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NEW YORK – The numbers finally are beginning to match what the eyes have seen from Adam Frazier.
The professional at-bats, the multitude of ways he’s able to contribute. Doing the little things that create big gains for a team challenging for the division lead.
Frazier entered last night with three consecutive multi-hit games, and a six-game hitting streak that raised his average to .255 with a .337 on-base percentage to rank fourth on the team. He had reached base in 16 consecutive games since May 6, the fourth-longest active streak in the American League and eighth in the majors.
His career high was 17 in a row in 2019.
He matched it last night by being a central figure in an eight-run seventh inning that enabled the Orioles to take a 9-5 lead.
NEW YORK – The Orioles aren’t ready to announce their plans for reliever Dillon Tate, whose 30-day injury rehab assignment has reached its conclusion.
The choices are clear: Reinstate Tate and put him on the active roster, with a corresponding move necessary, or reinstate and option him to Triple-A Norfolk.
“We’re making decisions on that right now,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I don’t really have anything to report right this minute, but it will be soon.”
Tate didn’t pitch in spring training due to a right elbow flexor strain. He’s made 10 appearances on his injury rehab assignment, the last five with Norfolk, and allowed 13 earned runs (15 total) and 19 hits with five walks in 8 1/3 innings.
The entire weight of the decision doesn’t come just from statistics. A balance exists.
NEW YORK – Joey Ortiz gets the start at third base tonight as the Orioles try to even their series with the Yankees.
Cedric Mullins is leading off against a left-hander, former Orioles Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes. Six of Mullins’ last nine hits are for extra bases. He has a six-game hitting streak, going 10-for-23 (.435) with four doubles, two home runs, six RBIs and three walks.
James McCann is catching and Adley Rutschman stays in the lineup as the designated hitter.
Adam Frazier, who starts at second base, has a 16-game on-base streak, batting .281/.349/.474 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, 10 RBIs and five walks. His longest career streak is 17 games in 2019.
Tyler Wells has registered a 2.94 ERA and 0.788 WHIP, lowest in the majors, in nine games this season. He faced the Yankees on April 9 and allowed four runs in six innings. Aaron Judge and Franchy Cordero hit home runs.
NEW YORK - Kyle Bradish gave the Orioles five innings last night. Manager Brandon Hyde gave the ball to his relievers to cover the last four.
Mychal Givens retired the Yankees in order in the sixth, on a strikeout and two ground balls. A nice little reminder that he can be a weapon during any stretch of the game.
Also, a reminder that Hyde doesn’t want to use him for more than one inning. Givens threw nine pitches and stayed in the dugout until the handshake line.
Yennier Cano put runners on base in the seventh and eighth and got out of jams. Stranded and straddled.
Félix Bautista struck out three batters in the ninth, but a 12th save eluded him thanks to Aaron Judge’s game-tying home run with one out. A poorly located splitter. Was supposed to be low and on the outside corner.
NEW YORK – A road trip that is supposed to knock down the Orioles didn't make a dent for the first half of it. Didn't leave a mark.
They just kept winning, in comeback fashion or after taking an early lead. Sometimes, they do both.
Give them a problem and they find a solution – unless it's Aaron Judge, of course.
Adam Frazier had a two-run double in the first inning tonight off Gerrit Cole, Cedric Mullins homered in the third and Gunnar Henderson homered in the fourth. A fast start but not untouchable, with the Yankees storming back to tie the game in the fifth.
The response was immediate. The Orioles twice loaded the bases in the sixth while disposing of Cole, settled for a go-ahead run on Terrin Vavra’s ground ball and turned to their bullpen. A formula that usually works, except Judge homered off Félix Bautista with one out in the ninth to send the Orioles into extras for the third straight game.
NEW YORK – Orioles infielder Ramón Urías is beginning his injury rehab assignment Wednesday night at High-A Aberdeen.
Urías is serving as the designated hitter, according to Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.
The IronBirds are hosting a seven-game series against Jersey Shore, which includes Wednesday’s doubleheader that resulted from an April 22 postponement.
Urías is on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. He hasn’t played since limping off the field following a ninth-inning single on May 8.
