Some days in baseball you just have to tip your hat to your opponent and move on to the next. You don’t want to, but that’s the best play.

So it is for the Orioles who lost a chance at a season-ending tiebreaker edge against Tampa Bay with Sunday’s 4-1 loss. Thanks to Jorge Mateo’s double to leadoff the ninth inning, they were not on the wrong side of a perfect game and were not no-hit or shutout. But their lineup did get dominated in losing the season series 10-9.

It was still a great improvement from the 1-18 record versus Tampa Bay of a year ago, but if these teams tie for any playoff spot, Tampa Bay now holds the tiebreaking edge. The O’s had a chance for their first season series win over the Rays since 2016 and also their first series win at Tropicana Field since June 23-25, 2017.

But Drew Rasmussen buzzed through their lineup on just 28 pitches through three innings, 44 through five and 79 through eight. They were not taking many pitches but if they had they just might have found themselves down 0-1 and/or 0-2 in the count against a pitcher on a roll.

Rasmussen had pitched to an ERA of 2.16 his previous seven starts and of 2.01 in eight home starts and looked every bit that pitcher and then some on Sunday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – DL Hall confirmed what the Orioles already knew but had a chance to see with their own eyes.

His final line didn’t factor into it. Wasn't important in the grand scheme.

Hall is the second-best pitching prospect in the system, ranked among the top 100 in baseball, and his bosses were able to project his capabilities at the highest level.

His stuff will play here.

“One hundred percent, yeah. No doubt about it,” said Chris Holt, the club’s pitching coach and director of pitching.

They have exchanged blowout wins and today the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays play the third and deciding game of their three-game series at Tropicana Field.

The Orioles (59-54) and Rays (59-53) have split 18 games with nine wins each. Today’s winner takes the season series, which could be critical later. Head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker for any standings ties that could impact the playoffs.

The Orioles routed the Rays 10-3 on Friday night behind a season-best 19 hits on a night they went 7-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins hit solo homers for Baltimore. And the bottom third of the O’s order – Rougned Odor, Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo – went a combined 10-for-13 with two doubles, four runs and six RBIs.

Mateo set a career high with five hits, going 5-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs. The team's 19 hits were the most in a game by the O's since June 6, 2021 versus Cleveland (they had 21), the most against the Rays since May 13, 2018 (they had 19), and the most by the Orioles at Tropicana Field since Aug. 10, 1999 (with 20).

Yesterday, Tampa Bay had 11 hits in an 8-2 win over the Orioles. A three-run last of the third versus O's lefty DL Hall gave them a 4-2 lead, and they added some late runs for the final margin. In his big league debut, before being optioned back to the minors, Hall allowed five runs and five hits over 3 2/3 innings on 76 pitches.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves: 

• Recalled RHP Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Optioned LHP DL Hall to Triple-A Norfolk after yesterday’s game.

It is hard to keep your momentum going in baseball and stay riding a high when your team loses. And after an upbeat Friday and a 10-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles lost big on Saturday by 8-2 at Tropicana Field.

Now these teams meet one more time this weekend and this season, and the weekend series and season series will be determined by today’s result. That is big for the Orioles as head-to-head results will break standings ties at the end of the year.

And should they tie with Tampa Bay for any spot, including any of three wild card playoff berths, today’s game will be the decider after 18 games and nine wins for each side.

If the Orioles and Rays tied for the third wild card spot, for instance, the season series winner would advance while the other team would go home. So yeah, big game today.

Lefty DL Hall had a poor outing in his big league debut, allowing five runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. After he gave up a run in the last of the first, he struck out the side in the second, getting swings and misses for strikeouts on fastballs at 96 and 97 mph. It was a dominant inning and looked like he was settling in. But, with two outs and a man on first in the Rays third, he allowed three straight run-scoring hits as Tampa Bay opened a 4-2 lead on its way to the win.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – DL Hall had plenty of company this afternoon while warming in the visiting bullpen area at Tropicana Field. He attracted the entire pitching staff, plus injured starter Tyler Wells. Forming a line next to him that curved into the outfield grass, then straightening it from mound to plate like it’s usually done in the infield after wins.

Hall hugged catcher Robinson Chirinos, turned, and made his way up the line to receive high-fives and pats from his teammates. The No. 4 prospect in the organization entering his major league debut and a culture that welcomes newcomers like old friends.

He’s one of them. And will remain so after the Orioles optioned him this afternoon.

An inning in an exhibition game was followed today by Hall’s major league debut against the Rays. The heat of a pennant race felt inside an air-conditioned dome.

