One week after being swept by the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., the Orioles are on the cusp of their own sweep at Camden Yards.

They remain a hard team to figure out.

Shane Baz flummoxed his former club again and Samuel Basallo broke open the game with a three-run homer in a 6-1 victory before an announced crowd of 11,878.

The Orioles (25-30) have won four of five and are five games below .500 for the first time since May 17 in D.C. They lost the next three.

The Rays are 34-18 and much too sloppy since arriving in Baltimore, with three more errors tonight leading to six unearned runs.

“It’s just like we talked about pretty much all year, it’s a resilient group,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “Also, it doesn’t matter, wins or losses, we have to have the ability to turn the page and focus on the next day, and that’s what these guys are doing. They model it every single day, so when they show up to the field, they’re trying to win that night and that’s the only goal.”

Perhaps the Orioles finally are ready to go on a serious run.

“Well, I don’t want to say ‘yes’ because I also don’t want to bring us some bad luck here,” Basallo said through interpreter Brandon Quinones. “But thankfully, we have been playing a lot better and we feel really good about the way we’ve been playing and all we want to do is continue playing hard, playing the right way, and hope to keep this thing going.”

Baz allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings and struck out a season-high nine batters. He’s surrendered five runs in 20 innings over his last three starts and his ERA is down to 4.48.

The Orioles signed Basallo and Baz to extensions and the pair could be a battery for many years to come. Seemed appropriate that they were the stars tonight.

“He’s just everything you could ask for,” Baz said. “He busts his butt, never complains. Does a really good job if I ask for something of just applying it right away, really well. Just a great teammate. He did awesome tonight. I love throwing to both our guys.”

Early damage control keyed Baz’s success

The game could have gotten away from Baz in the first inning. He allowed more hits after the first four batters than he did over six innings in his previous start at Tropicana Field.

Chandler Simpson roped a double to right field and scored with one out on Jonathan Aranda’s 106.6 mph single. Aranda raced to third base, diving into the bag, on Yandy Díaz’s 103.4 mph single, but Baz fielded Richie Palacios’ one-hopper and started a 1-6-3 double play.

Baz held the Rays to one run and two hits in their first meeting.

“I take pride in fielding my position,” Baz said. “That was really big. Just making a pitch there and being able to make a play at the same time, I think, just gives you a little extra confidence and was able to settle in in the second and kind of get the rhythm going.”

Back-to-back one-out singles in the third put Baz in another bind, but he struck out Díaz and Palacios. Simpson singled with one out in the fourth and Junior Caminero walked after falling behind 0-2, but Aranda struck out on a 97.7 mph fastball and Díaz struck out on a knuckle-curve.

Victor Mesa Jr. walked with two outs in the sixth and Hunter Feduccia struck out on another knuckle-curve.

Albernaz let Baz come back for the seventh at 91 pitches. Baz responded by retiring the side in order on eight pitches.

It’s difficult facing a team in back-to-back starts, especially one that can manufacture runs and produce pesky at-bats mixed with power, but Baz dominated.

“It just speaks to the pitcher that Shane is and the stuff he has,” Albernaz said. “Tonight was awesome. Like, he was really efficient with his pitches. I love the changeup usage. I think he got close to 10 percent. It’s just another wrinkle for guys to honor, especially lefties, and it just opened up his curveball. And obviously the fastball is real. To get out of some jams. He got the elevated fastball to the top of the zone when he needed to, with the velo in the tank. So it was a really impressive outing for Shane.”

“It’s definitely not easy,” Baz said. “It makes it easy when Sammy calls a great game. He did awesome back there. Just kept it mixed up all night. You kind of got to take some things from the first outing and apply them and try and use your eyes and watch a lot of the at-bats over again. But I’m just happy that I was able to give us a chance today.”

