BOSTON – The Orioles play their final game at Fenway Park today with Gunnar Henderson at third base and Kyle Stowers in left field.

Ryan Mountcastle, who struck out four times last night as the designated hitter, is playing first base.

Cedric Mullins is in center field and Austin Hays is in right. Anthony Santander is the designated hitter.

Terrin Vavra goes to the bench, with Rougned Odor playing second base.

Mike Baumann stays in the rotation and makes his third major league start. He went four innings and threw 58 pitches while allowing two runs against the Astros.

BOSTON – Busting through the tape at the finish line is how the Orioles imagined it, the momentum carrying them into the playoffs under the best-case scenario. That’s what they’re trying to do with tired legs.

The last few weeks of the season must feel like ankle weights.

Manager Brandon Hyde sat Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman tonight against veteran left-hander Rich Hill, conceding how badly they needed a rest, especially with marathon games played in succession. Dean Kremer made tonight’s start on his normal turn after throwing 106 pitches in a complete-game shutout.

The dog days bark the loudest. But the Orioles have tuned out the noise all season and will continue to do so to the best of their ability.

Hill, who turns 43 in March, tossed six scoreless innings, and the Orioles lost again, 3-1, at Fenway Park, with a split the best they can do while trying to shove past 80 victories.

The Orioles have scored 23 runs on 29 hits the last two nights at Fenway Park, but they have split the two games. They won 14-8 on Monday and lost 13-9 last night.

The Orioles pitching, which recently had a three-game stretch versus Detroit and Houston where it allowed one run over three games, has now yielded 38 runs over the past four games.

The Orioles bullpen pitched just one-third of an inning during that three-game stretch, but has now given up 21 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings the past four games.

But the Baltimore offense has picked it up a bit lately. The Orioles have scored, as mentioned 23 runs this series, 42 runs the last five games and 52 in the past seven.

In this series, the Orioles have hit four doubles, five triples and nine homers while going 10-for-26 with runners in scoring position.

BOSTON – Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias has described it as “about as meteoric of a season as you’ll see.” The rise of now 21-year-old Gunnar Henderson from Baseball America’s No. 57 overall prospect to No. 1 as the summer months crept toward fall. From minor league stud to major league contributor in a wild card chase.

Henderson keeps leaving an impression on every field and at every level, and Baseball America rewarded him today with his selection as its Minor League Player of the Year.

The youngest position player to make his Orioles debut since Manny Machado in 2012 and the youngest to debut in the majors this season, Henderson hit a combined .297/.416/.531 with 24 doubles, seven triples, 19 home runs and 76 RBIs in 112 games between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk – drawing 41 walks and striking out 38 times with the Baysox.

“It’s just a great honor and I can’t thank God enough for blessing me with the ability to be in this situation and to bless me with these awards that come with this stuff,” Henderson said this afternoon.

“Looking forward to keeping it going after this.”

BOSTON – The regular season is down to eight games for the Orioles, and they’re still 3 ½ behind the Mariners for the last wild card.

It’s more like 4 ½ because Seattle owns the tiebreaker.

The Orioles made a flurry of roster moves. They placed infielder Ramón Urías on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain, which ends his season, optioned relievers Joey Krehbiel and Jake Reed to Triple-A Norfolk, and recalled infielder Tyler Nevin, left-hander Keegan Akin and right-hander Beau Sulser.

Akin is replacing Urías, which enables him to be recalled this early after the Orioles optioned him on Monday.

Nevin is starting at third base tonight.

Before rookie Kyle Stowers could step inside the famed Green Monster yesterday, he first had to stand in front of it and try to track fly balls.

He did it in batting practice Monday afternoon and later during the game, the grass soaked beneath his feet from a storm that sent the teams indoors after the second inning.

Stowers got his first experience playing left field in Boston, where legends have roamed and others have been flummoxed. The distance from home plate, the narrow strip of dirt that constitutes foul territory, and the areas on the wall that create unusual caroms.

Spring training was the closest that Stowers came to simulating the Boston experience, but he played right field at JetBlue Park, also known as “Fenway South.” Doesn't count except for what he saw.

“I never played left in any of the mock ballparks,” he said. “The closest thing I can say that I’ve done is in Durham. I don’t think it’s quite as high, but same style of wall. There’s definitely a little more strategy with how you play defensively. I was just trying to get as comfortable as I could in warmups, and felt like there were some moments I did a good job of playing left, and some moments that probably could have been a little better.”

After he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Sunday against Houston, O’s rookie Gunnar Henderson saw his average drop to .276. At that point he was 0-for-13 with seven strikeouts his previous four games and 4-for-29 with 11 strikeouts his previous eight.

Reason to worry? Nope.

Henderson, still just 21, began the game Monday at Boston by drawing a walk. Then he walked again. Then he walked again. Three walks in the first five innings. Then he mashed a baseball out to center in the sixth. A two-run homer that he hit 111 mph and it went 428 feet. A mammoth blast.

