During a five-game losing streak, the Orioles have allowed 40 runs and lost games where they scored eight and eleven runs. So Captain Obvious said the pitching must improve as they host Cleveland tonight in the series finale.

After getting swept once all year - from May 20 to 22 at St. Louis - a loss tonight would secure back-to-back series the O's have been swept. 

The Orioles (49-30) hit the 80-game mark tonight and begin play two games behind the New York Yankees (52-29). At 51-26, the Guardians have the best record in the American League and second-best in the majors behind the Phillies. The Yankees have the AL's second-best record and the Orioles have the third-best.

The Orioles have been outscored 40-23 during the losing streak and their team ERA is 7.71 in this stretch. Baltimore's starting pitchers have gone eight straight games without a quality start. In that span, the rotation ERA is 7.26 with a WHIP of 1.789. O's starters pitched five innings or less in six of the eight games.

In the past four games, O's batters have gone 2-for-24 batting with runners in scoring position. For the year, the O's are batting .262 when hitting with RISP to rank seventh-best in the American League. Their team OPS of .783 with RISP is fourth-best in the AL.

After losing three games over the weekend at Houston and getting swept for the second time this year by a combined 27-13 score, the Orioles are back at home tonight. They host the Cleveland Guardians in the opening game of a three-game series and seven-game homestand.

The Orioles (49-28, .636) have the third-best record in the American League and begin play tonight 1.5 games back of the division-leading New York Yankees.

When they faced the Phillies, they held the best record in the National League and the Yankees were atop the AL when the O's played them in New York. Tonight they host a Cleveland team that at 49-26 (.653) currently holds the best record in the AL and second-best in the majors behind Philadelphia.

Cleveland has won five in a row over Seattle and Toronto by a combined 33-12 score. Cleveland batters clubbed 12 homers and batted hit .273 in the win streak with a team OPS of .899 while scoring 6.6 runs per game.

Cleveland has scored at least six runs in each of those five wins. The last time the team won five consecutive games with at least six runs in each was in July 2019, last doing so in six straight in May 2018.

The Orioles are prepared to wait a little longer on Dean Kremer before he returns to the rotation.

Kremer is expected to make a third injury rehab start after throwing only 39 pitches in two-thirds of an inning Saturday with Triple-A Norfolk. He worked 3 2/3 innings and threw 59 pitches in his first outing, and the Orioles hoped that he could build on it.

“We haven’t finalized it, but I would assume that he’s going to make another rehab start just because he didn’t get his pitches up, didn’t get out of the first inning there,” manager Brandon Hyde said earlier today. “It wasn’t an ideal situation for him from a pitch-count standpoint, but he did feel good after the two-thirds that he threw down there.

“I’m going to assume that we’re going to give him another rehab start. We just haven’t finalized it yet.”

Cole Irvin and Grayson Rodriguez start the last two games of the Guardians series. The Rangers arrive next for a four-game set that apparently won’t provide Kremer with his first major league start since May 20 in St. Louis.

The Orioles made last night’s reported move official today by recalling outfielder Heston Kjerstad from Triple-A Norfolk. He’s back in the majors for the third time in his career and the first since they optioned him May 13.

Infielder Nick Maton was designated for assignment to make room for Kjerstad on the active roster. The 40-man roster is reduced to 39 players.

Kjerstad is batting .300/.397/.601 with 14 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs and 58 RBIs in 56 games with Norfolk. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the No. 21 prospect in baseball.

Appearing in only seven games earlier this season, Kjerstad collected two hits and struck out six times in 14 at-bats.

The offense could use a jolt after scoring one run in each of the last two games on Jordan Westburg homers. The Orioles were swept in Houston.

Last weekend, the Orioles lost the first two games of a home four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. They were now tied for first in the American League East.

What followed was an outing of eight scoreless by Grayson Rodriguez leading to an 8-0 Saturday win. And when the Birds won a crazy game the next day their lead was back to two games atop the division.

Fast forward to the series at Cleveland. They lost the first two games, and their starters went a combined 8 1/3 innings. But then John Means on Saturday and Kyle Gibson Sunday combined to allow two runs over 14 1/3 innings and the O's pulled out another improbable four-game split.

