Start spreading the news – the Orioles scored eight runs in the seventh inning to stun the Yankees in the Bronx. The night before they had a 4-0 lead and lost. On this night they trailed by four in the seventh and won.

The eight-run inning was their most in any inning this year, topping the seven in the seventh on May 5 at Atlanta. It is their most in an inning since scoring nine in the eighth inning on Sept, 8, 2021 versus Kansas City. And this was their most runs in any inning in a road game since scoring nine in the seventh inning on April 4, 2016, at Texas.

According to Elias, the Sports Bureau, not the executive vice president, this was tied for the most runs scored in a single inning at the current or original Yankee Stadium in Baltimore team history. They also got eight in the third inning on June 5, 1989.

At 32-17, the Orioles remain three games behind Tampa Bay for the AL East lead, but they also moved back to three games ahead of the Yankees for second in the division.

The Orioles are now 4-12 when trailing after six innings.

A New York Yankees team that is playing good baseball right now produced a come-from-behind win last night, beating the Orioles 6-5 in 10 innings in the series opener at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles are now 13-3 in series-opening games. They actually did not lose either of the first two series where they lost the first game. Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 3-0 May 8 in Baltimore in the series opener, but the Orioles took the series, winning the next two games. They also lost the opener 9-5 on May 15 to the Los Angeles Angeles, but won the next two games of that set and split a four-game series.

The Yankees (30-20) have won seven of their last eight games, nine of their last 11 games and 12 of the last 15 games. Tuesday’s victory marked their fourth walk-off win this season (also 4/19 vs. Los Angeles-AL, 4/22 vs. Toronto and 5/3 vs. Cleveland). They improved to 4-2 in extra-inning games, and each of their last three wins have been come-from-behind wins.

They have won a season-high five straight games to mark their longest winning streak since a seven-game run from Sept. 18-25, 2022. New York is a season-high 10 games over .500. And, at 15-5 (.750) over their last 20 games (since 5/2), the Yankees hold the best record in the majors in that span.

The Orioles (31-17) remain three games behind Tampa Bay for first-place in the American League East. Overall, they have won three of their past four, five of seven, nine of 13, 14 of 22 and 22 of the last 32 games. They are 16-9 on the road and 9-7 in games within the AL East.

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.

The third straight extra-innings game was not the charm for the Orioles. And on a night when they pitched Aaron Judge well and he was 0-for-3, right-handed closer Félix Bautista made one poor pitch in the last of the ninth.

Two outs from another impressive win, the Orioles did not get them, losing 6-5 in 10 innings to the Yankees. This time there was no extra innings magic.

This created some frustration around Birdland no doubt as O's fans like to beat the Yankees just about as much as any club and nothing is more frustrating than seeing Judge homer against Baltimore.

The homer in the ninth was his 14th of this season and his eighth in the past nine games. It was his 38th in 91 career games versus O's pitching.

They could have just walked him, right?

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.

The Orioles have won three straight American League East series, going 7-2 against Boston, Tampa Bay and Toronto. That mark will get challenged tonight as they open a three-game series in the Bronx against the New York Yankees. New York has been playing well lately, and has the best record in the majors since May 2.

The Yankees start right-hander Gerrit Cole (5-0, 2.01 ERA) tonight with lefty Nestor Cortes (4-2, 5.21) on tap tomorrow, so a real challenge is at hand for the surging Orioles.

But the Birds (31-16), who are three games behind Tampa Bay for both the best record in the majors and for first in the AL East, are coming off their impressive three-game sweep of Toronto. Playing in a ballpark where they went 0-10 in 2018, they swept that three-game series, outscoring the Blue Jays 20-10 over 30 innings of baseball in downtown Toronto.

On the year, the Orioles have the second-best record when AL East teams play each other:

.611 – Tampa Bay (11-7)

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.

It is a question that is hard to answer: What makes the 2023 Orioles so good in series-opening games?

As they get ready for their latest series-opener tonight – against the New York Yankees in the Bronx – the O’s are 13-2 in series opening games this season, tied for the best mark in the majors and they are 8-0 in such games on the road. The latest win was by 6-2 Friday at Toronto, and you can’t sweep a series without getting the first one and they did. Yet again.

According to Stats Perform, the team tied with the Orioles for best series-opening record won't shock you - the Rays. (Through Sunday's games)

Orioles, 13-2 (.867)
Tampa Bay, 13-2 (.867)
Atlanta, 12-3 (.800)
Chicago Cubs, 10-5 (.667)
Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-5 (.667)

O’s manager Brandon Hyde provided this answer over the weekend about the club’s success in series openers.

