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TORONTO – After the Orioles got just one run over six innings in losing 4-1 last night to Toronto and lefty Yusei Kikuchi, they face another top starting pitcher today in former Oriole right-hander Kevin Gausman.
After winning Monday and Tuesday, the O’s lost last night and now are 66-42 but once again lead the American League East. They are 1.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay for the eighth straight day after the Rays’ 7-2 loss to the Yankees.
The Orioles lead third-place Toronto by 6.5 games and are nine games ahead of Boston and 10 up on New York.
Even if the Orioles lose today and split this series, this will be the 10th straight AL East series where the O’s won or tied the series and didn't lose it. They went 7-0-2 in the previous nine. They are 23-14 for the year in AL East games and 21-10 in 31 games over these last 10 division series.
Toronto has lost six straight AL East series and needs a win today to avoid losing this one. Toronto (60-49) has won six of its last 10 and 15 of 24 games overall. The Blue Jays are 34-24 (.586) over their past 58 games.
Jack Flaherty makes his Orioles debut this afternoon in Toronto, as the Orioles try to rebound from last night’s 4-1 loss and claim their 21st series.
Flaherty went 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA in five July starts with the Cardinals before Tuesday’s trade. His only career start against the Blue Jays was April 1 in St. Louis, and he tossed five scoreless and hitless innings with seven walks, four strikeouts and a hit batter.
Ryan O’Hearn is in right field today and batting cleanup, with Anthony Santander serving as the designated hitter. Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop, moving up to second in the order behind catcher Adley Rutschman.
Ryan McKenna stays in center field against a right-hander, leaving Colton Cowser on the bench. Jordan Westburg also sits, with Adam Frazier at second base and Ramón Urías at third.
Former Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman is 8-5 with 3.10 ERA and 1.128 WHIP in 21 starts, with 171 strikeouts in 127 2/3 innings. Gausman has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 11 of his last 14 games.
TORONTO – Right-hander Jack Flaherty, who will make his O’s debut today, he has faced the Toronto Blue Jays just once before in his career. And it was this year.
On April 1, no fooling, he pitched five no-run, no-hit innings as St. Louis beat Toronto 4-1. He walked seven, but none scored and fanned four in a 95-pitch outing.
While he is 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA for the year, he is 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA over his last 13 starts and 75 1/3 innings. He had a 6.29 ERA in early May before this stretch began.
What got his season turned around at that point?
“Doing the simple things right,” he said yesterday at Rogers Centre. “I don’t think I was doing that early on. Starting with fastball command. Walks added up. Been able to limit those a lot more and things have gotten a lot better.”
The trade deadline shined a brighter light on the Orioles’ rotation. Jack Flaherty is in it. Very illuminating.
The five starters are confirmed: Flaherty, Kyle Gibson, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer and rookie Grayson Rodriguez. All of them right-handed with Cole Irvin staying in the bullpen.
But how long does the unit remain intact?
While addressing the buildup of bullpen innings that could empty the tanks of relievers like Félix Bautista and Yennier Cano, executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias talked about injured guys getting healthy and how the rotation could factor into it.
“Bringing in an extra starter, you can always spill over into the bullpen to help with those innings, and I think we have several legitimate, accomplished major league starting pitchers, all of whom are having good years right now,” Elias said in his video call.
TORONTO – The Orioles are unbeaten at the Rogers Centre this year, going 5-0 thus far in a ballpark where the 2018 Orioles went 0-10. A win tonight would give Baltimore another series win in the third game of this four-game series between American League East rivals.
The Orioles pulled out a close win on Monday, taking the opener 4-2, and last night they routed the Blue Jays 13-3 while getting six extra-base hits among 16 hits. They scored three runs early and scored 10 from the sixth through the ninth innings.
Gunnar Henderson’s solo homer, No. 18, put the Orioles ahead 4-3 in the sixth, and they poured it on from there. Henderson added a two-run single an inning later, part of a four-RBI game. Anthony Santander was 3-for-4 and his grand slam in the eighth opened an eight-run lead, which grew to 10 on Ryan McKenna’s two-run single off Jordan Hicks in the ninth.