Hall lasted 3 2/3 innings and allowed five runs and five hits in an 8-2 loss to the Rays. He walked three batters and struck out six, and manager Brandon Hyde removed him at 76 pitches.

After Friday’s win over the Tampa Bay Rays by a 10-3 score, the Orioles have a chance today to win this series and create further separation between these clubs. Today, the Rays host the O’s in the second contest of this three-game series.

The Orioles (59-53) scored in seven of their nine at-bats last night and produced a season-high 19 hits in their latest win, which was their eighth in the last 10 games. They have also won 12 of 17, 24 of 33 and 35 of the last 53 games.

Tampa Bay (58-53) has now lost three in a row and four of five games. The Rays are 7-12 in the second half and they are 27-32 since June 4.

The Orioles currently hold the third wild card spot in the American League. They are two games behind Seattle for the top spot and 1.5 back of Toronto for the second spot. And the Orioles are just ½ game ahead of both Minnesota and Tampa Bay for that WC-3. Did we mention how close this race is!

Orioles pitchers continue to have a pretty good season and their team ERA of 3.88 ranks tied for sixth-best in the AL. Since the All-Star break, the Orioles are 13-7 with a team ERA of 3.64 which ranks sixth in the AL. The Orioles have greatly improved their strikeout-to-walks ratio in the second half. For the year, they rank seventh with a ratio of 2.81 strikeouts for every walk but in the second-half that ratio is 3.53. In 178 second-half innings, the Orioles have walked 49 and fanned 173.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles reliever Keegan Akin saw DL Hall at the team hotel last night and decided it was an ideal opportunity to counsel the rookie. Offer advice prior to a major league debut today that’s attracting a tremendous amount of hype.

Happens with elite pitching prospects. They don’t sneak into town.

“I’ve already talked to him and helped him through a little bit,” Akin said. “He said it didn’t really hit him last night. I said, ‘It’s going to hit you tomorrow morning when you wake up, or it’s going to hit you when you go to walk on the field and start warming up.’ I just told him, ‘You’ve got to stay calm and keep yourself and your emotions under control, just because that’s what’s going to be the hardest to control, and that can get a little squirrely sometimes on the mound and be all over the place.’

“I told him to just lock it in. Nothing’s different up here. He still has the same stuff as he did coming up through the system, and it’s electric stuff and I’m excited for him to be here. I think he can contribute a lot to this team.”

Jordan Lyles is a former first-round pick with 12 years in the majors. He also can be a resource for Hall.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Left-hander DL Hall is making his major league debut this afternoon, and the Orioles are attempting to win a fifth consecutive series as part of their amazing turnaround.

Hall joined the active roster this morning, with reliever Nick Vespi optioned again to Triple-A Norfolk. Hall, the No. 4 prospect in the organization per MLBPipeline.com and Baseball America, is the 54^th player used by the Orioles this season.

He's wearing No. 49.

Spenser Watkins is available in the bullpen and is expected to start Thursday’s makeup game against the Cubs at Camden Yards.

The Orioles want to transition Hall into a relief role after today’s outing, which could begin with Norfolk. Hall is expected to be in the Orioles’ bullpen in September after rosters expand. To be decided is how they get him to that point.

We’re not necessarily picking on the four-letter network, and no, I am certainly not picking on MASN. But maybe I am picking on ESPN.

In their ESPN.com MLB preview for this year, they projected a record of 58-104 for the Orioles. Another 100-loss season. Hey, at least they did see the team gaining six wins from last season.

Well, as of last night the Orioles are on pace for 85 wins, a gain of 33. As of Friday night, the Orioles also hold an American League playoff spot after they took a 7-0 lead on the way to a 10-3 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays. At Tropicana Field, where they had won just two of their previous 19 games.

It was a bit of a statement they made in the opener of this huge series.

Hey, so ESPN was wrong about the Orioles, but so were a lot of people. No one could have predicted this. Some might have thought they maybe make a run for 70 wins. But no one thought they were ready to be a .500 club, much less a playoff team.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A deep dive into the wild card chase always felt like more of a surface story about the Orioles. Here’s where they sit in the standings. Here’s the latest from the rotation, bullpen and lineup. Here’s the latest double play turned by the defense.

Here’s a team finally ready to launch after a teardown that started halfway through the 2018 season, a new set of hands completing it and beginning the rebuild.

More games have been won than lost, which is shocking, and the electricity is restored at Camden Yards. But the major league club hasn’t consumed every molecule of attention. Maybe in some other cities, but not Baltimore.

