MILWAUKEE – Ramón Urías rounded first base, smacked his hands together and pointed at the sky. On a routine single in the ninth inning of a 10-0 game that felt like much more.

Urías had two hits in 25 at-bats after his activation from the injured list. The hamstring was healed. His offensive stats were hurting.

Manager Brandon Hyde excluded Urías from Wednesday night’s lineup, offering him a reset and a chance to concentrate on his workday. Try to recapture the timing that made him one of the team’s most clutch hitters. Timing apparently lost during an almost three-week absence from the majors.

The ground ball that scooted into left field after he came off the bench could have been a 110-mph line drive and Urías was going to react in the same manner. Joy and relief intertwined at first base.

Urías started at third base yesterday and doubled to right field in his first at-bat, homered in the seventh inning to ruin Milwaukee’s shutout bid, and singled in the ninth. A triple shy of the cycle, and his first three-hit game since May 5.

MILWAUKEE – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde wanted better at-bats from his club today. Get in more favorable counts. Improve the pitch selection and decision making. Stop pressing.

Start scoring again.

Kyle Bradish settled down after an unusually rough first inning, and an offense that was dormant for most of the series bolted upright against the Brewers’ bullpen, with Gunnar Henderson’s two-run shot in the eighth keying a 6-3 victory before an announced crowd of 27,318 at American Family Field.

Anthony Santander doubled off Peter Strzelecki with one out in the eighth to score Adley Rutschman. Austin Hays took a disputed third strike, but Henderson carried a first-pitch fastball over the left field fence.

Henderson raised his arm as he approached second base. An entire team was lifted.

MILWAUKEE – The Orioles try to avoid their first sweep this afternoon with Austin Hays in center field and batting cleanup, and Gunnar Henderson replacing Jorge Mateo at shortstop.

Ryan Mountcastle has returned to the lineup after being on the bench for two of the last five games. He’s 4-for-26 in his last seven and batting sixth today.

Anthony Santander is in right field and batting third. He’s 0-for-20 on the road trip.

James McCann is catching and Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Ryan O’Hearn is starting in left field. Aaron Hicks, who’s 7-for-19 with the Orioles, is on the bench.

MILWAUKEE – The latest road trip ends today with Kyle Bradish starting for the Orioles. Tyler Wells is next in line, pitting him against the Royals.

The Orioles will confirm Wells in today’s game notes but might list Saturday as TBA because they aren’t ready to commit to a fifth starter.

A decision is pending, and the Orioles probably have their choices laid out in front of them.

Grayson Rodriguez isn’t eligible to return unless he’s replacing an injured player. We can excuse him from this discussion.

Rodriguez is allowed to come back after the weekend and he’s basically in reset mode with Triple-A Norfolk, with his next start scheduled for Saturday night but vulnerable to another change following a second postponement last night due to the air quality in Scranton-Wilkes/Barre. His absence isn’t expected to be prolonged. He just needed to work on fastball command and maybe regain whatever confidence might have chipped away.

MILWAUKEE – The goals have shifted for the Orioles as they near the conclusion of their latest road trip.

Don’t get swept. Try to go .500.

Try to keep the first-place Rays within viewing distance and don’t let anyone get too close.

Corbin Burnes tossed eight scoreless innings, rookie Joey Wiemer homered twice and had five RBIs, and the Brewers scored six runs off Dean Kremer in a 10-2 victory before an announced crowd of 22,320 at American Family Field.

The Orioles won two of three games from the Giants but have dropped the first two in Milwaukee. Their record is 37-24, still good for second place in the division but leaving them 6 ½ behind Tampa Bay, which got a walk-off home run from Randy Arozarena.

MILWAUKEE – Ramón Urías will watch his younger brother tonight from the visiting dugout. He can wave toward the home side.

Urías started at third base last night, with Luis playing second for the Brewers. Ramón isn’t in the lineup while mired in a 2-for-25 slump. Luis also is sitting.

