Gunnar Henderson got hot again at the plate.

His .234/.303/.405 August was followed by nine hits in 19 at-bats prior to yesterday, with a double, three home runs, seven RBIs and four walks. The tater total is two shy of last month’s output in 28 games and one more than he hit in 24 games in July. And he was robbed of a three-run shot yesterday on Jose Siri’s leaping catch at the center field fence, keeping him at 36, a franchise record for shortstops.

The fielding fluctuates from fabulous to frustrating.

Henderson made two more errors Friday night to raise his team-leading total to 23. His fielding percentage was .959 before yesterday.

The first miscue originally was scored a hit for Jonathan Aranda with two outs in the eighth inning. Henderson ranged to his right and didn’t appear to get his glove turned in the proper position before the ball deflected off it. Aranda later was awarded a single.

The Orioles have made the following roster move: 

• Agreed to terms on a 2024 Minor League contract with INF/OF Terrin Vavra.

Riding a small winning stretch - with four wins in the last five games - the Orioles will get another series win today if they can beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (82-60) pitched their ninth shutout of 2024 in winning 2-0 Friday night on a four-pitcher three-hitter with 12 strikeouts.

In winning four of five, O's pitchers have a 2.20 ERA and .585 OPS against. The O's are 8-5 their past 13 games with a 3.32 team ERA in this span. They are now 24-22 since the All-Star Game.

Through Friday's games, the Orioles led the New York Yankees (81-60) by a half-game atop the American League East. The Birds have 20 games left to play and New York has 21. The clubs play a three-game series in the Bronx beginning Sept. 24.

The Orioles have pitched well versus the Rays all year in going 9-2 in the season series. In the 11 games, they have given up one, five, four, three, zero, two, two, one, five, two and zero runs. They've allowed two runs or fewer seven times and have a 2.02 season ERA against Tampa Bay with a .197 average against and .545 OPS. O's starting pitchers have a 2.11 ERA in the season series. 

The standings say that with their 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays last night, the Orioles moved 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees for the division lead. The Orioles (82-60) have 20 games left to play and New York (81-60) has 21.

But a real separator is each club's American League East record, the games within the division. The Orioles have a 7 1/2 game lead in that record within a record.

After their ninth win in 11 games this year against Tampa Bay, the Orioles are 29-15 in AL East games. New York is 22-23. Big difference. 

Here are the records of the teams in division games in 2024 and the Orioles are the only club over .500.

.659 - Orioles (29-15)
.500 - Boston (18-18)
.489 - New York (22-23)
.435 - Toronto (20-26)
.415 - Tampa Bay (17-24)

Dean Kremer’s arm was fine tonight. And it had nothing to do with the disappearance of his welt.

The effectiveness returned along with the appearance, and in it was no-hit stuff that threatened to grew to historical proportions.

Kremer carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before Rays top prospect Junior Caminero lined the first pitch into left field for a single. What remained was winning the first game of the series. Back to the basics.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Caminero and Dylan Carlson and Ryan O’Hearn’s fielding error. Kremer left to a standing ovation after 88 pitches and Yennier Cano brought the crowd to its feet again with two strikeouts and a popup in the Orioles’ 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 25,439 at Camden Yards.

The Yankees also won today to stay a half-game behind the Orioles (82-60), who clinched their third plus-.500 season in a row - the first streak of this length since 2012-14. Tonight’s game marked their ninth shutout.

Winners of back-to-back series, collectively going 4-2 versus the Rockies and White Sox, the Orioles' homestand continues tonight as they host the Rays to start a three-game series.

After beating the White Sox 13-3 and 9-0 in the first two games of the series, the O’s were held to seven hits in Wednesday’s 8-1 loss as they failed to complete their sixth sweep of the season.

The Orioles (81-60) had a three-game win streak snapped but have won four of six and seven of 12 games. They are 3-1 in September, 23-22 since the All-Star break and 28-29 since July 1.

With the New York Yankees' 3-0 win today over the Cubs, the clubs have identical records atop the division. The O's need to win to stay a 1/2-game ahead.

Gunnar Henderson homered Wednesday night and set an O’s record with his 35^th homer – the most ever by a Baltimore shortstop. He had shared the record with Cal Ripken Jr. (1991) and Miguel Tejada (2004).

Ramón Urías ditched his crutches and is offering positive news on his sprained right ankle, including his readiness to begin baseball activities in a couple of days.

Urías said earlier today that the ankle is feeling “pretty good” and “progressing fast.”

“I’m walking now, it feels pretty normal,” he said while standing at his locker. “Hopefully can start doing some baseball activities soon.”

Urías rolled the ankle while covering third base in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game in Colorado, the same night that he also was hit on the nose by a pitch and Dean Kremer exited in the fourth after taking a line drive off his right forearm.

Kremer is starting tonight. Urías won’t be ready for reinstatement when eligible on Wednesday but is aiming for a return later this month.

Dean Kremer is set to take his scheduled turn tonight for the series opener against the Rays at Camden Yards, avoiding the injured list after Jordan Beck’s line drive Saturday night slammed off his right forearm.

