TORONTO – He may not have put up stats as he did earlier in the year, but right-hander Jordan Lyles got his team off to a good pitching start tonight. And then his offense scored in four straight at-bats to back him. Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homered as the Orioles beat Toronto 6-5 to even this four-game series at a victory for each club.

The Orioles (27-36) improved to 3-3 on this road trip and to 6-5 in their last 11 road games. They are 12-17 on the year versus American League East clubs, but are 8-6 in their past 14 division games.

Lyles allowed four runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA. He has an ERA of 5.08 in eight starts within the division this season.

Jorge López got the last five outs and did some big-time heavy lifting again. It was his fourth save of the year of more than one inning. He got Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández in order in the last of the ninth. 

The Orioles broke the early scoreless tie when Mountcastle went opposite field with his 10^th homer of the year in the Baltimore third. That provided a 2-0 lead, scoring Richie Martin, who had walked. Mountcastle hit a 1-0 fastball 396 feet with an exit velocity of 106. And Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who had given up seven runs over 5 1/3 his past two starts, was behind in the third tonight.

TORONTO - The Orioles lineup tonight is missing Trey Mancini. He was hit in the right hand by a pitch last night and had his hand wrapped today in the clubhouse earlier. X-rays showed there is no fracture and Mancini is hopeful that he may only have to miss a day or two, or a few at most.

“Trey’s hand is pretty swollen today,” manager Brandon Hyde said during his pregame media briefing. “It’s going to be a few days. We don’t think it’s going to be an IL stint. We got lucky with no fractures last night. But hopefully it’s going to (only) be a few days.”

Any time without Mancini will be challenging for an Orioles team trying to match up on offense with this Toronto club. Mancini is 0-for-5 the last two games but his .797 OPS for the year is 30 percent above league average. And since May 1, he is batting .326/.424/.482/.907 in 38 games.

Kyle Stowers will join Mancini on the bench as tonight’s game starts. With lefty Yusei Kikuchi (2-2, 4.44 ERA) starting for Toronto, Ryan McKenna is in left field tonight, with Cedric Mullins in center and Austin Hays in right. Ryan Mountcastle starts at first base and Adley Rutschman is the DH.

Stowers, the Orioles' No. 8 ranked prospect, per MLBPipeline.com, made his major league debut last night, going 1-for-3 with a seventh-inning RBI double.

TORONTO – Trey Mancini walked into the visiting clubhouse this afternoon with his right hand wrapped in black tape. His name missing from the lineup. His mind uncertain when he'd get back on the field.

Mancini was hit in the sixth inning last night by a 91 mph sinker from Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah. He reached first base on a slow roller up the third base line, and a lengthy challenge led to the ruling that he struck out swinging.

Richie Martin pinch-hit for Mancini in the seventh.

X-rays didn’t reveal a fracture in the hand, but Mancini isn’t available to play tonight and might not be able to leave a short bench Wednesday.

“It’s swollen. Not great, but luckily no fracture, so I say day-to-day, but it’s pretty swollen,” Mancini said. “Once the swelling goes down it should be good again to grip the bat again and go, but I’m not exactly sure.

TORONTO – Kyle Stowers is on the bench after making his major league debut last night and lining a run-scoring double into left field in the seventh inning.

Ryan McKenna is starting in left field as the Orioles continue their series against the Blue Jays. Adley Rutschman is batting cleanup and serving as the designated hitter.

Trey Mancini, who was hit on the hand last night, isn't in the lineup.

Tyler Nevin is the third baseman again. Richie Martin is starting at second base.

Jordan Lyles hasn’t gone past five innings in his last three starts. He has a lifetime 7.79 ERA and 2.077 WHIP in four games against the Blue Jays spanning 17 1/3 innings.

TORONTO – A few of the firsts are out of the way for Kyle Stowers.

The first hit, first double, first RBI, first hit by pitch.

The first time that his family was brought to tears in a major league game.