Hyde didn’t specify how many days Urías would spend at Aberdeen. Urías has targeted a weekend return to the Orioles, when they host the Rangers.
NEW YORK – The Orioles will try to improve on their 13-2 record in series-opening games tonight when they visit the Yankees in the Bronx. They trail the first-place Rays by three games.
Terrin Vavra gets another start in right field, with Anthony Santander serving as designated hitter.
Adam Frazier is batting fifth again and starting at second base, followed by left fielder Austin Hays.
Pretty standard lineup.
Kyle Bradish’s final start in 2022 came at Yankee Stadium, where he held New York to an unearned run and three hits in five innings but also walked five batters.
The next mountain for the Orioles to climb is in the Bronx.
You just don’t see it in the skyline. Got to check the schedule and the standings.
The Yankees climbed out of last place in the division and are in third, three games behind the Orioles. They’ve won four in a row, six of seven, eight of 10 and 11 of 14.
In other words, they’re the Yankees again.
The 2023 version of the Orioles is even more impressive at 31-16, the second-best record in baseball. They just swept the Blue Jays in Toronto and have won 22 of their last 31 games.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde strolled to the mound yesterday in the bottom of the 10th inning, had a lengthy chat with Austin Voth, and gave the reliever an encouraging slap on the butt. A teammate smacked his chest.
The Orioles were battering Voth more than the Blue Jays.
Whit Merrifield followed Matt Chapman’s strikeout with a run-scoring single into center field to tie a game that would last through the 11th. A game that might be the defining moment in the 2023 season.
The visitors erupted for five runs in their next turn and won 8-3 to complete the sweep, the first in a three-game series in Toronto since 2005.
So special because it’s a division rival with one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball.
TORONTO – The Orioles got a weekend’s worth of solid outings from their starting rotation and right-hander Dean Kremer joined the party today at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. But with a couple of key relievers not expected to pitch today, could the O’s bullpen hold a late lead without Yennier Cano and Felix Bautista?
They took a 2-1 lead to the last of the seventh, and after many missed chances earlier, Toronto did tie it up as reliever Mychal Givens made his season debut. He issued a leadoff walk and a bloop single followed. He would minimize the damage, but with one down, Matt Chapman's sac fly tied the game 2-2.
This game would go extra innings for the second day in a row in this series and the 2023 Orioles pulled out another one. With one amazing half inning.
Each team scored in the tenth and then the Orioles plated five runs in the top of the 11th to record an impressive 8-3 win and a series sweep. They won on a day they could not use their entire bullpen and on a day they could not hold two one-run leads.
The Orioles (31-16) recorded their first three-game sweep at Toronto since doing that April 22-24, 2005.
TORONTO – The Orioles six-game AL East road trip is off to a great start. They have posted 6-2 and 6-5 wins in 10 innings at Toronto and they can sweep this series this afternoon at Rogers Centre.
In the 2018 season, the Orioles went 0-10 at Rogers Centre and that was not even against a winning Toronto team. While the Orioles went 47-115 that year, Toronto was 73-89.
This has just been a tough place for the Orioles to win over the years and today Baltimore (30-16) begins to play five games ahead of Toronto (25-21) in the standings.
The O’s win Saturday was another comeback win as Ryan O’Hearn’s three-run homer in the eighth tied the game at 5-5 and Félix Bautista fanned five over the last two innings to get the win. Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez allowed two runs and four hits over five innings. And O’s starters have allowed nine hits and three runs in 12 innings this series. The O’s offense has scored 12 runs, hitting five homers this weekend.
The Orioles did not pick up their 30th win until Game 68 last year on June 19 when the club was 30-38.
TORONTO - The Orioles are getting a reinforcement today for their heavily-used bullpen as right-hander Mychal Givens has been activated as the Orioles try to sweep Toronto today at Rogers Centre. Givens has not pitched in an O's game since March 16 in spring training.
But today he comes off the 15-day injured list - he's been out with left knee inflammation. To make roster room lefty Cole Irvin was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk. Recalled Tuesday from the Tides, Irvin pitched just once since his return to the club and that was in yesterday's 6-5 Orioles win in 10 innings.