Kremer registered three quality starts in a row before leaving the Rockies game after 3 1/3 innings with a huge welt above his wrist.

The Rays are seeing Kremer for the first time this season. He’s made six career starts against them and posted a 2.79 ERA in 29 innings.

Brandon Lowe is 4-for-9 with a home run against Kremer. Yandy Díaz is 1-for-13.

Nick Maton is starting at third base and batting ninth, a spot ahead of Jackson Holliday. Coby Mayo is on the bench again.

If you read the comments section here or check anywhere where O’s fans make their feelings known - and they are not shy about that - there are many times the fans are frustrated with the Orioles offense.

Like when they produce just one run against the lowly White Sox after scoring 22 runs in two games. Or score just 10 at Dodger Stadium. Or get 10 one day versus Boston but just one the next as they did Aug. 16 and Aug. 17.

There is an up and down nature to the scoring and several players have had their share of ups and downs. Sometimes the homers come, and runs are plentiful and sometimes not. At times they frustrate their supporters with a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position.

But after all of the above, the 2024 Orioles offense looks like it will finish the year ranking both among the best in the majors in 2024 and among the best in O’s history.

Here is a stat that will surprise a few fans and I didn’t know it until I look it up: The O’s are actually scoring more runs per game in the second-half, even after the team OPS in August was .691, the lowest of any month this year.

Only in the heat of a pennant race with the regular season down to the last 21 games could winning two of three from the Rockies and White Sox seem unsatisfactory.

They’re both painfully bad. The Orioles should have swept both series based on their talent and motivation. But the Rockies are better at home and the thin air messes with all logic. And the White Sox … well, there’s no excuse except that it’s the major leagues and no team is gonna go 0-162. It's bound to catch a popup.

Going 4-2 in the last six games is nothing to sneeze at, but please cover your mouth if you do.

I covered the 2002 Orioles who finished 4-32 under manager Mike Hargrove and they were more competitive than Chicago. Requests for comparisons have been brought to me. Also with the rebuild Orioles. Again, not this terrible.

Hargrove’s club was .500 on Aug. 23. I can think of 500 reasons why the White Sox didn’t get close. But I respect the effort Wednesday night, when they could have folded after Gunnar Henderson’s game-tying leadoff home run in the bottom of the first.

Dean Kremer did more than dodge the injured list, which alone was an impressive accomplishment.

He’s starting Friday night in the series opener against the Rays at Camden Yards.

The 103.1 mph line drive from Colorado’s Jordan Beck that slammed off Kremer’s right forearm in the fourth inning Saturday night at Coors Field raised a huge welt above his wrist and major concerns about the Orioles’ rotation. As if it could afford another loss.

Kremer played catch in the outfield in recent days, had a bullpen session yesterday at Camden Yards and convinced the Orioles that he could take his next turn.

Asked about Kremer after Sunday’s game, manager Brandon Hyde said, "I would be really surprised if he’s pitching in four or five days.” The Orioles are off tonight. Kremer is on the mound Friday.

Hired July 8 as the Orioles' first female president of business operations, Catie Griggs is on a fact-finding mission right now. In her first press conference with O’s media yesterday she said since her first official day Aug. 19, she has spent time getting to know the city, her new team and her new co-workers.

Soon she will head up improvements that will be made to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, with some coming next year but more significant ones likely for the 2026 season.

“Right now I’m learning,” said Griggs. “That is priority No. 1. I know what I don’t know. I have reasonable experience running a baseball team from the business side. But I’ve never run a team from the business-side here in Baltimore.”

She was the first major hire for new owner David M. Rubenstein and his new ownership group. Griggs served as president of business operations for the Seattle Mariners since July of 2021 before resigning and taking the job with the Orioles. That was after four seasons as the chief business officer for Atlanta United in Major League Soccer. She oversaw all aspects of the Mariners organization outside of baseball operations.

To better get to know the fan experience at Oriole Park she took part in it. Already sitting in 15 different areas of the ballpark.

The defensive metrics aren’t always in Colton Cowser’s corner, even as he’s chasing down fly balls in them.

Ask anyone with the Orioles or the scouts who filter into ballparks to file reports, and they’ll praise Cowser’s range, instincts and sure hands and note the improvements made as a professional. They love how he’s handling the tricky left field dimensions at Camden Yards as smoothly as predecessor Austin Hays, a Gold Glove finalist last year, and grown into a skilled and trusted alternative to Cedric Mullins in center.

Cowser’s 11 outs above average per FanGraphs ranked sixth in the majors yesterday, but he was credited with only one defensive run saved, and Baseball-Reference.com calculated his dWAR at minus-0.2.

Last night’s lineup put Cowser in left field for his 73^rd start this season and 90^th appearance. He made five starts last summer.

“I think he’s a legit center fielder but he can go play in the corners,” said first base coach Anthony Sanders, who also serves as outfield instructor. “Anytime you can get three center fielders on the same field, it’s gonna make the defense a lot better. He’s adjusting. I know he’s played a lot of center in the minor leagues, but that left field is like no other. You just have to drop your head and keep going and going. And he does a really good job.