Catcher Adley Rutschman finally gets promoted on May 21, breaking up an intense media and fan stakeout – separate vehicles, of course – and the watch shifts to pitcher Grayson Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is on the verge of making his debut and goes on the injured list with a Grade 2 lat strain. He’s monitored from afar, with September now the target month to get him back into games. Whether with the Orioles or Triple-A Norfolk.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Opposing teams at Tropicana Field must become educated on the unique ground rules during their pregame studies. Be able to recite the outcome if a ball strikes one of the catwalks. Know whether it remains in play and what happens if it’s caught or lands on the turf.

Adley Rutschman didn’t let the quirks complicate his at-bat tonight in the first inning. He swung hard and hit the longest home run of his young career, perhaps unaware that the ball slammed into the C-ring in right field before it could punch a hole in the roof.

He just circled the bases. No one was going to stop him, or the team trying to move into third place in its division and the wild card race

Rutschman’s 439-foot shot staked Austin Voth to a quick lead, the right-hander carried a no-hit bid into the sixth, Jorge Mateo collected five hits, and Cedric Mullins also nailed the C-ring in the eighth, as if the Orioles were playing a carnival game instead of beginning a crucial series with a 10-3 victory over the Rays.

Voth retired the first 10 batters and didn’t allow a hit until Jose Siri’s infield single leading off the sixth, and the Orioles improved to 59-53. They’re a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay in both races.

The Orioles have arrived in Tampa/St. Pete for their huge weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Tonight, it’s the first of three games between the AL East rivals who are competing for one of three American League wild card playoff spots.

The Orioles (58-53) and Tampa Bay (58-52) are tied 8-8 in the season series and the winner of this series will win the season series and that is big for a potential future standings tiebreaker. The Orioles begin play tonight 2.5 games behind Toronto for the first wild card, two back of Seattle for the second and ½ game behind the Rays for the third.

The Orioles had an identical record as the Rays heading into last night’s games. And while Tampa Bay was off, the Birds lost 4-3 at Boston to fall back out of their standings tie. But a win tonight and they move ahead of the Rays.

Tampa Bay has won four of seven games but over longer stretches is 5-7 in 12 games and 13-12 in its last 25. The Rays are 7-11 in the second half and 27-31 since June 4. The Rays are 33-21 at home and 25-21 versus AL East teams.

In the first series of the year, the Orioles lost three straight at Tropicana Field by scores of 2-1, 5-3 and 8-0. At that point, the Orioles were 3-27 in the last 30 games against Tampa Bay. But they are 8-5 versus the Rays since then and beat them three out of four when the two teams played in Baltimore in late July. But the Orioles are 1-5 this road against the Rays on the road. The Orioles last won a series at the Trop since June 23-25, 2017.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Left-hander DL Hall is joining the Orioles later today in St. Petersburg, Fla., with the expectation that he's going on the active roster prior to Saturday afternoon's game.

Manager Brandon Hyde said during his media dugout scrum that Hall is "going to be in the traveling party."

"We're going to get through tonight's game and see where we are from there," he said.

Hall, the No. 4 prospect in the system per MLBPipeline.com, has posted a 4.76 ERA and 1.486 WHIP in 18 starts with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s walked 44 batters in 70 innings but also struck out 114.

The Orioles haven't confirmed when Hall, 23, joins the pitching staff after he left the Tides, who are in Rochester. Also pending is what Hall’s role will be upon his arrival, whether he makes any starts or works out of the bullpen during a pennant race.

Most of the six new pitchers the Orioles acquired in the recent trades of Trey Mancini to Houston and Jorge López to Minnesota have gotten off to good starts for their new organization.

The Orioles added three top 30 prospects.

For Mancini they got right-hander Seth Johnson from Tampa Bay. He underwent Tommy John surgery on Aug. 3, so the Orioles won’t see him for a while, but MLBPipeline.com ranks him as the club's No. 8 prospect. Baseball America has him at No. 10. After Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall, Johnson is now the Orioles' third highest-rated pitcher.

The O’s also added 23-year-old right-hander Chayce McDermott from Houston in that deal. He now ranks as Baltimore’s No. 12 prospect, according to MLBPipeline.com, and No. 17 in Baseball America's estimation. In two games with the Orioles' high Single-A Aberdeen team, he has allowed two runs and three hits in five innings, going 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA with one walk to 10 strikeouts.