TORONTO – It was not that long ago, during the 2018 season, that the Orioles went 0-10 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Things have changed in Birdland and this trip in produced a three-game sweep over 30 innings of baseball by a 20-10 score.

The Blue Jays (25-22) are now six games behind the Orioles in the standings, look very beatable and are suddenly a last-place team. But the Orioles did some things to make them look that way and Toronto is now 1-10 in its last 11 AL East games.

The Orioles are heading in a different direction. Since they lost two of three at Atlanta, the Birds are 9-4 with four straight series wins. Counting the Atlanta series they are 10-6 (.625) in this stretch against winning clubs that continues tomorrow in the Bronx. A team playing .625 ball over the full year would win 101 games.

No longer can anyone say the O’s have built their record against a weak schedule. The questions about “are the Orioles for real” are beginning to be replaced by “how good can these guys be?”

To build a roster that can win like this the Orioles have plenty of strengths and this weekend their bench looked like it qualifies as one. Ryan O’Hearn produced the massive three-run homer Saturday and Terrin Vavra’s pinch-hit two-run single helped key their five-run 11^th inning on Sunday.

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 30^th win until Game 68 last year on June 19 when the club was 30-38.

TORONTO – Perhaps it is fitting that on the one-year anniversary of catcher Adley Rutschman's arrival in the majors, the Orioles have a chance to sweep the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The day they selected him No. 1 overall in the 2019 MLB Draft - Mike Elias' first O's draft pick - greatness was predicted. Pretty much expected. 

Rutschman has delivered a lot to this team and its fanbase and is one of many big reasons teams like Toronto now realize this is not close to those 115-loss Orioles anymore. 

On May 21, 2022 he was called up by the Orioles and played in his first major league game. Since that day, the O's, already trending up as a team when he got there, have trended up even more.

They are a winning team, a contending team and a team that has the second-best record in all of MLB. Not bad for a club which did in fact lose 115 in 2018 and 110 in 2021.

City Connect merch will be available exclusively at the Orioles Team Store at Oriole Park on Monday, May 22. Join us for the opportunity to purchase from the complete line of Orioles City Connect gear. It's the fastest way to get your merch including jerseys, caps, hoodies, t-shirts and more. Plus, enjoy exclusive fan photo ops, ballpark food options at SuperBook Bar & Restaurant and Boog's BBQ, and more.

• Date: Monday, May 22
• Location: Orioles Team Store
• Time: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
• Free Parking: Lots C
• Entrance: Gate A Eutaw Street Entrance

TORONTO – When the Toronto Blue Jays lost to the New York Yankees 4-2 on Thursday, they had dropped three of four games in that series and it was their first home series loss of the year. They were 5-0 in home series until playing New York. After Friday’s loss to the Orioles, should Baltimore win one of the next two this weekend, the Blue Jays will have another home series loss.

In addition to that, Toronto swept the Atlanta Braves last weekend and Pittsburgh the weekend before that. Toronto has won each of its last 10 series that began on a Friday, dating to last September. That is the longest such streak in team history, surpassing nine straight weekend series wins from August 2021 to May 2022.

But behind Kyle Gibson’s strong seven-inning outing and homers from Ryan Mountcastle, Anthony Santander and Adam Frazier, the Orioles beat Toronto 6-2 last night to win another series-opening game.

The Birds are now 13-2 in series openers, including an 8-0 mark in road openers.

The Orioles went 9-10 against Toronto last year and 5-5 at Rogers Centre. They have lost the season series every year since 2018 to Toronto, going 30-57 in that span.

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 – They recently took two of three at home against the Tampa Bay Rays. And Friday as the Orioles started their first stretch of the year playing AL East opponents in back-to-back series, they got off to a winning start thanks to a pitcher that enjoys being a tone setter.

Right-hander Kyle Gibson, at 35 the oldest player on the club, has said he enjoys the challenge of pitching series-opening games. He has now done this five times this season and the Orioles are 4-1 in those games and they were shut out the only time they didn’t win.

But what a tone that was set last night. Gibson went seven innings at Rogers Centre allowing one run as the Orioles won 6-2 to improve to 13-2 in series openers and 8-0 in such games on the road.

Said manager Brandon Hyde: “Gibson definitely pitched like an ace tonight, there’s no doubt. This is such a tough environment to pitch in. A really good hitter’s ballpark against a powerhouse offensive team. For Kyle to go seven innings against them in their home ballpark, that is next level.”