The brothers hadn’t played in the same major league game before, creating a unique experience for the family.

“It was a special moment,” Ramón said this afternoon. “We were looking forward to this game, and it was an exciting moment to be on the field.”

One that they dreamed about growing up in Mexico.

MILWAUKEE – Gunnar Henderson has returned to the Orioles lineup tonight for the first time since Saturday.

Henderson was day-to-day with discomfort in his lower back.

Josh Lester is the designated hitter and Ryan O’Hearn gets the start at first base.

Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías are on the bench.

Adam Frazier is leading off again.

The Orioles probably welcomed another reset yesterday before beginning a three-game series in Milwaukee, though they won two of three games in San Francisco. Step back, take a breath, assess your own situation, maybe look around the majors and remember how good you have it and that everyone is dealing with something.

Every team in the American League East is .500 or better, with the Red Sox dropping their third in a row yesterday to leave their record at 30-30. Only the first-place Twins are above .500 in the AL Central. The defending World Series champion Astros are in second place in the AL West. The wild card Mariners began yesterday in fourth.

The Mets spent a lot of money in the offseason and are in third place in the NL East, ahead of the pennant-winning Phillies. The rebuilding Nationals are last, but only nine games below .500.

I’ve seen worse.

What are the Cardinals doing in last place in the NL Central? Is it stranger than the Pirates moving into first last night?

MILWAUKEE – Josh Lester hadn’t heard from the Orioles on Tuesday and took it as a positive sign.

They needed to make a corresponding move while reinstating left-hander Danny Coulombe from the bereavement list. Lester’s contract was selected over the weekend with Coulombe leaving the club, giving the Orioles 14 position players.

Sending Lester back down seemed like the predictable move. That’s often how it works. However, the club decided to option another left-handed hitter, Terrin Vavra, and keep Lester on the bench for the Milwaukee series.

“Obviously, I knew who I came up for and kind of the situation, the timetable of that,” Lester said, “but I didn’t know what would happen.”

So, how did Lester find out that he was staying in the majors after collecting his first hit and RBIs on Sunday?

MILWAUKEE – Kyle Gibson struck out Brice Turang on a curveball to end the bottom of the first inning and didn’t break stride on his way back to the dugout. He blew past catcher Adley Rutschman, who tried to meet him along the third base line and had to reach out to give him an encouraging pat.

The 35 pitches thrown and two runs allowed didn’t give Gibson much incentive to linger on the field.

With two outs in the eighth inning, reliever Yennier Cano snared a comebacker with an exaggerated snap of his glove, threw to first base and shook his head in disgust. Cano had his own frustrations, unable to hold onto a one-run lead.

By the end, players were filing into the clubhouse with a few heads bowed.

The Orioles couldn’t score against Peter Strzelecki in the top of the 10^th, with pinch-hitter Josh Lester striking out to leave two on base, and Joey Wiemer singled off Austin Voth with two outs to bring home Andruw Monasterio and give the Brewers a 4-3 victory before an announced crowd of 22,535.

MILWAUKEE – Gunnar Henderson took batting practice this afternoon and fielded ground balls to test his lower back.

Henderson remains out of the lineup but said earlier that he should be in the lineup Wednesday night.

“It’s getting better,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

“We’re hoping he’s going to be back in there in the next day or two.”

Ramón Urías is starting at third base and batting seventh. Younger brother Luis is starting at second base for Milwaukee and also batting seventh.

MILWAUKEE – Orioles third baseman Gunnar Henderson said he expects to be in Wednesday night’s lineup against the Brewers.

Henderson was removed from Saturday’s game in San Francisco with lower-back soreness and he didn’t play Sunday. Ramón Urías is playing third base tonight.

“It’s actually feeling pretty good today,” Henderson said. “It was just getting really tight and didn’t feel great bending forward, but doing activities today, just doing half the reps to see how it feels, and hopefully be in there tomorrow.”