He faced two batters in the seventh inning, allowing an inherited run on an RBI single to Alejandro Kirk and he got a popout to the infield from Matt Chapman. He threw just seven pitches.
With Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista having pitched in both games of this series and very likely not available today, the O's are short in the bullpen today and enter Givens to provide a lift.
Orginailly drafted by the Orioles as a high school shortstop out of Tampa, Fla. in the second round in 2009, he was later converted to pitcher. The O's traded him on Aug. 30, 2020 to Colorado in a deal that brought the club Terrin Vavra, Tyler Nevin and a player to be named later that became minor league outfielder Mishael Deson.
The Orioles finish their series in Toronto this afternoon, enjoy an off-day in New York before playing three games at Yankee Stadium, and don’t return home until Friday, when infielder Ramón Urías hopes to be reinstated from the injured list with the Rangers in town.
Scouts will be watching. Never too early to file reports that could spur a trade or at least initiate talks. And the group will grow in the coming months,
A veteran scout who’s familiar with the Orioles said recently that the infield defense without Urías “is not the same.”
Further evidence that Urías’ value can’t be overstated.
Perhaps a silver lining to losing a Gold Glove winner is the regular starts that Gunnar Henderson is receiving at third base.
TORONTO – In a game between two struggling right-handed starting pitchers – one coming off a tremendous 2022 season – of course runs were hard to come by for much of today at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
But a few swings proved big, and Toronto catcher Danny Jansen had one. His line drive solo homer to left in the last of the sixth broke a 2-2 tie and provided Toronto a 3-2 lead that would grow to 5-2.
But the Orioles would get a massive home run of their own. Ryan O'Hearn's three-run blast to right-center in the eighth off closer Jordan Romano tied this game 5-5 on one swing. The Orioles were 1-for-8 in the game with runners in scoring position until O'Hearn connected.
Romano had allowed just one homer in 18 innings this season, and four over 64 innings in 2022.
O'Hearn, who singled in a run in the second, hit a low-middle 2-2 slider 406 feet to tie the game with his second O's homer.
TORONTO – Saying he got to see a “master class” at work last night, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hopes right-hander Grayson Rodriguez can pick up today where Kyle Gibson left off Friday. Gibson held Toronto to one run and five hits over seven innings as the Orioles beat the Blue Jays 6-2 to take the series opener.
Now they can win this series today or tomorrow and take another series from an American League East opponent. The Birds are 7-6 in division games this season and 5-2 in their past seven division games, winning series against Boston and Tampa Bay.
Rodriguez is next up to face a strong Toronto lineup, but in two of his last three starts he has allowed six and eight runs. In between those two was his only career start against an AL East team, and he held Tampa Bay to two runs over 5 2/3 innings. So the Orioles know the talent is in there for the rookie, who, despite a 6.57 ERA for the year, has four starts in which he allowed two runs or fewer.
“Well, he got a master class last night,” Hyde said today when asked about Rodriguez pitching today. “Sure he was paying attention to that. A really tough lineup to pitch to, and Grayson is going to go through this. All the lineups he is facing for the first time. He’s getting to know the league and he’s doing a good job preparing. Seen him prepare a lot these last few days for this start today, and he got a great example last night of a really competitive outing.
“Hoping Grayson works ahead in the count and tries to match what Kyle did yesterday.”
TORONTO - After yet another series-opening victory the Orioles today have a chance to win yet another series if they can beat the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the weekend set.
The Orioles have been hitting more homers lately, and added three more in Friday's 6-2 win as Ryan Mountcastle hit a three-run shot, Anthony Santander a solo and Adam Frazier a two-run home run. The Birds have hit 11 homers in the last five games. With 56 on the year as a team, they rank seventh in the American League in home runs.
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 6.57 ERA) will make his ninth start today, coming off an outing Monday when he allowed nine hits and eight runs in 3 1/3 innings versus the Los Angeles Angels. Over his past three starts, he has an ERA of 11.37, allowing six, two and eight runs. But on a positive note, the Orioles are 6-2 in his starts this year, a better winning percentage than the team's overall win percentage of .644, which is second-best in the major leagues.