The Orioles are 7-1 this year against Toronto, outscoring them by 27 runs at 53-26. The Orioles have scored 6.63 runs per game in the season series, batting .298 with an .854 OPS against a Toronto pitching staff that ranks fourth in the AL with a 3.84 ERA. O’s pitchers have an ERA of 3.00 in the eight games versus Toronto hitters.
The Orioles have won three straight games, outscoring the Yankees and Blue Jays 26-8.
The Orioles have made the following roster moves:
- Activated RHP Jack Flaherty. He will wear No. 15.
- Optioned RHP Bryan Baker to Triple-A Norfolk.
TORONTO - I don't know what will happen in the final two games of this series. But in the first two we have seen more of what we've seen for most of this 2023 season - the Orioles are pretty great in division games and Toronto is pretty lousy.
With Tuesday's 13-3 blowout - a rare laugher for the Orioles - they are now 23-13 (.639) in AL East games and Toronto is 7-22 (.241).
A team playing at that O's win percentage over a full year would win 103 games and at Toronto's percentage just 39.
But there is more.
The Orioles lost their first two AL East series of the year and Toronto won its first two. So, the Orioles are 21-9 in the division in the last 10 series counting this one and they have not lost a single series in that run.
The Orioles today announced that they have acquired right-handed pitcher JACK FLAHERTY from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for left-handed pitcher DREW ROM, minor league infielder CÉSAR PRIETO, and minor league right-handed pitcher ZACK SHOWALTER.
Flaherty, 27, is 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA (54 ER/109.2 IP),116 hits, 56 total runs, 10 home runs, 54 walks, eight hit batters, and 106 strikeouts in 20 starts for the Cardinals this season. In his last 13 starts since May 9, he is 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA (30 ER/75.1 IP) and 70 strikeouts. Flaherty has spent his entire career with St. Louis after being selected in the first round (No. 34 overall) of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, Calif. Since making his MLB debut in 2017, he has more strikeouts (706) than any other Cardinal while throwing the third-most innings (633.0) during that time. Flaherty has not yet reported.
Rom, 23, has gone 7-6 with a 5.34 ERA (51 ER/86.0 IP) and 100 strikeouts to 46 walks in 19 games (18 starts) for Triple-A Norfolk this season. He was recalled by the Orioles on May 9, but did not appear in a game prior to being optioned to the Tides on May 11. Rom had his contract selected to the 40-man roster on November 15, 2022. He was ranked as the No. 18 Orioles prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Rom was selected by the Orioles in the fourth round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Ky.
Prieto, 24, has slashed .349/.393/.475 (117-for-335) with 20 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 49 runs scored, 49 RBI, 23 walks, and seven stolen bases in 85 games between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk this season. He made his Triple-A debut with the Tides on June 21. He was ranked as the No. 16 prospect in Baltimore’s system, according to MLB Pipeline. A native of Abreus, Cuba, Prieto was signed by the Orioles as an international free agent on January 15, 2022.
Showalter, 19, has gone 0-2 with a 2.37 ERA (8 ER/30.1 IP) with 41 strikeouts to 14 walks in nine games (eight starts) between the Florida Complex League (FCL) Orioles and Single-A Delmarva this season. A native of Tampa, Fla., Showalter was selected by the Orioles in the 11th round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Wesley Chapel High School in Wesley Chapel, Fla.
TORONTO – As the Orioles look for another American League East win tonight, they will face Toronto left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is making his season debut and pitching in the majors for the first time since June 1, 2022.
In that game he gave up three runs over four innings versus the Chicago White Sox, and later that month needed Tommy John surgery. He pitched just 27 innings last year, going 2-0 with a 5.67 ERA in six games before his surgery.
He makes his return tonight and the Blue Jays say they will temporarily go with a six-man rotation to give their other starters an extra day's rest.
Ryu pitched in four minor league rehab games, two at Triple-A, and allowed an ERA of 2.00. In 18 innings he allowed 13 hits with one walk, 16 strikeouts and 0.778 WHIP.
Over the weekend he pitched a final bullpen session as a tune-up for tonight.
