Break’s over.

The Orioles go back to work tonight to start a three-game series against the last-place Astros, who have the worst record in the American League at 11-18 and are 3-10 on the road

Is their manager safe?

General manager Dana Brown offered a vote of confidence to Joe Espada on Sunday morning, per a report in The Athletic. Brown blamed the 15 players on the injured list, most in the majors, and pitching that “hasn’t been up to par.”

“We’re walking a ton of guys,” Brown said. “I can’t start pointing the finger at Joe because we’re walking a ton of guys and we’re banged up.”

Espada’s brother-in-law, Brandon Hyde, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora have been dismissed the last two years while their teams were in Baltimore. Espada should make it out alive. But the Orioles will try to pile on while also rebounding from losing two of three to Boston.

The off-day might serve as a reset.

It also provided time to ponder the following:

*Taylor Ward was expected to rank among the team leaders in home runs, whether a spot ahead or behind the Polar Bear. He hit 25 with the Angels in 2024 and a career-high 36 last season while slashing .228/.317/.475 in 157 games.

“There’s a lot to like with Taylor Ward,” president of baseball operations Mike Elias said in November. “He’s actually somebody that we’ve been chasing for at least for a couple years, just because of the profile, the big right-handed power.

“He really fit us, and there weren’t a lot of big power right-handed guys on the market this year.”

Power was the point of the presentation with Ward, but he’s hit one home run in 28 games and it didn’t come until April 19 in Cleveland. However, Ward leads the club’s qualified batters with 34 hits, 13 doubles, a .312 average, .424 on-base percentage, .883 OPS and 21 walks.

“It’s a professional at-bat every single time,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “He doesn’t take any at-bats off, doesn’t take any pitches off. I feel like every at-bat he has, it’s either a 2-2 count or a 3-2 count. And he works the pitcher. It doesn’t matter the score, it doesn’t matter the situation. He has a great plan at the plate. He doesn’t chase. He forces pitchers in the strike zone and he has the ability to hit line drives all over the field, and that’s a credit to him.

“Personally, it’s so much fun watching him hit.”

Ward never had a four-hit game in 2,833 plate appearances with the Angels. He’s done it three times with the Orioles.

“I take a lot of pride in it,” Ward said last week when asked about getting on base. “I mean, I just think that swinging at good pitches, working on the stuff in the cage, takes care of itself. It’s good to see everything I’m doing paying off.

“I think I’m more selective, for sure. I just think I’m really hunting the location I’m looking for. Being willing to be behind in counts and, I mean, just trusting it. I think it has changed a little bit. A little more patient and I’m just able to trust myself more right now.”

*No one is losing trust in Pete Alonso or wondering whether he’s going bear down and start hitting.

Alonso is working hard but getting little reward for it. He’s hitting .196/.301/.336 with six doubles, three homers, 10 RBIs, 15 walks and 32 strikeouts in 28 games. Expected to mash lefties, he’s gone 4-for-30 with no homers against them.

The frustration shows on his face as he walks through the clubhouse, so much different than spring training.

Alonso is a career .261/.354/.516 hitter in March/April. In his final season with the Mets, he slashed .343/.474/.657 with 11 doubles, seven homers and 28 RBIs, 23 walks and 20 strikeouts in the first 31 games. He expected a much faster start.

“This is not my standard,” he said. “Results-wise, yeah, it’s unacceptable for me, and I will be better.

“I know, for me, if I’m not producing in big spots with guys on base, it’s not good for the team. I will be better. I feel bad. A lot of people believe in me, and I believe in myself, but I’m not delivering results. I will. I just haven’t. But I will.”

Alonso made this vow on April 10. He’s gone 12-for-56 (.214), including 1-for-13 in the Red Sox series.

“It looks like he’s trying to handle too much as far as the prep in his approach, which is not always a bad thing,” Albernaz said last month. “But also, it’s like he’s kind of searching a little bit on that end. It’s not his swing. It’s just more of the pitches to hit and what he’s taking and then what he’s swinging at.”

The best is yet to come. A team that hasn’t been above .500 since April 14 or more than two games above it all season needs it to happen quickly.