The Orioles would be in first place today in five of the six divisions in Major League Baseball.
Right-hander Alek Manoah (1-4, 5.40 ERA) pitches for Toronto. Last season he finished third in the AL Cy Young Award voting, going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA. But this year he has an ERA of 6.59 his past three starts and has allowed 1.800 WHIP with a 1.6 homer rate.
The mailbag record for most repeated topic was shattered this weekend.
Relinquishing the top spot is, “How did you get this job?” Followed closely by, “How do you keep this job?”
Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson are in the majors. Baseball’s back-to-back No. 1 prospects. Top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez also arrived. Future No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday won’t make the jump from High-A, but it isn’t the most outrageous idea.
Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg are the new obsessions.
Why aren’t they here? When will they get here? What’s it going to take to get them here? How many fake reports does it take to get them here?
TORONTO – Ryan Mountcastle likes to hit against Toronto Blue Jays pitching, he likes to hit at Rogers Centre and he likes to hit against Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi.
The Orioles turned that trifecta and a huge outing from right-hander Kyle Gibson into another series-opening win tonight as Mountcastle hit a three-run homer to trigger a 6-2 win over Toronto. It was a big victory for the Orioles (29-16) who began a six-game American League East road trip to Toronto and New York.
The Orioles won for the seventh time in 10 games. Over longer stretches, they have won 20 of 29 and 25 of 36 games. They are now 7-6 in AL East games and 13-2 in series-opening games. They are 8-0 when they open a series on the road.
Mountcastle again tormented Kikuchi. He mashed his three-run homer to center in the third inning, scoring Joey Ortiz, who singled, and Adley Rutschman, who walked. Mountcastle drilled a low and in 1-1 fastball that was thrown 96 mph and hit out at 106, and it went 419 feet for his 10th homer. It was a huge swing early in this game for Mountcastle, who now has 15 homers and 36 RBIs in 43 career games versus Toronto.
Last season, Mountcastle went 4-for-6 against Kikuchi with a double and three homers. That blast tonight made him 5-for-10 in his career against the Toronto lefty. It was Mountcastle’s 70th career big league homer and his sixth in 16 career games at Rogers Centre.
TORONTO – No doubt tonight’s Orioles lineup is matchup-based as the club tonight faces Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi (5-0, 3.89 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series at Toronto. It starts an important six-game road trip for the Orioles against the Blue Jays and Yankees.
In facing Kikuchi, manager Brandon Hyde had definite reasons for putting Cedric Mullins back atop the order, even with a left-on-left matchup, and for inserting Joey Ortiz at third base.
Ortiz has played 30 big league innings at second base and 18 at shortstop, but none at third, where he will play tonight. He has made eight minor league starts at the hot corner: four in 2021, two in 2022 and two this year with Triple-A Norfolk.
“Well, he got a little bit of time there at Norfolk, played there in college, which is way different then playing there (now)," Hyde said. "I love his defense. I think he can play anywhere on the field, honestly, and he feels comfortable over there. Adding a right-handed bat against Kikuchi. And want (Adam) Frazier in there, and it’s kind of where it fit.”
The Orioles hit Kikuchi well last year, when he went 2-3 with an 8.10 ERA against them and allowed seven homers in 16 2/3 innings with an OPS against of 1.078. Cedric Mullins went 2-for-7 with a triple against Kikuchi in 2022, and has a batting average of .298 and a .953 OPS versus southpaws this year.
TORONTO – The Orioles' latest road trip – an all American League East affair – begins tonight at Rogers Centre as the Toronto Blue Jays (25-19) host the Orioles (28-16) to start a three-game series.
The Orioles just split a four-game series with the Los Angles Angels while Toronto was losing three of four to the New York Yankees at home.
Tonight's lineup shows rookie Joey Ortiz making his first MLB start at third base. Ortiz has eight career starts on the farm at third base, two this year for Triple-A Norfolk, two last year and four in the 2021 season.
Tampa Bay (32-13) is leading the division by 3 1/2 games over the Orioles, by 6 1/2 over Toronto and New York and by 7 1/2 over Boston.
The Orioles went 2-8 in Toronto in 2021 and 5-5 last year.