The Orioles pitching has been stepping up the last few weeks against some good teams with a staff ERA of 3.04 the past 14 games and a rotation ERA of 3.29 in that span, allowing three runs or less nine times. The Orioles now have 13 quality starts and have gone 12-1 in those games.

TORONTO – The Orioles have played just one of their past six series against an American League East team, but starting tonight, for the first time this year they will play back-to-back series against division opponents. Tonight they play the first of a weekend series in Toronto at Rogers Centre. They'll then head to New York for a series next week at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles (28-16) are 3 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay for first in the AL East. They just completed a 6-4 homestand with Thursday’s 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. The Orioles went 2-1 versus Tampa Bay, 2-1 against Pittsburgh and 2-2 versus the Angels during the homestand. They are now 9-7 in May and 10-3-1 in 14 series for the year.

The Orioles went 6-4 on their last road trip, which took them to Detroit, Kansas City and Atlanta. They are 13-8 on the road for the season and are 5-2 in road series. The Orioles are 12-2 in 2023 in series-opening games, going 7-0 in road series openers.

Serving as the designated hitter on Thursday, Adley Rutschman launched his seventh homer of the season with a 424-foot blast in the seventh inning to give the O’s a 5-4 lead. It marked his second career go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later, joining a solo walk-off homer on April 13 vs. Oakland. Rutschman has hit safely in eight straight starts since May 9, slashing .357/.471/.750 (10-for-28) in those games.

O’s right fielder Anthony Santander tied the game at three with a two-run blast in the fifth inning, his seventh longball of the year. He has homered six times in his last 19 games after homering just once in his first 22. Santander is batting .339/.406/.645 (21-for-62) in May and has hit safely in 13 of 16 games, compared to .213/.280/.362 (20-for-94) in March/April.

The Orioles are continuing March and April’s hit parade this May with a smattering of taters up and down the lineup, and the slugging performances have kept Mr. Splash busy at Camden Yards. But as the fans were cooling down in the Bird Bath Splash Zone, the excitement was also heating up for the Orioles’ 50th home run of the season, all due to the Maryland Lottery’s Home Run Riches Contestant of the Game Promotion. 

When would it happen? Who would hit it? And who would be the Lottery’s Contestant of the Game at the time? Those questions have been on the minds of Orioles fans and Lottery players alike with each Orioles home run because when the team’s 50th homer was hit, someone was going to win a $50,000 prize!

The answers to these questions came on May 16 during the second game of the Orioles’ series against the Los Angeles Angels when two Ryans — O’Hearn and Mountcastle — went yard, hitting the 50 home run mark and winning Shady Side, Md. resident Barbara Phelps Anderson a total of $51,500!

In the 2023 campaign, the Birds have hit 53 HRs, winning the Lottery’s Home Run Riches Contestants of the Game $98,500. Contestants of the Game are drawn monthly, and the winners for the 24 games in June will be selected on May 23. The deadline to be part of that drawing is 11:59 p.m. on May 22.

The Maryland Lottery selects a Contestant of the Game for each of the Orioles’ 162 regular season games. Each winner receives $500 for being picked and is designated as the Contestant of the Game for an upcoming Orioles matchup. They’ll also win an additional $500 for each home run the Orioles hit during their designated game. 

He was never ranked as the No. 1 pitching prospect in all of minor league baseball, but he was a top 100 prospect for several years coming up through the Minnesota Twins' farm system. And right-hander Kyle Gibson, a first-round draft pick in 2009 and the oldest member of the Baltimore clubhouse at 35, provided a strong endorsement this week for his rotation mate, Grayson Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, 23, currently is the No. 1 pitching prospect and ranked No. 4 overall in the top 100 by Baseball America and No. 6 by MLBPipeline.com.

But in his most recent outing Monday against the Los Angeles Angels, he gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings. He is 2-1 with a 6.57 ERA on the year, allowing an opponent OPS of .923. At times opponents have hit his fastball hard.

But Gibson, known to be a great and supportive teammate, will let you know he sees big things ahead for Rodriguez. He said that while the right-hander looks for most consistency with his pitches, another thing he needs to do right now is block out the outside noise. Maybe easy to say and harder to do since Gibson is aware some fans are questioning whether Rodriguez is all he was said to be as a top prospect.

Not an easy place to be for a young pitcher who awaits a start tomorrow afternoon in Toronto against a quality lineup.