Stowers lined a Julian Merryweather fastball, clocked at 95.7 mph, into left-center field for a double that scored Adley Rutschman in the seventh inning of an 11-1 loss to the Blue Jays.

Merryweather left the game with an injury, one of many odd moments of the night. Like the challenge in the sixth inning that lasted longer than batting practice and resulted in the Orioles getting the call overturned, and Trey Mancini walking from first base to the dugout after striking out.

TORONTO – In winning the last two games of their series in Kansas City, the Orioles scored 16 runs on 25 hits and hit four homers. The sledding was much tougher tonight in their first meeting of the year with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto sent right-hander Alek Manoah to the mound, a pitcher who had allowed just 14 earned runs in 69 2/3 innings this year and had thrown 10 quality starts in his first 11 outings of the season.

He would not need a lot of runs tonight, but the Blue Jays got him a lot anyway.

They scored seven times in the last of the fifth to knock O’s starter Kyle Bradish from the game, and they routed the Orioles 11-1 at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles had been 7-5 in their last 12 games against American League East opponents, but now they have lost seven in a row versus Toronto dating to last season as they fall to 26-36 for the year and to 2-3 on this road trip.

TORONTO - The Orioles knew for a while that outfielder Anthony Santander and reliever Keegan Akin would leave the active roster prior to the team’s arrival in Toronto. To be decided was which outfielder might replace Santander in the lineup.

Kyle Stowers became the third top-10 prospect in the system to get the call, joining catcher Adley Rutschman and pitcher Kyle Bradish. They’ll be on the field together tonight for the start of a four-game series against the Blue Jays.

Manager Brandon Hyde got an extended look at Stowers in spring training and wants to check how the 2019 second-round draft pick handles the pressure and challenging at-bats against early Cy Young candidate Alek Manoah.

“I know he’s excited,” Hyde said. “It’s cool to watch young guys make their debuts, and this is going to be a great environment. He’s facing one of the best right-handed starters in the game right now. He’s swinging the bat extremely well in Norfolk and love the athleticism, how he plays defense, how he runs, so it’s a cool way for him to break into the big leagues and looking forward to watching him play tonight.”

The advice to just relax and treat it like any other game “is super unrealistic,” Hyde said.

TORONTO - The Orioles placed outfielder Anthony Santander and reliever Keegan Akin on the restricted list today and selected the contracts of Kyle Stowers and Rico Garcia as replacement players.

No reasons were stated for Santander and Akin being away from the club, but unvaccinated players aren’t allowed to enter Canada. Santander and Akin were put on the COVID-19 injured list last summer.

Stowers, the No. 7 prospect in the system per Baseball America and No. 8 per MLBPipeline.com, is batting .253/.356/.545 with 16 doubles, 12 home runs and 34 RBIs in 209 plate appearances with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s making his major league debut tonight, playing left field and batting eighth.

“It’s awesome, it’s a dream come true for sure, and everyone’s been super great,” said Stowers, who called his fiancée and parents with the news.

“It was special, just because they played such a big role, obviously,” he said. “To be able to thank the people who helped me get here was really special.”

The Orioles completed their only trip to Kansas City yesterday and are in Toronto for the first of three visits.

This is my first appearance since the 2016 wild card game.

Too soon?

My lasting image from that day besides Zack Britton warming in the bullpen and sitting down, and my frantic attempts late at night to get a flight home, is catcher Matt Wieters bolting out of his crouch the moment that Edwin Encarnación’s bat made contact against Ubaldo Jimenez in the 11^th inning.

Wieters spun toward the dugout as if unable to watch. Or maybe he sensed the outcome in advance and hated to be proven right. Probably both.

KANSAS CITY - Anthony Santander rocked back on his left foot, pausing to admire his work.

When you hit a ball 455 feet into the fountains at Kauffman Stadium, you’re allowed a little time to bask.

Santander’s solo splashdown in the first inning of Sunday’s game was the first of three home runs for the Orioles and set the tone for the team’s marathon 10-7 win over the Royals (20-39).