In the deal with Minnesota, the O’s added lefty Cade Povich, also pitching at Aberdeen. In his first start for his new organization, he threw six scoreless innings on one hit last Saturday. MLBPipeline.com ranks Povich as the O’s No. 26 prospect, while Baseball America puts him at No. 29.

BOSTON – The division standings plastered on the lower left portion of the Green Monster weren’t updated when the Orioles arrived at the ballpark this afternoon or during the early rounds of the Red Sox’s batting practice session.

It wasn’t until later that the Orioles were shown to be tied with the Rays for third place rather than trailing by a half-game. Which also meant they were tied for the last wild card spot.

Important distinctions for the Orioles, even if the famed wall isn’t official.

The holdovers from past seasons are accustomed to the team being listed at the bottom, but the Red Sox have become tenants of the cellar.

There’s a new order in the East. Unfortunately for the Orioles, they learned that the Red Sox still have some of their old fight.

The Orioles will be in three cities in three days and their tour is on day two today. They got rained out at home last night in the scheduled third game of their series with Toronto. Their chance at their first sweep of the Blue Jays since Aug. 27-29, 2018 was washed away by the raindrops.

Tonight the Orioles play one game versus the Red Sox in Boston. Friday they open a series in St. Petersburg, Fla. against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Orioles have made up some serious ground on several teams since the All-Star break when they were 46-46. They have gone 12-6 since to get to 58-52 and the Orioles are now tied with Tampa Bay for the third AL wild card spot. They trail Toronto by two games for the first spot and Seattle by 1.5 games for the second. The Rays, Jays and Mariners are all off tonight. 

At the break, the O’s record was tied for ninth-best in the American League. Now they are tied for the fifth-best AL record. At the All-Star game, they were five games behind Tampa Bay, which was then leading for WC-1, 4.5 behind Seattle for WC-2 and 3.5 games back of Toronto for WC-3. Not only that but both Boston (48-45) and Cleveland (46-44) were ahead of them in the standings for those spots.

Tonight, they play the one game at Fenway Park before moving onto a big weekend series against the Rays. The Orioles could get to seven games over .500 with a win and that would be their first time seven games over since May 22, 2017.

BOSTON – Austin Voth is packing his bags today and leaving the Orioles again, this time confident that he’ll start Friday night’s series opener against the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.

It doesn’t always work out.

Voth had left the team to make tonight’s start in Boston, with the Orioles getting him on an earlier flight rather than putting him on the charter, but last night’s rainout moved Dean Kremer to tonight.

Rather than skip Voth, manager Brandon Hyde chose to hand him the ball on Friday. Jordan Lyles and Spenser Watkins would follow if kept in order, but those spots are TBA.

“We’re still figuring some things out there the last two days in Tampa,” Hyde said. “Dean was ready to pitch last night, and we’re just pushing those two guys back.”

BOSTON - The Orioles landed in Boston early this morning tied with the Rays for third place in the American League East and for the last wild card spot. They’re only two games behind the Blue Jays for the top spot.

They will try to improve on a 25-31 road record with one game in Boston, three in St. Petersburg, Fla. and three in Toronto.

A win tonight puts the Orioles seven games above .500 for the first time since May 22, 2017.

Dean Kremer is making the start after last night’s rainout. Austin Voth was supposed to face the Red Sox.

Kremer has made two career starts against Boston and allowed 10 runs and 12 hits in 7 2/3 innings. His only appearance at Fenway Park in 2020 resulted in seven runs and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings.

Longtime Orioles fans could probably cite some special and memorable seasons in team history. Some loved the 1989 Why Not Orioles. Some fondly remember the 2012 club that got the team back in the playoffs after a 14-year absence. No doubt the years 1966, 1970 and 1983 are special. Those, of course, were seasons ending with World Series championships.

I think that years from now when some fans look back, they might fondly discuss this 2022 season. And it probably won’t matter whether this team goes on to make the playoffs or not. This team will have a special place in the hearts of O’s fans for years, I would guess.

Surprise teams and underdogs can be special, and these Orioles qualify as both. After a 110-loss 2021, some fans' expectations were low coming into this year. “Just don’t lose 100 games again,” was one thought. “Just be more competitive,” was another.

But this team started playing competitive ball almost from the first pitch of the year. And the winning started around May 1 and hasn’t stopped. They came up with comeback wins and thrilling walk-off wins. They started to beat good American League East teams. Heck, they were beating good teams inside and outside of the division.

They lost John Means and still won. Recently they traded Trey Mancini and Jorge López and are still winning.