The Orioles can’t keep playing with a short bench. They can’t keep waiting for Ryan Mountcastle’s status to shift from day-to-day.

They also can't maintain a healthy stretch in 2024.

Mountcastle was placed on the 10-day injured list this afternoon, retroactive to Friday, with a left wrist sprain. Infielder Livan Soto was recalled again from Triple-A Norfolk.

The injury occurred Thursday night against the Astros after Mountcastle slid head-first into second base with a double in the second inning. He was removed in the top of the ninth and didn’t play in the next three games.

The earliest that Mountcastle can return is Sept. 2, a day after rosters expand to 28 players.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Recalled INF Livan Soto from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Placed INF Ryan Mountcastle on the 10-day Injured List (left wrist sprain), retroactive to August 23.

Since he burst onto top 100 prospects lists during the 2023 season, O’s catching prospect Samuel Basallo became a marked man. Everyone knew his name and opponent pitchers worked hard to make their mark by getting him out.

He likes that actually.

“I embrace it. It’s a challenge and I like to compete. Guys fighting to get me out, I take that as a challenge. I look forward to the competition,” said Basallo, who we found out yesterday, is being promoted by the Orioles from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. This was from an interview in July, right before he played in the All-Star Futures Game representing the Orioles and Bowie Baysox.

Now, 12 days after he turned 20, Basallo will become the youngest player in Triple-A when he takes the field tomorrow with Norfolk at Jacksonville. He has 24 games left to show his stuff at the minor’s highest level.

Basallo’s first two pro seasons, in 2021 and 2022, were in short-season ball. He began last year at Low-A Delmarva and after 83 games there he moved to High-A Aberdeen. After just 27 games with the IronBirds, he ended last season with four games at Bowie.

A team has only so many dramatic comebacks in the bank. Expecting three in a row seems a bit unreasonable, a tall order that can’t always be scaled. Maybe spread them out a little.

Make a baseball life a little easier while fighting to get back into first place.

Dean Kremer ran into two-out trouble in the fourth inning tonight, surrendering three runs and receiving no offensive support except for a walk. No hits or rallies. Nothing unusual for this team.

Ramón Urías tied the game in the fifth inning with a three-run homer, the uprising a tad earlier than usual, but Alex Bregman and Yanier Diaz went back-to-back on consecutive Burch Smith pitches in the seventh in the Astros’ 6-3 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 21,654 at Camden Yards that split the series.

The heroics ran out for the Orioles, who were held to a season-low two hits and are 76-56.

The Orioles last three-game win streak came over 30 games ago. They won three straight July 14-20, wrapping around the All-Star break with a win to end the first half and two to start the second half.

They have not won three straight over a three-day period since taking four in a row from June 26-29. With two wins in the first three games versus Houston, the Orioles tonight look for their first home series win over the Astros since May 25-27, 2015. And a win would give them another three-game win streak.

The Orioles ended Houston's nine-game road winning streak 7-5 Friday night and won again yesterday 3-2.

Earlier today the Yankees beat Colorado 10-3 to improve to 77-54. They lead the Orioles (76-55) by one game pending the O's result tonight. Aaron Judge hit two homers today for New York, hitting No. 50 and No. 51.

Jackson Holliday's three-run, pinch-hit double in the sixth inning Saturday afternoon provided all the O's runs in their 3-2 win. It was Holliday's first pinch-hit appearance in MLB.

Samuel Basallo on up to Triple-A. The Orioles' top 100 catching prospect is being promoted to Norfolk after homering for Bowie today in his final game with the Double-A Baysox.

Basallo is ranked as the No. 11 prospect in baseball per MLBPipeline.com and No. 17 by Baseball America. He’s had a very solid year at Double-A that included an appearance in the All-Star Futures Game in July in Arington, Tex.

Now, in just his second year of full-season minor league ball, he is moving up again. He began last year at Low-A Delmarva, moved to High-A Aberdeen and ended 2023 with Bowie, hitting 20 homers with an OPS of .953 for those clubs. This year he takes the step from Double-A to Triple-A having turned 20 just 12 days ago.

In 106 Bowie games, Basallo has hit .289/.355/.465/.820 with 22 doubles, 16 homers and 55 RBIs. Basallo began this season as a DH-only with the Orioles in big league camp after suffering a stress fracture in his right elbow over the winter. He’s been catching since early this season. He has made 45 starts this season catching with a 27 percent caught stealing percentage, 27 starts at first base and 29 as DH.

He became the 14^th Baysox player selected to play in the Futures Game, where he batted fourth for the American League team, going 0-for-1 with a walk.

Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Daniel Johnson is on the Orioles’ 24-hour taxi squad while center fielder Cedric Mullins is reevaluated for left quadriceps tightness.

Mullins exited Friday's game due to discomfort and so far he's avoided the injured list. Johnson was removed from Norfolk’s game after two at-bats that night, and he’s got a locker at Camden Yards in case Mullins’ quad doesn’t improve enough to let him play.

Johnson, also a left-handed bat, is hitting .267/.333/.479 with 17 doubles, a triple, 20 home runs and 70 RBIs in 98 games with Norfolk. He hasn’t played in the majors since 2021 with Cleveland.

The Orioles would need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to accommodate him.

“A lot of at-bats,” Johnson said when asked to explain his success with the Tides. “Get a lot of at-bats, you can do a lot every single day. So just the ABs. It’s an opportunity.”

The Orioles designated left-hander Nick Vespi for assignment this afternoon after optioning him for a fifth time, and they claimed right-hander Brooks Kriske on waivers from the Reds.

Kriske was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to leave the active roster untouched. The 40-man remains full.

Vespi couldn’t be optioned again without passing through waivers. He tossed a scoreless inning Thursday against the Astros.

Kriske provides more flexibility, and he’s back in the organization after appearing in four games with the Orioles in 2021 and allowing five runs in 3 2/3 innings. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023 with the Royals, spending the next two years in Japan.

The Reds signed Kriske as a free agent in December. He had a 3.10 ERA in 42 games with Triple-A Louisville and struck out 72 batters in 49 1/3 innings.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Claimed RHP Brooks Kriske off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Designated LHP Nick Vespi for assignment.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

The Orioles' last two wins were not just comeback wins over an American League division leader, but they were impressive because of the team and pitchers they beat.

Consider that:

* After beating the Orioles 6-0 Thursday, Houston was 4-0 this year over the Orioles by a combined 33-13 score. They were 9-3 their past 12 against the Orioles.

* On Friday the Orioles won a game started by right-hander Hunter Brown, who had a 1.96 ERA in August, a 2.36 ERA since July 12 and the AL’s best ERA since June 1 at 2.33. On Saturday they won a game started by left-hander Framber Valdez, a pitcher in the top 11 for the AL Cy Young Award three times in his career. Houston had won 10 Valdez starts in a row since they lost to the White Sox, of all teams, June 18. Valdez was 8-0 with a 2.39 ERA those past 10 starts. The O’s didn’t exactly light up either pitcher but they won those games against a hot team starting its hottest starters.

* Through Thursday’s win, Houston was 12-3 over the previous 15 games and 14-6 their last 20. They had won nine in a row on the road and were 19-9 the previous 28 away from Houston.

Trying to build some momentum off last night's 7-5 win, the Orioles host Houston this afternoon in Game 3 of the four-game, weekend series.

Baltimore was down 5-2 in the eighth Friday night when Anthony Santander hit a go-ahead grand slam. They won to improve to 75-55 and stay within 1 1/2 games of first place New York. The O's hold the first American League wild card spot, leading Kansas City by two games and Minnesota by three.

Santander’s blast was the first go-ahead grand slam by an Oriole in the eighth inning or later since Pedro Álvarez did so on April 6, 2018 in Yankee Stadium (in the 14th, with the score tied 3-3). It was the first when trailing in the eighth or later since Manny Machado on Aug. 18, 2017 versus the Angels (9th, down 7-5), and the first when down by three runs in the eighth inning or later since Luke Scott on May 13, 2010 against Seattle (8th, down 5-2).

Right-hander Albert Suárez (6-4, 3.18 ERA), a pitcher who has thrown three straight scoreless starts, gets the ball today riding that scoreless run.

Over games versus Toronto, Tampa Bay and Boston he has thrown 17 2/3 scoreless allowing 13 hits with three walks and 17 strikeouts. In those games he has yielded a .200 batting average and .466 OPS.

Riding the high of Friday's comeback win over Houston, the Orioles (75-55) host the Astros (69-59) today in the third game of the four-game series at Oriole Park.

After being shut out 6-0 on three hits in the series opener Thursday, the O's were down 5-2 when they batted in the eighth inning last night. Anthony Santander hit his 38th homer, a go-ahead grand slam that produced a 6-5 lead and eventual 7-5 win.

When Santander produced the slam, at that point the Orioles had been 2-for-31 with runners in scoring position the last seven games. 

The Orioles snapped a five-game losing streak versus Houston after going 0-4 against the Astros this year. Houston had won nine in a row on the road. 