Jax not wild about second inning

Griffin Jax stayed in the game after being drilled in the back by Leody Taveras’ 107.2 mph line in the second. Jax laid in the grass, writhing in pain, but slowly got back to his feet, threw a couple warmup pitches and bent forward to stretch.

Basallo had reached on Jax’s fielding error, and the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs on Jeremiah Jackson’s single after he failed to lay down a bunt. Colton Cowser struck out, but the Rays committed their sixth error in two games when Palacios booted a double play grounder from Blaze Alexander.

Jackson Holliday lined a first-pitch changeup into left field to break the tie, and the Orioles led 3-1 after Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly. Jax should have gotten out of the inning clean, but Tampa Bay hasn’t played like a team with the best record in the American League. And certainly not outside of Tropicana Field, where they’ve gone 19-5.

“It’s tough to give another team extra outs, an extra 90 feet,” Albernaz said. “For us, to capitalize on some miscues was huge because that rarely happens with the Rays.”

All three runs were unearned, and former Orioles minor leaguer Garrett Cleavinger replaced Jax after two innings and 38 pitches. Jax is day-to-day with a bruised back.

The Orioles traded Cleavinger, outfielder Hyun Soo Kim and international bonus slot money to the Phillies for pitcher Jeremy Hellickson in July 2017. In case the name sounds familiar.

The second inning usually is a treacherous spot for the Orioles, who were outscored 43-14 before tonight.

Tampa Bay botched another play in the fifth after Holliday’s leadoff single – his second multi-hit game since returning from the injured list. Gunnar Henderson appeared to ground into a force for the second out, but shortstop Oliver Dunn straddled the bag and the Orioles won the challenge. Holliday was safe and the Rays had their seventh error.

Dunn was a late addition to the lineup with Taylor Walls scratched due to a sore hamstring.

The runners advanced with two outs on a passed ball and Basallo gave the Orioles a 6-1 lead with a 405-foot shot on a 3-0 pitch from Trevor Martin. Basallo hadn’t homered in that count before tonight.

“Well, they gave me the green light there and I thought, ‘I got to give my best swing here,’” he said. “I was looking for a specific pitch. I usually don’t swing 3-0, but thankfully I was able to put a good swing on that one.”

Basallo stood to admire his work, turned to the dugout and flung the bat. The unearned run count had reached six.

“He’s just been awesome to watch,” Albernaz said. “Like we constantly talk about, he’s only 21 years old, didn’t have a ton of a ton of reps in the minor leagues, and rightfully so, because he just outperformed the minor leagues. There’s going to be growing pains with him, but also the talent’s real, and the way he can learn on the fly and adjust, it’s really impressive what he can do, especially navigating the game behind the play at the big league level, calling pitches, receiving, blocking and throwing. Then going up there and hitting and hitting the middle of our order pretty much all year, it’s been really impressive.

“It’s always challenging with young players like that to not ride the highs or the lows, just keep them even keel. And Sammy has a great support system around him, so it’s been fun to be a small part of his career.”

Familiar mound pose returns

The Rays signed Craig Kimbrel today after the Mets designated him for assignment and he chose free agency. And they didn’t waste any time getting him into a game.

Kimbrel entered in the eighth inning, greeted by some boos, and struck out the first two batters. Cowser reached on a dribbler up the third base line, but Alexander grounded out.

Kimbrel appeared in 57 games with the Orioles in 2024 before they released him. He had an All-Star caliber first half, cited as one of the snubs, but fell apart after the break and finished with a 5.33 ERA.

Down on the farm

Tommy Pham collected his first hit with Triple-A Norfolk with a single in the first inning. Christian Herberholz tossed five scoreless innings with one hit.

Double-A Chesapeake was held to two hits in Erie, both from Maikol Hernández.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. began an injury rehab assignment tonight with Single-A Delmarva. He walked three times and scored twice as the designated hitter. Shortstop DJ Layton tripled and homered. Christian Rodriguez allowed one run and two hits and struck out nine in four innings.