TORONTO – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said the immediate plan for right-hander Tyler Wells, who was optioned to Double-A Bowie after Saturday night’s game, is still being formulated. But Wells will spend some time at the team's pitching lab in Bel Air in Harford County.
"It's still being mapped out," said Hyde. "He's going to go to our lab. The main thing is a little bit of rest. Get him backed off and allow the body a chance to recuperate. Give him a breather and not throw as much. Go to the lab, maybe work on some mechanical things. And then kind of slowly get him back to where we want him to be. But it's mainly about giving him more of a reset, and hopefully he can be a big part of our pitching the staff the last month, month and a half of the season."
As we got to the All-Star break Wells had an ERA of 3.18, and it was 2.83 in his last eight starts leading up to the break.
But over his past three starts his ERA is 11.00 over nine innings and he's allowed 2.11 WHIP. He has given up four homers and nine walks while getting eight strikeouts. Opponents have hit .278 with a 1.069 OPS.
Ryan Mountcastle drove in three runs last night with a two-run double and a sac fly. Mountcastle is a career .313/.371/.625/.996 hitter in 46 games versus Toronto, with 15 homers and 39 RBIs.
The Orioles have made the following roster move:
- Acquired minor league RHP Logan Rinehart from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for RHP Eduard Bazardo.
TORONTO - After he threw yet another quality start for the Orioles last night - as they beat Toronto in the series opener - right-hander Kyle Gibson discussed today's trade deadline.
He told reporters if nothing big happens today, he is fine with it. He loves the current group in the Orioles' clubhouse and sees enough talent there right now to keep winning.
“In 2018 we (the Twins) traded away eight players at the deadline," he said. "Never seen that many traded away. And at the time, we might have been three games out of the wild card. There are teams that absolutely need to play well around the deadline, but I don’t think this is one of those teams. I think we just want to play well to keep going in the right direction.”
He said it's important that players have been able to block out any deadline distractions this year.
“Very important. It’s easy to look around and see moves and get anxious, get antsy. Wait to see where the dominoes will fall for us. Do we have needs? Sure. Are there players that could make our team better? Sure. But I think we have a really darn good team and if we don’t make this massive splash, I think this team is really good. I think the Fuji trade (adding Shintaro Fujinami) is really big for us. The flexibility he adds in the bullpen is huge.
TORONTO – When the Orioles played in Toronto in May, they swept a three-game series at Rogers Centre. It was their first sweep at the place since April 22-24, 2005. They returned tonight to find out if they could win again at a ballpark where O’s wins over many years were scarce.
The Orioles were also looking to build on their series win over the weekend against the Yankees and see if they could take another American League East series. Since mid-April, they are 7-0-2 in nine series within the division.
And they got a nice headstart on winning another tonight with early offense and a Gunnar Henderson longball to lead 4-0. They beat Toronto 4-2 to improve to 65-51 with their eighth win in 12 games and 16th in the past 22 contests.
The Orioles remain leading the AL East by 1 1/2 games over the Rays, who won against the Yankees.
The Orioles are 24-11 in series-opening games and 14-4 in road series openers.
TORONTO – The Rogers Centre used to be a place where the Orioles came to often lose. But the 2023 Orioles are different. They came here in May and swept three from the Blue Jays by scores of 6-2, 6-5 in 10 innings and 8-3 in 11 innings.
It was a stunning result when you consider the O’s had not swept three at Toronto since April 22-24, 2005. They had not swept an American League East series since taking three from the Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 2-4, 2021.
In the 2018 season, the Orioles went 0-10 in Toronto.
As the teams begin a new four-game series tonight in Toronto, it’s a big series with the Blue Jays playing better baseball and hoping to still make a run for the top spot in the division. This is their chance to gain on the Orioles.
The Blue Jays (59-47) lost in 10 innings 3-2 to the Angels on Sunday, but they are 5-2 their past seven games and 14-7 over the last 21 games. In their past 55 games, Toronto is 33-22 and playing .600 ball.
TORONTO – Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami entered in the sixth inning last night and pitched two scoreless in the Orioles' win over the Yankees. His fastball again touched 100 mph and his splitter got swings and misses at 93 mph.