Albert Suárez watched his second pitch tonight, a fastball to White Sox leadoff hitter Nicky Lopez, sail into the right field seats.

Gunnar Henderson took it as a challenge, hitting his 10^th leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning and his 35^th overall to set the club record for a shortstop.

The back-and-forth would stop, with Suárez producing a rare clunker. He wouldn’t get the last word or last through fifth. And the Orioles wouldn't score again.

Andrew Vaughn led off the fourth with a homer and Dominic Fletcher hit a two-run shot later in the inning, his first of the season, to guide the White Sox toward an 8-1 victory before an announced crowd of 17,843 at Camden Yards.

Chicago had lost 12 in a row and an astounding 42 of 46. They were outscored 22-3 in the first two games of the series.

With 22 runs scored in back-to-back wins over the White Sox, the Orioles look for a three-game series sweep tonight. That would also give them a seven-game sweep of the season series.

In late May, the Orioles won four straight at Chicago, but they were all close wins by 8-6, 6-4, 5-3 and 4-1. In this series, the O’s have won 13-3 and last night by 9-0.

They’ve scored 22 runs on 27 hits the last two games, with three doubles, a triple and two homers and they are 11-for-36 batting with runners in scoring position.

In going 6-0 on the year versus the Sox, the O’s have outscored them 45-17. On offense, they have hit .287 with an .887 OPS and 10 home runs. The Baltimore pitchers have a 2.67 ERA and have allowed a .528 OPS to White Sox hitters this year.

Right-hander Albert Suárez (7-4, 3.14) has been on a five-start pitching role and will make his 20^th start tonight. He is 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in those five games, allowing four earned runs over 30 1/3 innings with five walks to 24 strikeouts.

More positive injury news came out of Camden Yards this afternoon. Momentum for the Orioles isn’t restricted to winning the next series.

Grayson Rodriguez completed his first bullpen session this afternoon and remains confident in his return later this month from a lat/teres injury.

Rodriguez threw about 20 pitches, mixing off-speed stuff with his fastball.

“Arm’s feeling good and I think right now that’s the most important thing is just being able to get back on the mound, let it eat a couple times,” he said.

“Everything felt good. The ball was spinning well.”

The first-place Orioles wrap up their series against the White Sox tonight with Coby Mayo at third base and batting seventh.

Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Gunnar Henderson stays atop the order. He has a hit in four straight games for the first time since July 25-Aug. 1.

Albert Suárez is making his 20^th start and 28^th appearance with his ERA down to 3.14. In his five starts last month after replacing injured right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, Suárez allowed only four earned runs with 24 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings. He posted a 1.97 ERA in six August games.

Suárez pitched in relief against the White Sox on May 25 and shut them out over four innings.

One of the most important milestones for James McCann was reached last month when he accrued 10 years of major league service time, a feat accomplished by roughly seven percent of players. He qualified for the fully vested portion of the pension. And if he stayed with the same team for five years, he’d have the power to veto any trade.

The last part probably won’t happen with McCann, who celebrated his 34^th birthday in June. The four-year deal he signed with the Mets expires after the season, and he’s spent the last two with the Orioles after they traded for him on Dec. 21, 2022.

McCann is focused on the last month of the regular season and trying to win another division title, but he confirmed over the weekend that he wants to play next season. He isn’t ready to retire.

“My body feels good,” he said. “I haven’t really put an end date in sight. I feel like right now I’m focused on the task at hand and helping this team advance to the playoffs and beyond. But the future is something we can’t control and it’s something that I’ve preached for a long time in my career is control what you can control. So I try not to dwell on what the future holds too much.”

So he intends to keep playing?

When Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers hit a walk-off grand slam off Yankees closer Clay Holmes late last night, it moved the Orioles back into first place in the American League East.

Holmes, who suffered his 11th blown save, gave up two hits and two walks in the ninth and saw his slider hit 407 feet to lose the game 7-4.

The Orioles (81-59) were last in first on Aug. 20 and now they begin play today a 1/2-game ahead of the Yankees (80-59).

The Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 9-0 last night at Oriole Park and have won four of five and seven of 11, going 23-21 since the All-Star game. New York has lost five of seven and is 22-19 in the second half. 

The chase is on for the AL East title with 22 games remaining.

With Monday's 13-3 win in the homestand opener against the Chicago White Sox, the Orioles tonight are taking another run at a three-game win streak.

They have been hard to come by lately. Their last came from July 14-20 when the Orioles won the last game of the first half versus the Yankees and the first two of the second half at Texas. The last time the team won on three straight days, they did so on four straight, from June 26-29.

Since July 20, the O's have won two in a row six times but each time lost the third game. Tonight maybe the seventh time is the charm.

Monday's game was one of their highest scoring games of the year for the O's bats, topped only by a 17-5 win June 20 at Yankee Stadium. Their 18 hits yesterday were topped only by the 20 hits in that same June game.

By comparison, the Orioles got 10 runs on 18 hits and six extra-base hits in three games at Dodger Stadium. Then they had 13 runs, 18 hits and six extra-base in one game versus the White Sox.