Henderson figured he would be day-to-day and nothing more serious.

“It just progressively got worse after that train ride back from New York and just kept getting tight on me,” he said. “And then it got pretty unbearable the last game, and I was probably going to hurt the team more than help it at that point.”

MILWAUKEE - Left-hander Danny Coulombe is back in the Orioles bullpen tonight after his reinstatement from the bereavement list. Infielder Terrin Vavera was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk as the corresponding move.

The roster has returned to the usual alignment of 13 pitchers and 13 position players for the series opener against the Brewers.

Coulombe missed two games in San Francisco. Vavra is batting .245/.315/.245 (12-for-49) with no extra-base hits in 27 games.

The Orioles chose to hold onto Josh Lester, who collected his first major league hit and two RBIs Sunday. They selected his contract to replace Coulombe.

Lester can play the corner infield and outfield positions, offering versatility similar to Vavra's.

The Orioles might get spoiled with all of these off-days. Two since finishing their homestand on Wednesday.

They left San Francisco yesterday and continue their rare-visit tour with a stop in Milwaukee.

The Brewers swept the Orioles in a three-game set at Miller Park in July 2017, and if you remember that Jayson Aquino started in the series finale, my level of concern for you has grown to the size of Félix Bautista.

More concerning, perhaps, is that Seth Smith led off for the Orioles in the first two games.

This team was in contention going into September?

SAN FRANCISCO – In the first two games of this series at Oracle Park – where they had gone 1-1 – the Orioles scored just three runs on nine hits versus the San Francisco Giants. They scored in just two of their 18 innings at bat in those games and were scoreless going into the third inning today.

But suddenly the runs came in a bunch. The Orioles scored six times on four hits, three walks and an error in the top of the third as they beat the Giants 8-3 to record another series victory and get their two-city road trip off to a winning start.

Now 37-22 overall and 20-10 on the road, the Orioles improved to 6-4 in rubber-match games. They also improved to 13-5-1 in 19 series. They didn’t secure their 13^th series win last year until their 28^th series, on July 13.

The O’s big third inning began with catcher James McCann drawing a six-pitch walk off the Giants' starter, right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, who had walked nine over 67 1/3 innings coming into this outing. McCann advanced to third on Jorge Mateo’s double, just his second extra-base hit (both doubles) his last 24 games. Adam Frazier’s sac fly to center made it a 1-0 lead.

Adley Rutschman kept the rally going with an infield hit, his 11th infield hit of the year. Anthony Santander popped out, but Austin Hays flared a single into right field for a 2-0 lead. An Aaron Hicks walk loaded the bases and when Ryan Mountcastle walked on four pitches, the O’s lead was 3-0.

SAN FRANCISCO – Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson exited last night’s game in the third inning with lower back discomfort, but the club is confident he will not need to go on the injured list. He is not starting today, but manager Brandon Hyde did not rule out the chance he could play in the game.

“He is feeling better today,” Hyde said pregame. “So, getting treatment right now. Little bit unsure if he’s available off the bench or not. Off-day will do him good tomorrow and we should see him back in there against Milwaukee.

“We are confident (it’s not an IL situation). He is definitely trending better from last night. Waiting to see if he can even go today.”

With Henderson not starting, Josh Lester will make his O’s debut today against the Giants, batting seventh and playing at third base. He hit .282/.339/.549 with nine doubles, two triples, 14 home runs and 50 RBIs in 52 games with Triple-A Norfolk. His second and last major league game was Sept. 6, 2022 with the Tigers in Anaheim. He is 0-for-5 as a big leaguer.

“Gunnar would have been in there today if he could go. But it does give Josh an opportunity to start here, and (Anthony) DeSclafani’s splits against righties and lefties are pretty significant. So Josh will start, and let’s see if he can deliver a couple of hits for us," Hyde said.

SAN FRANCISCO - After a 4-0 loss last night in which right-hander Alex Cobb shut down the O's bats for 7 2/3 innings, the Orioles try to get back in the win column today in the series finale at San Francisco.