*Coby Mayo wasn’t in Sunday’s lineup against Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early. Blaze Alexander played third base until Colton Cowser pinch-hit for him in the eighth inning, singled and scored.

In Mayo’s last four starts, he’s gone 5-for-15 with three home runs and seven RBIs. A pair of three-run shots in Kansas City traveled 439 and 452 feet. His double on Saturday was 112.8 mph off the bat. He lined out to center field at 104.2 mph.

There’s a lot of ground to make up to reach respectable numbers. Mayo is batting .188/.273/.362 in 23 games. Alexander is hitting .172/.238/.190 with one RBI in 22 games. Westburg isn’t close to making his 2026 debut. This is Mayo’s chance to get more regular playing time.

Can he take full advantage of it?

Albernaz thinks a better approach, which the club led him to, is going to be significant.

What works for one hitter can be detrimental to another. Tailoring makes for a better fit than off the rack.

“Me as a young player coming up, coaches used to say, ‘You want to let the ball travel, let the ball get deep.’ And when Coby was searching early in the year, he was trying to do that, but from our perspective that’s counterproductive to what Coby does well,” Albernaz said.

“When Coby’s going right he’s catching the ball out front. He’s being able to get that changeup that was down and get out front where, that’s where his swing is and that’s how he maximizes his bat speed. And we’re seeing that right now with him catching the ball out front with the two homers in K.C. and the home run (Friday) night. To me, it’s Coby.

“Like we talk about with everyone, we just want Coby to be Coby. Then when Coby’s going right, he’s catching that ball out front. So we just want to keep pushing him in that direction.”

Also worth mentioning is that Mayo keeps doing early work at third base, just as he did at first last summer.

*Samuel Basallo’s numbers are on the rise. His average is up to .233, his OBP to .325 and his slugging to .452.

Basallo’s five home runs are tied with Jeremiah Jackson for second on the team behind Gunnar Henderson’s nine. In his last four games with an at-bat, the rookie catcher is 9-for-16 with a double and two home runs. His 111 mph line drive with a 20 degree launch angle Friday night traveled 395 feet and cleared the fence in right-center field. The swing on Sunday’s homer looked effortless, but the ball traveled 392 feet to right at 101.5 mph.

“He has the stupidest juice I’ve seen,” Henderson said.

*Jackson was batting .340/.345/.604 on April 15 and was 12-for-25 in his last six games. He has a hit in six others since that date, including a three-run homer in Cleveland, but he’s now slashing .270/.290/.461.

Jackson is 5-for-29 since the home run at Progressive Field. He’s playing every day at second base.

Maybe the off-day energizes him. Otherwise, maybe we see Blaze Alexander getting some starts at second to ease up a little on Jackson. Just something to keep an eye on as the Orioles finish their homestand and travel to New York and Miami.

*The Orioles are facing Astros right-handers Kai-Wei Teng, Peter Lambert and Lance McCullers Jr. in the three-games series.

That’s more like it.

They didn’t see a left-hander until Arizona’s Eduardo Rodríguez in their 18th game. They’re 0-6 against them, though the group includes Cleveland’s Parker Messick, who no-hit them for eight innings, and Boston’s Garrett Crochet and Early.

As long as we’re obsessing over small samples, the Orioles are hitting .222 with a .687 OPS against southpaws.

“The lefties that we’ve faced, they’ve been some of the best in the game,” said Henderson, who homered off Early. “We know we can hit them. It’s just a matter of going out and doing it.” 

*Mustard hasn’t won a hot dog race this season at Camden Yards.

How is this not a bigger story?

Ketchup finished first on Sunday for its eighth victory, followed by Relish with seven. Nothing for Mustard, which usually is a competitive condiment.

Notes: Double-A Chesapeake’s Trace Bright was named the Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week. In two starts, Bright allowed one run and one hit with 15 strikeouts in eight innings.

Bright exited the first start with some back discomfort.  

High-A Frederick’s Yeiber Cartaya was named the South Atlantic League’s Pitcher of the Week.

Cartaya made two relief appearances and tossed eight scoreless innings with two hits and 14 strikeouts.