That is three straight scoreless with the Orioles for Fujinami, who will continue to get action in high-leverage spots.
“The way he is throwing the ball the last few times, it’s going to be in big spots,” manager Brandon Hyde said today in advance of the series opener at Toronto. “He’s got incredible stuff. A fantastic arm. He showed it again last night with two really good innings. If he can be kind of that bridge guy to Félix (Bautista) it would be fantastic. But his last few appearances, he’s shown great stuff and we’re excited about him.”
The 29-year-old Fujinami was scored on in his first two Baltimore appearances. But his last three have produced 4 1/3 scoreless innings on one hit with seven strikeouts and a .330 OPS against. Last night he got four whiffs on six swings against his splitter.
Would Hyde consider extending him to three innings in some games?
The Orioles begin a four-game series in Toronto tonight with Adley Rutschman settled in as the leadoff hitter and Gunnar Henderson behind him.
Rutschman has reached base six times in two games, including three singles and a walk last night.
Colton Cowser is in center field, flanked by Austin hays in left and Anthony Santander in right.
Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter. He’s a career .306/.368/.613 hitter with 15 home runs in 45 games against the Blue Jays.
Kyle Gibson is 9-6 with a 4.68 ERA and 1.323 WHIP in 22 games, and the one starter who isn’t an innings concern to the Orioles. He’s totaled 127 this season, with his career high 196 2/3 in 2018.
It does confound some analysts. The Orioles, while ranking 10th in MLB in run differential, are second in the sport in winning percentage.
Just how are they doing that?
Winning a lot of close games is how.
Ironically, when the Orioles returned to the playoffs in 2012 after a 14-year drought, they won a lot of close games. That team had a plus seven run differential for the year but won 93 games. Yep, 93 while barely outscoring the opponents for the year.
O’s second baseman Adam Frazier isn’t too worried about the run differential totals as much as the win total.
The Orioles and New York Yankees will play tonight to wrap up this series and their 2023 season series. The clubs will not meet again this year after tonight.
The Orioles blanked New York 1-0 Friday night on Anthony Santander’s walk-off home run in the last of the ninth. New York won 8-3 last night as right-hander Tyler Wells allowed three runs over 2 2/3 innings in his third straight ineffective outing. Ryan Mountcastle hit a solo homer Saturday night, his 13th.
The Orioles (63-41) have lost three of four games and are 6-6 over their past 12 games. They are 31-21 at home and 15-9 in July. They are about to close out their fourth straight winning month of the season, fifth if you count going 1-0 in March.
The Orioles need a win tonight to keep an impressive streak going. They have not lost an American League East series since April 9, when they started 0-2 in division series. Since then they are 6-0-2, with the winner of this series to be determined by tonight’s game.
The last time the Orioles had a streak longer than eight consecutive non-losing division series was 11 in a row from Aug. 1-Sept. 30, 2012. This run has seen the Orioles winning series versus Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto, New York and Toronto. They then split series at Tampa Bay and New York before going 3-1 against the Rays last weekend.
The Orioles have made the following roster moves:
- Selected the contract of RHP Joey Krehbiel from Triple-A Norfolk. He will wear No. 52.
- Optioned RHP Tyler Wells to Double-A Bowie after yesterday’s game.
- Designated RHP Eduard Bazardo for assignment.
The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.
The trade deadline is fast approaching. It is Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET and we are getting real close now.
The deadline has seemed to not be a big topic in the O’s clubhouse this year, and one reason may be the team’s desire to be buyers this time and not sellers.
O’s executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Friday he is not looking to trade from the current 26-man roster, but he could not rule it out. Still, an O’s deal or deals, barring a surprise, would be one where the club deals a prospect or more for current major league talent.
Asked again Saturday about the deadline and whether it impacts his club, manager Brandon Hyde indicated it really does not and has not.
“The trade deadline is there and everyone knows that date," he said. "But we are focused on the Yankees and their good pitching staff, and they’ve always been a tough team. … I don’t think any of our guys are thinking about the trade deadline right now. Think they are worrying about winning this series."