Had they not won the 2-1 game Saturday, their division lead would have been 1/2 game. But they kept it at 1.5 with the victory that night and it's 2.5 games now with six games to play.

The magic number for the AL East title is down to three heading into today's much needed off day.

CLEVELAND – If the Guardians couldn’t get a run off Grayson Rodriguez tonight, maybe they’d just concentrate on getting him out of the game. Build up his pitch count with extended at-bats fueled by foul balls, dive into an Orioles bullpen that’s screaming for rest.

Rodriguez kept escaping jams to record four scoreless innings, but the Guardians broke through with two runs in the fifth. DL Hall began to warm, staying on an unplanned schedule of being used every other day.

Hall was summoned in the sixth after Rodriguez threw 99 pitches, the last striking out Kole Calhoun. The Guardians got their wish, and eventually a win.

The Orioles battled back to tie the game in the eighth, but Cionel Pérez loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning, Ramón Laureano drew a full-count walk against Jacob Webb and the Guardians scored two more runs in a 5-2 victory at Progressive Field.

Coupled with the Rays’ walk-off win earlier today, the Orioles (95-58) saw their division lead shrink to 1 ½ games and their magic number for clinching stay at seven. They’re 50-28 on the road.

The Orioles begin their final regular season road series of 2023 tonight when they play the first of a four-game series against the Guardians. The Orioles went 2-1 against the Astros to begin the season’s final road trip.

The Orioles are 50-27 on the road and have become the third club in team history to win 50 or more road games. If the O’s go 2-2 this series, they will tie for the best road record ever by an O’s club and 3-1 or better will set a record.

Best road records, O’s history:

.649 – 2023 (50-27)

.642 – 1997 (52-29)

CLEVELAND – The Orioles’ magic number is down to seven to clinch the American League East, and they begin their final road series of the regular season with Aaron Hicks playing right field.

Hicks was out of the lineup the past two days after leaving Monday’s game with hamstring cramps.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman tonight and Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop.

Anthony Santander is serving as the designated hitter. Ryan O’Hearn is batting cleanup and playing first base.

Rookie Grayson Rodriguez is making his 22^nd start. He’s never faced the Guardians.

The Orioles have played eight series this year that were not decided until the third and final game, and they are 5-3 in those games. They play another one today after splitting the first two games of their series with the Cleveland Guardians.

The Orioles (35-20) are 5-2-1 this month in series, and they are 12-4-1 in 17 series for the year, going 5-2-1 in home series.

The American League East as of today:

Tampa Bay, 39-18

Orioles, 35-20, 3 GB

Cleveland right-hander Shane Bieber was a pitcher on a roll when he took the mound at Camden Yards last night. He was still rolling when he left the same mound in the last of the eighth. He flirted with a no-hitter into the O’s sixth before Trey Mancini singled but the Orioles lost the series opener to Cleveland to fall to 1-3 on this eight-game homestand.

Two runs would score after Bieber left the game as the Orioles rallied in the eighth on Mancini’s two-run double and Anthony Santander’s RBI single. But he got the 6-3 win, allowing just three hits over seven innings with two walks and 11 strikeouts.

Bieber had posted an ERA of 1.71 his previous three starts and the Orioles found out why on Friday night when he got 23 whiffs on 52 swings against his pitches. He got 14 whiffs on 24 swings versus his slider.

Bieber's 11 strikeouts were his most since he recorded 12 on May 27, 2021 at Detroit. Last night marked his 16th game with 11-or-more strikeouts since he debuted in 2018, the sixth-most among MLB pitchers during that span. He has allowed three-or-fewer earned runs in 34 consecutive road starts, marking the longest such streak since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913. And Bieber is 18-8 with a 2.26 ERA during that span. So, yep, pretty impressive.

Mancini has reached base safely in nine straight games and is batting .382/.462/.647 (13-for-34) with four doubles, a triple, a home run, six RBIs, four walks, and seven runs scored during the streak. And he has also reached safely in 26 of his last 27 games since May 8 and leads the O’s with 19 multi-hit games.