What slump?

Henderson continues to show he belongs in the majors and that he has smarts and poise and composure beyond his years. When he made his MLB debut Aug. 31, he became the youngest player to make his debut for the Orioles (21 years-063 days) since Dylan Bundy (19-313) on Sept. 23, 2012 and youngest position player since Manny Machado (20-034) on Aug. 9, 2012.

Their regular season is now down to single digits – nine games remaining over the next nine days – as the Orioles return to Fenway Park tonight for Game 2 of a four-game series and seven-game road trip.

The trip got off to a great start last night, even though they had to put up with a 100-minute rain delay. The O’s mashed five homers in beating Boston 14-8. They never trailed in the game and took a 4-0 lead in the second. But Boston pulled within 6-5 in the fourth inning. The O’s then pulled away, scoring seven runs their next three at-bats. They scored in seven of their nine at-bats during the night.

The Orioles are now 6-0 when hitting five homers this year:

* Aug. 5 vs. Minnesota, win 5-3
* June 7 vs. Cubs, win 9-3
* June 27 at Seattle, win 9-2
* Aug. 19 vs. Boston, win 15-10
* Sept. 3 vs. Oakland, win 8-1
* Sept. 26 at Boston, win 14-8

Anthony Santander, who recently went through a stretch of 13 straight games without a homer or RBI, now has hit two homers in two of the last three games. He has 31 on the year, four over the past three games and 10 in his last 29 contests.

The Orioles and Medstar Health have teamed up to unveil a state-of-the-art pitching lab in Bel Air, Md. The pitching lab was created to provide a holistic approach to pitching mechanics and serve as an evaluation destination for Orioles pitchers at every level, as well as players of all ages in the Maryland community.

The new facility will feature a pitching tunnel that is outfitted with the best technology in the game and will primarily be used to determine potential injury risks, sharpen pitching techniques, and improve pitching efficiency. Biomechanic specialists will work to create customized programs for each player based on advanced technology, analytics, and expert evaluation. Combining science, medicine, and analytics, the Orioles will rely on medical professionals from MedStar Health to be a part of the comprehensive experience and an added layer of connection to the many tools and resources available for the highest level of competitors in professional baseball.

BOSTON – The Orioles had some lineup intrigue yesterday, withholding it much later than usual to ascertain the health of a couple players. They also announced an unrelated roster move less than an hour before first pitch.

Can’t rush the process.

Reliever Keegan Akin was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk one day after facing a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 11^th inning against the Astros and surrendering four runs.  

The club provided some context, passing along that the Orioles needed a fresh arm and plucked Logan Gillaspie from the taxi squad, and it was a tactical maneuver based on certain matchups down the road.

Akin’s performance didn’t influence the decision, though there’s been a noticeable decline.

The top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball made his latest outing last night and right-hander Grayson Rodriguez threw well for Triple-A Norfolk at home in a no-decision versus Jacksonville.

Will his next start be with the Orioles?

A lot of fans would be excited to see that. Whether the Orioles are in or out of the playoff race with a few games to go, it would be a sight to see, the No. 4 ranked prospect in baseball joining the big club and no doubt there would be Adley Rutschman at the plate to catch him.

With just two games left in the Norfolk season, Rodriguez will end his Triple-A campaign, going 6-1 with a 2.20 ERA over 14 starts. In 69 2/3 innings this season at Triple-A he allowed 44 hits and just two homers with 21 walks and 97 strikeouts.

Last night versus Jacksonville, he went five innings allowing three hits and one run (on his second homer allowed) with three walks and six strikeouts, throwing 89 pitches.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Recalled RHP Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Optioned LHP Keegan Akin to Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles begin the final road trip of the season tonight, starting a seven-game trip to Boston and New York with the opener of a four-game series at Fenway Park. The Orioles have had two straight losing homestands at Camden Yards going, 4-6 from Sept. 2-11 and going 3-4 in the homestand versus Detroit and Houston that ended on Sunday afternoon. Two of their three losses during the homestand were by one run, and another game went extra innings.

The Orioles (79-73) have 10 games left and need to go 3-7 or better to secure their first winning season since going 89-73 in 2016.

The Birds are 11-12 in September with five games left in the month and would need to go 4-1 or 5-0 to clinch their fourth consecutive winning month after going 17-10 in August, 16-9 in July, and 14-12 in June. The last time the Orioles had four consecutive winning months in a season was June (16-12), July (17-8), August (19-9) and September (17-10) 2014.

The Orioles have gone 30-36 (.455) this season versus American League East opponents. In 2021 they went 20-56 (.263) in division games. They won just three series last year against AL East clubs, going 3-19-2. This season they are 9-11-1 in AL East series.

The Orioles are 8-7 versus Boston, 8-8 against Toronto, 9-10 versus Tampa Bay and 5-11 against the New York Yankees.

