout crowd of 46,142.

Clarke Schmidt no-hit them for seven innings, his removal coming after 103 pitches. He walked two batters in the first and nailed Ryan O’Hearn in the fourth. JT Brubaker entered in the eighth inning, his first major league appearance since 2022, and former Yankee Gary Sánchez led off with a full-count single at 103.2 mph for the Orioles' lone hit.

The Orioles have been no-hit seven times, the most recent by the Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma on Aug. 12, 2015 in Seattle. Today would have marked the first combined effort for both teams. Instead, the Orioles settled for being shut out for the seventh time this season.

NEW YORK – Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman underwent an MRI this morning to determine the source of his left abdominal tightness. Maverick Handley is on the medical taxi squad and would be recalled if Rutschman goes on the injured list for the first time in his career.

Rutschman missed two games this season after taking a hard foul ball off his mask, but he’s managed to avoid the IL. He was scratched from last night’s lineup.

“He just walked in the building,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “Got an MRI this morning, we’ll sort through. … If it’s not something that he’s gonna be day-to-day on and something that he’s got to go on the IL on, then we’ll make that move before the game.”

Mansolino isn’t able to specify whether the injury’s related to the oblique.

Rutschman’s ability to play a physically demanding position, take a beating doing it and stay away from the IL at this point in his career impresses everyone in the organization. But that streak might be nearing an end.

NEW YORK – The next update on All-Star voting is a few days away and Ryan O’Hearn should maintain his lead among designated hitters in the American League. Teammates are pulling for him, believing that he’s earned the honor and wanting him to be rewarded for grinding and persevering through the difficult times in his career. And they know that the Rafael Devers trade from the Red Sox to Giants has improved the odds.

O’Hearn is too modest to campaign for it. Other players will do it for him.

“He’s 1,000 percent deserving,” said shortstop Gunnar Henderson. “He’s just been unbelievable this first half of the season. He’s been one of the best hitters in baseball. It’s really cool to watch him do his thing and really cool to see where he is now through the journey that he’s had in baseball, and there’s no one more deserving than him.”

Last night’s lineup didn’t include O’Hearn, who went 2-for-13 in four games against the Rays in Tampa and would have faced Yankees left-hander Max Fried. He pinch-hit in the eighth inning and singled to leave his average at .304 with an .867 OPS.

The first vote reveal on Monday showed O’Hearn with 353,029 to lead the Yankees’ Ben Rice (232,331) and the White Sox’s Mike Tauchman (177,483). He was a finalist last year but lost to the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez.

LOS ANGELES – The Nationals arrived here in good spirits late Thursday night, bolstered by a desperately needed, walk-off win to snap an 11-game losing streak. They didn’t know if that effort would carry over into the opener of a nine-game trip in which they’ll never leave Southern California, but if nothing else it did feel like a massive weight was lifted off their shoulders.

To beat the defending World Series champions, though, it requires more than positive vibes. It requires clean baseball, timely hitting and stars rising to the occasion. And during tonight’s 6-5 loss to the Dodgers, the Nats were lacking just a bit in all three aspects.

With a high-profile pitching matchup against Clayton Kershaw, MacKenzie Gore gave up a season-high six runs, all of them scoring with two outs. With multiple chances to deliver a damaging blow to Kershaw, the Nationals lineup went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. And when they needed a perfect turn of a potential inning-ending double play, they were just a split-second slow, ultimately opening the floodgates for a three-run Dodgers rally that might well have been the difference in the game.

There’s no shame in losing a close ballgame to one of the best teams in baseball. But the Nats weren’t about to rattle off silver linings after their 12th loss in 13 games, especially when this one was quite winnable.

"It's a game of inches," manager Davey Martinez sighed as he wrapped up his postgame press conference.

NEW YORK – The Orioles escaped the oppressive heat in Tampa, knowing that temperatures would rise in the Bronx for afternoon and late-morning starts this weekend and possibly touch triple digits Tuesday in Baltimore. A stretch of consecutive games in a row will reach 16 before Thursday’s off-day, and interim manager Tony Mansolino talked about scraping guys off the grass.

He had to scratch Adley Rutschman, who was bothered by left side discomfort. And the Orioles had to face Yankees left-hander Max Fried, who brought nine wins and a 1.89 ERA into the series opener.

Adversity keeps stacking up for a team trying to claw its way out of a deep hole. It can be weather, health, exhaustion, opponent or something else, but the Orioles won’t always let it stall the momentum that might be building.  

The Orioles jumped Fried early and lost their legs, but Coby Mayo delivered a game-tying single in the sixth inning and Ramón Urías led off the eighth with an opposite-field home run off Luke Weaver in a 5-3 victory over the Yankees before an announced sellout crowd of 47,034.