Today the Baltimore batters have a real challenge in facing lefty Framber Valdez (13-5, 3.20 ERA). He finished 11th in the American League Cy Young Award voting in 2020, fifth in 2022 and ninth last year.

It was a massive swing. It turned a loss into a win, brought over 39,000 to their feet and perhaps turned a season spiraling the wrong way back into a solid direction.

How much meaning will that one swing have?

Since they last won three in a row - from July 14-20, wrapping around the All-Star break - the Orioles have had five win streaks of two games. They haven't made it to three straight in over a month. 

But Anthony Santander's grand slam in the last of the eighth off Houston reliever Bryan Abreu turned a 5-2 deficit into a one-run lead and eventual 7-5 win over Houston.

Finally, another comeback win. Finally, a win of any kind.

The Orioles were six outs away from losing more ground in the American League East.

Anthony Santander made it shake at Camden Yards.

Santander hit a grand slam off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth inning to give the Orioles a thrilling 7-5 win before an announced Gunnar Henderson bobblehead crowd of 39,578.

Santander’s 38^th home run followed singles by Colton Cowser and Adley Rutschman and a comebacker from Henderson that enticed Abreu to try for the out at third base.

Cowser was safe, the crowd stayed on its feet and Santander sent it into a frenzy with his fourth career slam and second this year.

While the Orioles wonder about getting some of their eight pitchers on the injured list back later this season, their current biggest worry might be the offense.

That offense has produced just three hits in back-to-back games with three runs in those two games. Batters went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The Astros pitched their ninth shutout of the year last night in a 6-0 win over the Orioles, handing the O’s their fifth shutout of 2024.

At 74-55, the Orioles have lost two in a row, three of four, five of seven and seven of the last 11. Baltimore, now 1 1/2 games out in the American League East, is 16-17 in the second half. The 1 1/2-game margin is the team's largest deficit in the division since being two games back of New York following a loss on June 25 in Cleveland.

Over the past six games, the Orioles have scored 20 runs, with nine coming in one game. In that span, the team is batting .167/.245/.323/.568 and has gone 2-for-27 with runners in scoring position. They have five hits or less in four of those games and three or less in three of them.

Oriole first baseman Ryan Mountcastle could play later tonight depending on how he reacts to treatments on his sore wrist.

Mountcastle was removed from last night’s game in the top of the ninth inning. Ryan O’Hearn switched from right field to first base and Austin Slater batted in Mountcastle’s spot in the bottom of the ninth.

Manager Brandon Hyde said afterward that the wrist gradually became more sore after Mountcastle’s slide into second base on a double in the second inning – one of only three hits for the Orioles.

“He’s better today, it’s a little better,” Hyde said. “He’s getting treatment right now. He’s going to get treatment up until game time, so we’ll see if he’s available or not. It got pretty sore as the game went on last night but it’s a little bit better today.”

The offense needs a boost. Mountcastle hasn’t homered since July 29 and he’s batting .225/.257/.310 this month in 19 games but he has hits in 11 of his last 17, including three on Aug. 10 and two on the 13^th, 16^th and 19^th.

Last fall, he was playing in the World Series for the Diamondbacks. It capped a 2023 season that began with him playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. It ended chasing a championship.

He went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs in the World Series versus the Rangers, who won the World Series in five games.

But on Monday, corner infielder Emmanuel Rivera was designated for assignment by the Marlins. The Orioles claimed him two days later and now he is with them waiting for his first chance to play for his new team.

A right-handed hitter, Rivera, 28, played in 96 games with Miami, taking 229 plate appearances and batting .214/.294/.269/.563. He has a career .656 OPS over 313 big league games with Kansas City, Arizona and Miami.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” he said of his chance with the O’s, with interpreting help from Brandon Quinones. “Thank God, you know, for being able to stay healthy and that I’m now here with this team.

INF/OF Terrin Vavra has been claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners.

Ryan Mountcastle is out of the Orioles lineup tonight after leaving last night’s game in the ninth inning with wrist soreness.

Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base and Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter and batting second.

The Orioles began the day 1 ½ games behind the Yankees in the division race and they’re counting on rookie Cade Povich, making his 10^th major league start, to give them length before turning to the bullpen.

Povich lowered his ERA to 5.77 by holding the Red Sox to two runs over a career-high 6 1/3 innings in his last start. He was optioned later that night but returned with Zach Eflin on the injured list.

Left-hander Keegan Akin was reinstated from the paternity list and the Orioles optioned lefty Nick Vespi, who tossed a scoreless inning last night.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated LHP Keegan Akin from the Paternity List.
• Optioned LHP Nick Vespi to Triple-A Norfolk.