The All-Star reserves and pitchers will be announced at 5 p.m. on ESPN, and the Orioles find out whether Ryan O’Hearn has company on his return trip to Atlanta, where they conclude a three-game series against the Braves with an 11:35 a.m. Roku start.
Most of the All-Star attention seems to be focused on second baseman Jackson Holliday, who advanced to Phase 2 in his bid to start for the American League but lost to the Tigers’ Gleyber Torres. Holliday stroked a game-tying, run-scoring single yesterday against the Braves but was in a 2-for-24 slump before the hit.
Holliday is deserving of a selection and would be a fun story as the 21-year-old former first-overall draft pick whose father, Matt, was a seven-time All-Star.
Ramón Laureano has entered the chat. He began yesterday batting .273/.341/.508 with 14 doubles and 10 home runs in 60 games, and he delivered a tie-breaking double yesterday in the 10th inning.
He also has those seven outfield assists.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino endorsed Laureano yesterday during his pregame media session.
"It’s awesome that Tony is supporting me in that," Laureano told the assembled media. "I love that guy to death. At the end of the day, control what I can, just play the game. At the same time, I don’t really think too much about it. I’m just glad to be playing this game, playing with a good group of guys and continuing to do the thing that I love that is just playing baseball hard."
Laureano was slashing .327/.397/.542 with eight doubles, five homers and 19 RBIs in 29 games since May 16 going into yesterday, but he feels like a long shot with a deep pool of outfielders.
Also, how many selections can the Orioles expect while in last place?
Tomoyuki Sugano has left the chat, but Félix Bautista could make it with his 17 saves.
Bautista posted a 5.59 ERA, 1.552 WHIP and .777 opponents’ OPS in 10 May appearances, and a 0.82 ERA, 0.727 WHIP and .362 opponents’ OPS last month. He worked the bottom of the ninth yesterday in a tie game and retired the side in order.
Gunnar Henderson was the starting shortstop and Home Run Derby participant last summer, but he never made a run for the top two spots on the ballot this year following his slow start. He went into yesterday with 11 hits, including a pair of home runs, in his last seven games and was slashing .279/.349/.451 overall.
* The Orioles have won their last five series-opening games and will try to make it six in a row Tuesday night against the Mets at Camden Yards.
There’s a flip side.
The Orioles lost the next two against the Yankees in the Bronx, the next two against the Rangers at Camden Yards, the next game against the Rays in Baltimore before claiming the series, and the next two against the Rangers in Texas.
Here comes another flip. Yesterday’s victory sets up the Orioles for a possible sweep.
Overall, the Orioles are 16-13 in the first game of a series, including 9-5 at home. Their series record is 8-17-4.
Rubber games are a challenge for the Orioles, who have gone 4-11, but they don’t have that worry in Atlanta.
* The Orioles hit three home runs yesterday that traveled a combined 1,332 feet – Jordan Westburg at 461, Tyler O’Neill at 445 and Colton Cowser at 426.
This is the third time that the Orioles hit at least three homers at 426 feet or longer since Statcast began tracking in 2015.
The first occasion was June 16, 2015 against the Phillies with Manny Machado at 437 feet, Chris Parmelee at 448 and Ryan Flaherty – this is not a typo - at 435. The second time was May 24, 2019 in Colorado with Keon Broxton at 474 feet, Dwight Smith Jr. at 437 and Renato Núñez at 426.
* The Orioles went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position yesterday and, in a dramatic reversal, are batting .291 (67-for-230) with RISP over their last 31 games dating back to June 1.
Since that date, their average is the third-best in the majors before the Blue Jays’ .327 and the Rays’ .323.
* From the Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Department:
Double-A Chesapeake pitcher Zach Fruit, on the seven-day injured list since April 22 with a lat strain, began his rehab assignment with High-A Aberdeen Saturday. Fruit allowed nine runs and 10 hits and walked six batters in eight innings over three starts with the Baysox, but he came over from the minor league side in spring training and struck out nine batters in six innings against the Yankees and Red Sox. His fastball was clocked at 100.3 mph in Tampa.
That’s good, right? He’s coming back. But on the same day that Fruit returned to competitive action, the Orioles announced that Braxton Bragg went back on the IL with “recurrent right forearm discomfort.”
Bragg was previously on the IL between June 12-22 with a right forearm strain. He lasted two starts before another shutdown, and that’s got to be concerning.
MLB Pipeline ranks Bragg 15th among Orioles prospects and Baseball America has him ninth. He allowed an unearned run and six hits with 18 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings with Aberdeen to earn a promotion to Double-A, where he’s got a 2.32 ERA in nine games, along with 59 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings.
The Orioles’ add-one, subtract-one roster dance filters down to the minors.