Urías fell behind 0-2 and worked the count full, and his 337-foot fly ball landed inside the right field foul pole. Gunnar Henderson extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a pinch-hit RBI single, and the Orioles (33-42) moved within nine games of .500 for the first time since May 11.

LOS ANGELES – Dylan Crews won’t be making his Dodger Stadium debut this weekend, and it’s probably killing him to have to come to grips with that fact. But the Nationals’ rookie outfielder is here with his teammates at Chavez Ravine, making his first road trip since he landed on the injured list one month ago and finally cleared to begin basic baseball activities.

Crews, out since May 21 with a strained left oblique muscle, took his first swings since suffering the injury Thursday, and the plan is for him to now slowly ramp things up in hopes of getting back on the active roster as soon as possible.

“We’re not putting a timetable on it. We’re just going by how he feels and what the trainers say,” manager Davey Martinez said. “But yesterday he was able to take some really light dry swings, which is definitely encouraging.”

Crews isn’t hitting a baseball yet, nor is he participating in defensive drills with his teammates. But he was thrilled to learn he’d be joining the Nats on this three-city, Southern California trip after being left at home in D.C. for the team’s last two road swings.

That’s a product both of his readiness to begin the kind of baseball activity the team’s coaching and training staffs want to see in person, but also a desire to keep the 22-year-old actively involved even when he’s not actively playing yet.

LOS ANGELES – The Nationals took a much-needed happy flight west Thursday night after finally snapping their 11-game losing streak with a walk-off, 11-inning win over the Rockies, courtesy James Wood. And they won’t board another plane for 10 more days, when they fly home at the end of a three-city, nine-game trip played entirely within Southern California. The trip ends in Anaheim, with a stop in San Diego prior to that. And it kicks off tonight at Dodger Stadium with the first of three against the defending World Series champs.

We’ll got a doozy of a pitching matchup for the series opener: MacKenzie Gore vs. Clayton Kershaw. Gore has already toppled the Dodgers this season, allowing two runs over six innings in a 6-4 win back in early April. The lefty has another opportunity tonight to state his All-Star case against an All-Star lineup. Knowing him, he’s plenty fired up for this one.

Kershaw makes only his seventh start of the season after opening the year on the injured list. He’s still quite good, with a 3.25 ERA and 1.301 WHIP at age 37. This is the first time the future Hall of Famer has faced the Nationals since 2021, so he’ll be going up against a very different lineup than he remembers.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Where: Dodger Stadium
Gametime: 10:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 69 degrees, wind 5 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
2B Ames Rosario
LF James Wood
DH Andrés Chaparro
1B Nathaniel Lowe
3B Brady House
RF Alex Call
C Riley Adams
CF Jacob Young

NEW YORK – Tyler O’Neill is almost ready to begin playing games again.

O’Neill was returned from his injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk last Saturday due to renewed soreness in his left shoulder. He was shut down for about a week after receiving an injection in his AC joint.

“My guess is we could see him out on a rehab assignment possibly by Tuesday somewhere, maybe a tick earlier if all goes well,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “Things happen, things kind of come off schedule at times, but if all goes well we’ll start seeing him playing some ball soon.”

O’Neill went 6-for-16 in five games with Norfolk while recovering from the impingement that forced him on the injured list retroactive to May 16.

Jorge Mateo hasn’t played since June 6 because of inflammation in his left elbow, the result of a collision with Heston Kjerstad in right-center field on May 31. Mansolino said that Mateo is “probably getting closer to talking about going out at some point.”

NEW YORK – The Orioles are going with their right-handed lineup tonight to open their series against the Yankees, which puts Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins on the bench.

Jordan Westburg is leading off and playing second base. Ramón Urías is the third baseman and cleanup hitter. Luis Vázquez is the shortstop.

Coby Mayo gets back into the lineup at first base. Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Henderson has a 13-game hitting streak, one short of his career high. He’s batting .396 with seven RBIs and nine runs scored during the streak.

Rutschman has registered a .317 career batting average against the Yankees, the third highest among active players after José Ramírez’s .332 and Jose Iglesias’ .329 in a minimum 150 plate appearances.

The mailbag is on a train to New York, demanding a seat on the Acela and refusing to ride the subway later to the Bronx. I’m with you, mailbag. I’d rather hop aboard a mange-diseased coyote.

I had some leftovers from the last mailbag dump, so let’s get to those questions first before the Orioles begin a three-game series against the first-place Yankees, who lost six in a row and didn’t score in three straight prior to defeating the Angels yesterday, 7-3.