The Orioles (26-35) hit 850 more feet worth of homers in the second, getting back-to-back shots from Ryan Mountcastle and Rougned Odor to open the inning and push the lead to 3-0. But the barrage didn’t end there, as the O’s scored two more in the inning on RBI singles from Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays off Kansas City starter Brad Keller.

“We swung the bat good all day," said manager Brandon Hyde after the win. "We had 15 hits, had really good at-bats, started early, which is great to see. We haven’t done that a ton.”

KANSAS CITY - A shock of bright blonde hair shone in the Orioles clubhouse this morning. 

Kyle Stowers is hard to miss.

The Orioles’ No. 8 prospect, per MLBPipeline.com, will join the taxi squad when the team heads north of the border to play the Blue Jays this week.

“He’s having a good year at Triple-A,” manager Brandon Hyde said in Kauffman Stadium’s away dugout before Sunday's game. “It’s a loose, left-handed swing. He’s got huge power. I like the way he plays defense, he can play three defensive spots in the outfield, left-handed bat."

A 2019 second-round pick out of Stanford University, Stowers is hitting .253 with 12 home runs and a .901 OPS in 49 games with Triple-A Norfolk this year. The 24-year-old led all Orioles minor leaguers with 27 homers in 2021.

The Orioles are trying to gain a split of their four-game series in Kansas City today with Dean Kremer making his second start since leaving the injured list.

Kremer faced the Guardians last Sunday and allowed three runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. An off-day and rainout pushed him back in the rotation.

Today marks Kremer’s first career start against the Royals.

Adley Rutschman is catching today after the first three-hit game of his career yesterday afternoon. Rutschman is 5-for-11 in his last three starts.

"It kind of goes back to controlling the controllables," Rutschman told the media. "You hit balls hard and eventually, baseball's one of those games, you’re going to hit balls right at people, then you’re going to have balls that are hit hard that fall for hits. So, you’ve got to continue to roll with the punches and try to do the best you can.”

Heston Kjerstad was making his second visit to Maryland after flying in from the spring training complex in Sarasota to begin working out with the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds. Taking his rounds of batting practice and waiting for the Orioles to activate him. In an unfamiliar setting that just seemed right to him.

He noticed it again as he walked to home plate Friday night in his first professional game.

Right where he belonged. Nothing else about it mattered.

“Honestly, just felt alive again being in the box. Just playing some baseball,” he said the following day after going 1-for-4 with an RBI.

“It kind of all comes back to you. You get locked in again for hitting. I felt at home again being able to dig in the box and have my approach, and just take some at-bats.”

KANSAS CITY - Anthony Santander appeared almost reluctant to don the Orioles’ home run chain Friday night.

After sneaking a meaningless solo home run inside Kauffman Stadium’s right field foul pole in the ninth inning of an 8-1 loss, Santander accepted the plastic chain with all the gravitas of a weathered monarch.

Tyler Nevin showed no such hesitancy Saturday. In fact, he welcomed it, beckoning Austin Hays to bestow the chain upon him after crushing a three-run, go-ahead homer to dead center field in the sixth inning of a 6-4 win over the Royals.

The honor was richly deserved.

Nevin’s 425-foot longball gave the Orioles their first lead since the third inning of Thursday’s series opener. Before the homer, the O’s had been outscored 18-7 in the first two-and-a-half games of their four-game series in Kansas City. 

Infielder Ramón Urías was scratched from last night’s lineup with discomfort in his left side and is going on the 10-day injured list today with an oblique strain. The move is retroactive to yesterday.

Richie Martin had his contract selected from Triple-A Norfolk and is in Kansas City, where he’s starting at second base and batting ninth. He was slashing .295/.382/.442 with 13 doubles, four triples, one home run, 14 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 19 attempts over 41 games.

Martin was on the taxi squad for the trip to St. Louis. He hasn’t played for the Orioles since Oct. 3 in Toronto.

The Orioles selected Martin’s contract today, and he fills the open spot on the 40-man roster.