Baltimore (36-22) won here 3-2 Friday night and is now 19-10 in road games and 10-10 all time against the Giants.

Second baseman Adam Frazier will lead off again today. He is batting .217 in six games this season when leading off. Austin Hays will bat cleanup again and Josh Lester, called up on Saturday, will make his O's debut batting seventh and playing third base.

Gunnar Henderson, who left last night's game with lower back discomfort is not in the lineup, and after the game last night manager Brandon Hyde said he was day-to-day.

For the Orioles

As the Orioles braced for the extended loss of center fielder Cedric Mullins to a strained groin muscle, knowing that further tests would confirm his placement on the injured list but relieved that the news wasn’t worse, they pondered their options for replacing him on the active roster.

They couldn’t consider Triple-A outfielders Colton Cowser and Kyle Stowers, who were on the injured list. They could recall an infielder to provide depth while others offered support in the outfield corners, leaving center to Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna, but shortstop Joey Ortiz wasn’t available due to some sort of illness that’s kept him from playing since his last demotion.

Aaron Hicks was a free agent after the Yankees designated him for assignment and released him, and executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias expressed interest prior to Mullins’ injury. And the price certainly was right, with the Orioles paying on the prorated major league minimum.

But beware of accepting the role of center fielder with the Orioles. Mullins strained his groin. Hays was out of Wednesday’s lineup because of an illness, which showed in his face later as he shuffled to his locker with one of the athletic trainers. Hicks made his debut with the club, reached base three times and exited with left calf cramps.

One scenario that the Orioles didn’t consider, of course, was promoting Heston Kjerstad from Double-A Bowie. Many fans wanted it. I’m guessing that a few thought it could happen.

SAN FRANCISCO – After an uplifting opening game of this series and a Baltimore win by 3-2 Friday night, by mid-game tonight the Orioles were down three runs and one player. It didn’t go as well as last night.

Right-hander Alex Cobb got rolling against his former team while his current one scored three runs in the last of third and beat the Orioles 4-0 in front of 32,416 at Oracle Park. The series, now tied 1-1, will be decided here tomorrow afternoon.

Orioles rookie infielder Gunnar Henderson left tonight’s game when he was replaced by Ramón Urías, who went to third base for the last of the third. The team announced that Henderson exited due to lower back discomfort.

Henderson, who hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning last night, batted once tonight and struck out on a Cobb splitter in the top of the second. He entered tonight hitting .203/.330/.386/.716 with six homers and 15 RBIs.

The injury might have occurred when Henderson, from third base, threw out Mitch Haniger on a grounder in the last of the second. The MASN cameras showed Henderson grimacing after the play.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Orioles added infielder/outfielder Josh Lester to their roster today as bullpen lefty Danny Coulombe went on the bereavement list. O’s manager Brandon Hyde expects Coulombe, who has 2.08 ERA in 26 games, to miss only the final two games of this series with the San Francisco Giants. He should return for the Orioles' series at Milwaukee, which begins Tuesday.

As for adding Lester, Hyde said the schedule of upcoming starters the O’s will be facing helped lead them in his direction to fill that roster spot.

“I'm excited for Josh,” Hyde said today in the visitors' dugout at Oracle Park. “He swung the bat so well in spring training for us, off to a good start in Triple-A. We're running into a string of right-handed starters these next handful of games. With the off-day here in a couple of days, we feel like we're in good shape, bullpen-wise, to be able to add another left-handed bat, and the guy is really swinging the bat well in Triple-A, and we're excited to have him.

“We had a lot of options going into the game yesterday knowing we were going to lose Danny. We had three of four scenarios and we had to see how the game played out last night,” he said of his roster, which for now carries 14 position players and 12 pitchers. 

The team moved bullpen right-hander Dillon Tate to the 60-day injured list with a right elbow flexor strain to create room for Lester on the 40-man roster.