These teams met at Camden Yards in late April and the Orioles won two of three games to leave their record at 12-18. Remember when that was reason to panic?

I kept saying, “It’s only April.” And I wasn’t wrong. But it only got worse.

Anyway, you asked, I answered, and you finally got confirmation that I didn’t skip you. The only editing happened when I called it a “mailbug.”

TAMPA – It was an ominous night of baseball at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Under normal circumstances, the 4-1 Orioles win would’ve been the leading story. After last night’s loss, they turned things around to deliver an all-around win and secure a series split. 

Instead, minds were and continue to be elsewhere. 

In the seventh inning, a foul ball off the bat of Adley Rutschman took an unfortunate line to the Rays’ dugout. The hard-hit struck reliever Hunter Bigge, who, along with being hit on the side of the face, took a scary fall into the dugout. The game was stopped for a long stretch as medical personnel attended to Bigge. After some time, he was placed on a stretcher and gave a thumbs-up to the concerned crowd. He exited the field on a cart with medical staff attending to him. 

Throughout the night, some positive updates about Bigge have rolled in. According to Rays reporters, manager Kevin Cash said that Bigge was coherent and talking to the physician at a local hospital. The hope is that these are just the first of many positive updates. 

TAMPA – “That’s a really, really frustrating loss.”

That was the takeaway from Andrew Kittredge after last night’s game, one in which the Orioles led by eight in the second inning only to lose by four at the end of it.

“Not much to say on that one,” Cedric Mullins added. “That's a tough loss. Definitely one you want to flush as soon as possible. Get back at it tomorrow.”

That’s the mentality that the Orioles are bringing to the ballpark today, looking to rebound after last night’s deflating loss. But there’s no rallying cry from interim manager Tony Mansolino. The players know what they need to do. 

“I think if every day I’ve got to rally the troops and have a team meeting and give a message, I don’t know if it’s the right guys,” Mansolino said of his clubhouse today. “We definitely don’t need that with these guys. They know. I was just in the hitters’ meeting just now. It’s energetic, they’re laughing, they’re talking, they’re trying to figure out how to beat Rasmussen right now.” 

The Orioles try for the series split with the Rays tonight after squandering an eight-run lead last night in a 12-8 loss.

Ryan O’Hearn is the first baseman and Jordan Westburg is the designated hitter, which puts Coby Mayo on the bench again.

Colton Cowser is in left field, Cedric Mullins in center and Ramón Laureano inn right. Jackson Holliday stays atop the order.

Laureano hit line drives 13.5 percent of the time in his first 24 games, according to STATS. Over his last 23 games, his line drive percentage has increased to 32.8.

Charlie Morton has a 6.05 ERA and 1.656 WHIP in 16 games (10 starts). He tossed five scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in his last start against the Angels after allowing four runs and six hits with four walks in 2 1/3 in Sacramento. He began the month with one unearned run allowed in 6 2/3 against the White Sox.

The Orioles’ attempts to climb out of the deep hole they dug earlier this season are aided by a relief unit that’s acted as a rope ladder.

Don't let last night's fraying in Tampa change your opinions and perceptions. 

The bullpen went into the matchup with a 1.76 ERA in the last 23 games since May 24, the second-lowest mark after the Cubs’ 0.68. Four of the 17 earned runs came from Dean Kremer after he was used behind opener Scott Blewett. They struck out 33.3 percent of batters in that span, the best reliever rate in baseball.

The improvement had lowered the bullpen’s season ERA to 4.42. It was 5.62 through May 23, fourth-highest in the majors.

Trevor Rogers made his second Orioles start of 2025 last night and was gone after 2 1/3 innings, forcing Blewett into the game and messing with the numbers, ideal order and momentum. Blewett was charged with one run in 1 2/3 and Yennier Cano, summoned by the fifth, coughed up four to tie the game. Andrew Kittredge surrendered four in the seventh to give the Rays a 12-8 lead. 

The Nationals’ 11th straight loss looked quite a bit like their previous 10. They did very little at the plate against the opposing starter. They got a solid outing from their own starter, who made one costly mistake. And they left themselves needing a last-ditch rally, which once again didn't come.

This 3-1 loss to the Rockies could’ve happened last weekend against the Marlins, or last week against the Mets, or the previous weekend against the Rangers. They’re all starting to run together at this point, the commonalities all too evident.

The only truly unique aspects about tonight’s loss? It included a 1-hour, 45-minute rain delay. And it included some legitimate bad luck for the Nats, who hit 11 balls with an exit velocity of at least 98 mph but saw only four of them land for hits because a terrible Colorado defensive unit played what had to be its best game of the year.

"We hit the ball hard. We just had nothing to show for it for a while," manager Davey Martinez said. "They were diving all over the field."