Urías appeared in 49 games and batted .225/.273/.387 with 10 doubles and six home runs in 188 plate appearances. He played 38 games at third base, seven at second base and four at shortstop.

Grayson Rodriguez’s year might be over after only 56 innings pitched at Triple-A Norfolk. That’s one of the decisions looming over the Orioles this summer.

They also will hold internal meetings later to figure out whether Rodriguez is a candidate to go to the Arizona Fall League.

They haven’t ruled out the idea.

The Orioles first need to establish a real timeline for his recovery from a Grade 2 strain of his right lat muscle, and that can’t be done so soon after his diagnosis.

Rodriguez is aiming to make his major league debut in September. It’s a big carrot to dangle in front of himself. He’s holding the string.

KANSAS CITY - A light rain began to fall at Kauffman Stadium on Friday night as the bottom of the sixth inning got underway.

But the deluge had already transpired.

The Royals (20-37) poured runs on Bruce Zimmermann in the lefty’s most dismal outing in what has been a string of them. Zimmermann (2-5) allowed a career-high seven runs on 10 hits in just 4 2/3innings in an 8-1 loss in Kansas City.

The Orioles (24-35) have dropped the first two games of their four-game series, surrendering 15 runs in 18 innings.

Zimmermann’s rough night stood in stark contrast to that of Royals starter Jonathan Heasley (1-3), who allowed just one hit - an Anthony Santander single in the first inning - and no walks to go with seven strikeouts over seven innings of scoreless baseball. 

KANSAS CITY - For the first month of the season, Bruce Zimmermann was unstoppable, thanks to an unstoppable new changeup. 

Zimmermann’s ERA has gone from 2.72 on May 14 to 4.87 coming into Friday’s start. The last two starts have been particularly unkind, as the lefty has surrendered 11 combined earned runs over his last 9.2 innings. 

The changeup that fooled hitters for the first several starts isn’t nearly as effective. 

What changed?

“I’m not really sure,” manager Brandon Hyde said to the media gathered in the dugout at Kauffman Stadium. “To me, early in the year he was getting a lot of swing-and-miss on the changeup. In the dugout it has looked a little different his last few outings. Just not having the same kind of depth and swing-and-miss that he was getting on it with right-handed hitters. 

Heston Kjerstad’s positive attitude is reflected in the way he’s handled the extreme delay in reaching his first professional game. How he used the term “a little bump” today to describe the reasons why it took until now to join an Orioles minor league affiliate.

With at-bats that finally count.

In front of crowds who don't just pass through the gates for free on a sunny day in Sarasota to watch practices.

A diagnosis of myocarditis shortly after the 2020 draft, where the Orioles picked Kjerstad second overall, prevented him from participating in the fall instructional camp. It kept him out of spring training after a setback. And when he finally was cleared this year to participate in a minicamp and in intrasquad competition two months later, he strained his left hamstring chasing a line drive in the outfield.

The weeks of rehabbing led to light workouts and hitting off tees and coach’s tosses, to facing live pitching, to building at-bats in extended spring training, to reporting to Single-A Delmarva this week.

Outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the second-overall draft pick in 2020, finally is able to make his professional debut tonight at Single-A Delmarva – exactly two years after his selection from the University of Arkansas. He’s batting third and serving as the designated hitter.

Kjerstad, 23, was diagnosed with myocarditis after the draft and strained his left hamstring while chasing a line drive from Adley Rutschman in a March 11 intrasquad game in Sarasota. He’s been playing at extended spring training.

The initial prognosis had Kjerstad missing eight to 12 weeks.

The Orioles decided to let Kjerstad - the No. 9 prospect in the organization, according to MLBPipleline.com - skip the Florida Complex League, but he’s on a return-to-play progression with the Shorebirds. He’ll be removed from games in the middle innings per hamstring rehab protocol and standard practices.

Meanwhile, pitcher Cody Sedlock cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk, so he stays in the organization.