You are not going to find his name on many American League pitching stat leaders – although he has given up about as many hits as anyone in the AL this year – yet right-hander Jordan Lyles has meant a ton to the Orioles this year. Just ask his teammates and those he has mentored this year in the Baltimore starting rotation.

A starting rotation with a lot of youthful potential that is starting to show their stuff with his support and leadership along the way.

Lyles is 11-11 with a 4.50 ERA heading into tonight’s start in Boston. But stats and being a so-called “innings eater” don’t begin to tell the full story of his impact on the 2022 Orioles.

“He is invaluable in so many ways,” right-hander Tyler Wells said Sunday. “You can’t really put a price on what he has done for us as a starting staff, as a team, and as a mentor for a lot of us. He really teaches us what it’s like to be a starter and how he has made a 10-year career into what he has. All based on certain principles – like going deep into games and giving your team a chance to win every single time.

“As us young guys continue to develop, our mindsets, our development and pitching strategies we are getting are based off of learning from a guy that has had a very successful career.”

Félix Bautista might not have hit the proverbial wall this month, but the energy to go around or scale it is running low.

He isn’t alone, of course. The grind of a full season is harshest on the ones who haven’t experienced it, and he’s got some company inside the Orioles’ clubhouse.

Bautista is a rookie. Don’t let his age and size fool you. And he admitted after Saturday night’s loss, when he was charged with four runs in 1 1/3 innings and blew his first save since the Jorge López trade, that he felt “a little bit tired.”

“But I have no doubt,” he added, “I can finish the season off strong.”

Who really knows? It’s the proper mindset with nothing to fall back on that ensures it.

How would the Orioles respond to last night’s crushing defeat?

By reliving it in a different form this afternoon.

By getting a solid start from Austin Voth and practically no offense for seven innings. By carrying the game past regulation with some late dramatics.

And it rained.

The game was halted after the bottom of the sixth inning with Astros starter Cristian Javier facing the minimum number of batters and permitting just one baserunner. Javier, at 76 pitches, didn’t return after a 46-minute delay.

After their gut-punch loss on Saturday night, it’s a quick turnaround for the Orioles today as they try to erase that memory and win this afternoon to take the series from the now 100-win Houston Astros.

When Anthony Santander hit his second homer of the game – a two-run shot in the last of the eighth – the Orioles had taken a 9-7 lead. But that lead would not hold. Houston’s four-run ninth led the Astros to an 11-10 win. Houston improved to 100-53 by winning for the fifth time in seven games, 11^th in 14 and 19^th time in the past 25 games.

Houston has become the first club in American League history to reach 100 wins four times in the span of five full seasons, per Elias Sports Bureau. And Dusty Baker is one of four managers in MLB history to win 100 games with a team in both leagues (also: Sparky Anderson, Whitey Herzog and Tony LaRussa). Their 100 wins ties a franchise record for most wins in the first 153 games of a season (also: 2019). Houston recorded its 28th comeback win and this marked their third game of the season surrendering 10-or-more runs (last: 5/14 at WSH, 13).

The Orioles (79-72) now have 11 games remaining. They lost ground Saturday to both Seattle and Toronto in the wild card race. They are four games behind Seattle, 4 1/2 back of Tampa Bay and 5 1/2 behind Toronto, which holds the first AL wild card today.

The Orioles had their streak of 22 scoreless innings pitched snapped with Jose Altuve’s two-run home run in the third inning. Baltimore scored five runs in the fourth inning, their 11th time scoring at least five in an inning this season. They fell to 58-2 when leading after six innings and are now 21-24 in one-run games. The O’s 17 hits is their most in a loss since Aug. 10, 2018 versus Boston, when they also had 17. Six different O’s tallied multi-hit games, the second-most in a game this year (8/19 vs. Boston, 7).

Tyler Wells is coming to grips with the idea that his first season as a starting pitcher is over, that he can’t offer more support for a final playoff push beyond encouraging teammates.

It isn’t easy.

The Orioles placed Wells on the 15-day injured list last week with right shoulder inflammation. He’s eligible to return on Oct. 5 for the final game of the season, but he won’t pitch again until spring training.

“It was a little sore after my last start, and then throwing in the bullpen it was still sore, so that’s when I mentioned it to the pitching coaches and all them,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s extremely disappointing. Honestly, I’m kind of heartbroken about it, given the fact that we’re chasing a wild card spot and I want to be able to contribute and continue to help the team. But obviously it just wasn’t in the books this year.”

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has seen his club bounce back from hard losses to keep its season moving forward. The next challenge comes this afternoon.

It won’t be easy following last night’s 11-10 loss to the Astros, who are trying to salvage a split of the four-game series.

The defeat pushed the Orioles four games behind the Mariners for the last wild card. The tie-breaker belongs to Seattle, which scored in the ninth inning last night to beat the Royals.

Eleven games remain and the Orioles still need two wins to assure a no-losing season.

The left-handed lineup turns with Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Stowers and Terrin Vavra. Adley Rutschman is catching.