Bad luck or not, results are results. And this was the 11th consecutive bad result for the Nationals, who have fallen from a respectable 30-33 less than two weeks ago to a miserable 30-44 now. They’ll give it another shot Thursday afternoon in the series finale, hoping not to match the club’s all-time worst losing streak of 12 set in August 2008.

TAMPA – Eight runs on seven hits. 

That was the line for the Baltimore Orioles tonight in the second inning alone. 

Twelve runs on 18 hits. 

That was the line for the Tampa Bay Rays tonight in innings three through seven.  

It culminated in a 12-8 Orioles loss, a tale of two games that the Orioles found themselves on the wrong end of. A contest that had the makings of a blowout still resulted in a victory with a comfortable margin, but not for the team that had an 8-0 advantage after two. 

The Orioles have more mound decisions on their plate.

They needed a starter for tonight and must remove a reliever to fit him onto the roster. Trevor Rogers will go from taxi squad to active roster after his 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. And Grant Wolfram could be one-and-done after the Orioles recalled him yesterday to replace Colin Selby, who was one-and-done.

Interim manager Tony Mansolino didn’t confirm Rogers’ start during his pregame session with the assembled media in Tampa, but he said, “We’re excited to kind of get him in here tomorrow.”

The food room? The showers?

He’s going to be on the mound and trying not to stand in a puddle of sweat. The heat seems intense. Dean Kremer’s skin had the shine of a glazed donut last night. He looked like he collided with the Exxon Valdez.

TAMPA – Nobody wants their window of opportunity in the big leagues to open due to injury. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the game and the reality for some, especially for those grinding away at Triple-A.  

Ryan Mountcastle’s extended absence affords Coby Mayo the opportunity to get a look without fear of demotion. Mayo has been working hard at first base and improving at the plate, making the most of his chance. 

Now, that window is open for Trevor Rogers. His previous start came as the 27th man in a doubleheader. But with Cade Povich now serving stint on the injured list, Rogers figures to get at least a few turns in the rotation. 

“It’s an opportunity, and I’m very excited for that,” Rogers told reporters yesterday. “We’ll see what comes of it.” 

His first chance back in the bigs since May comes against a talented Rays lineup tonight. But that start against Boston a few weeks ago was a stellar one, in which the lefty tossed 6 ⅓ shoutout innings, allowing just two hits and no walks with five strikeouts. 

Mike Rizzo voiced his support for Davey Martinez today, saying the manager’s track record of success on the field and handling of the clubhouse has earned him the right to continue leading a Nationals team mired in its worst losing streak in 17 years.

Making his weekly radio appearance on 106.7 The Fan’s “The Sports Junkies,” Rizzo was asked if the Nats’ situation differed from three other major league clubs that fired their managers earlier this season: the Pirates, Rockies and Orioles.

“Here’s what I’ll say about that: Pittsburgh hasn’t won a World Series since ‘We are Family.’ Colorado has never won a World Series. And Baltimore, Davey Johnson (actually, Joe Altobelli) was the last guy who won the World Series with Baltimore. This guy has proven through trials and tribulations that he can handle a roster. He can handle a veteran-laden team. And he’s developing at the big league level. My track record is: I have fired managers in midseason. I fired managers after the season. I’ve fired coaches midseason. I’ve fired coaches after the season. We’re all being evaluated. We’ve all got to look ourselves in the mirror.

“But we are at a point right now where we’re moving forward with our development of these young kids. I think Davey still has the pulse of the clubhouse. He’s a great clubhouse presence, and he’s a calming presence. And I think that once we get through this thing and win a couple of games – which we will – that we can right the ship and continue progressing towards winning the championship, whenever that is. And I think that’s where my feelings are right now.”

Martinez, who led the Nationals from a 19-31 start to a World Series title in 2019 but has not enjoyed a winning season since, with the franchise embarking on a roster teardown and rebuilding effort in July 2021, has come under increased scrutiny over the last several days as his team extended its losing streak to its largest number since the 2008 club lost 12 in a row. He also faced criticism for his response to a question following Saturday’s loss to the Marlins about whether players or coaches were to blame for the team’s struggling offense.

Coby Mayo is getting his first start at George M. Steinbrenner Field tonight and Adley Rutschman is on the bench for the third game of the series against the Rays.

Jordan Westburg is playing third base and batting second. Ramón Laureano is the cleanup hitter.

Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter and Colton Cowser is in left field. Cedric Mullins is batting ninth.

Cowser has hit three home runs in 11 games since returning from the 60-day injured list.

The Orioles have won 12 of their last 17 games since May 30, and the .706 winning percentage is tied with the Astros for best in the majors.