ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles are sticking with the same 26-man roster tonight as they begin a four-game series against the Rays, who trail them by percentage points in the American League East.

This is the latest that the Orioles have sat atop the division since Aug. 12, 2016.

Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami, acquired from the Athletics last night for left-hander Easton Lucas, hasn’t reported to the team.

Gunnar Henderson is leading off and playing third base. Henderson has a 15-game on-base streak.

Anthony Santander is playing first base. He’s reached base in 16 straight games.

The Orioles made a move tonight aimed at improving their bullpen.

The team announce that it has acquired right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the Athletics for minor league pitcher Easton Lucas.

Triple-A Norfolk infielder Josh Lester was designated for assignment to create room for Fujinami on the 40-man roster.

Fujinami, a 29-year-old native of Sakai, Japan, made 34 appearances in his first major league season and posted an 8.57 ERA and 1.662 WHIP in 49 1/3 innings. He walked 30 batters and struck out 51.

Seven of those outings were starts, but the Orioles plan on using him in a relief role.

The Orioles don’t need a closer at the trade deadline. And I mention it only to link to the title of this article.

The bullpen must get stronger, and not in the eighth and ninth innings. The club has prioritized middle-to-setup territory to shorten games for its rotation, which led to last night’s acquisition of Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the Athletics. A plan steeped in logic.

Fujinami can audition over the 11-12 days or however many times he's told to get warm and pitch. The blazing fastball and the splitter could make him a weapon. The Orioles have a track record in this area. And it's low risk with Fujinami signed only through 2023.

Cole Irvin’s switch back to long relief could pay big dividends, at least judging by the four innings he covered Tuesday night against the Dodgers.

Austin Voth is trying to begin an injury rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League, but his start Tuesday was rained out and the club didn’t play yesterday. He also could provide length with a healthy elbow.

Dean Kremer didn’t view today’s start as some sort of revenge game. His goal was to give the Orioles a chance to win and avoid their first series sweep in 14 months. The opponent presented an opportunity to visit with friends from his former organization. Don’t read more into it.

Tyler Wells threw 40 pitches in the second inning last night and was done. Kremer threw 37 in the first and tried to rework the script.

The Orioles fell behind by two runs, answered back with four in the bottom of the first as a sudden rain shower sent fans scrambling for cover, and produced their 34^th comeback win to lead the majors. But Kremer fell one out short of qualifying for the decision.

Ramón Urías doubled twice and drove in three runs and Gunnar Henderson hit his 15^th home run in an 8-5 victory over the Dodgers before an announced crowd of 22,248 at Camden Yards. The bullpen covered the last 4 1/3 innings after Kremer was charged with five runs in 4 2/3.

The Rays lost in Texas and are percentage points behind the Orioles for first place as the teams begin a four-game series Thursday night at Tropicana Field.

Cedric Mullins’ latest trip to the injured list appears related to his previous stop, which lasted almost a month.

Mullins was shut down with a strained right groin. He exited Saturday’s game with tightness in his right quadriceps and returned to the IL this morning with a right adductor groin strain.

“It’s just his upper leg, so groin, quad,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Felt it in his quad, originally. The soreness is moving around in that upper leg area. It’s a lower-body injury that we’re just going to take a little more time with.

“It has been progressing, but it’s not progressing at the rate that we were hoping, and so the right thing to do is make sure he’s all the way healthy and running well before we activate him.”

Mullins is eligible to return on Wednesday, which might be an overly ambitious goal.

The Orioles needed length out of their bullpen today and recalled Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A Norfork. Cedric Mullins has gone on the 10-day injured list with a right adductor groin strain, a move that’s retroactive to Sunday.

Mullins hasn’t played since Saturday night, when the club announced that he felt tightness in his right quadriceps. He missed almost a month with a groin injury before returning on June 24.

The roster is back to 13 pitchers and 13 position players.

Gillaspie has appeared in 11 games with the Orioles and posted a 6.00 ERA and 2.111 WHIP in nine innings. He’s made 21 appearances with Norfolk and registered a 3.91 ERA and 1.478 WHIP in 23 innings.

Gillaspie’s last appearance was Sunday, when he tossed one inning.

John Means has adjusted his target return date to Sept. 1, hoping that he’s experienced the last of his setbacks following Tommy John surgery.

The elbow is fine, but Means sustained a strain in his left teres major, a muscle in the scapula/upper back region, while participating in non-throwing activation drills in May during his rehab program.

The Orioles used to view Means as a potential in-house trade deadline acquisition, but the strain eliminated July as a possibility for reinstatement from the 60-day injured list.

Means threw his third bullpen session yesterday, mixing in his changeup for the first time. The other two were strictly fastballs.

“I should do a couple of these and a couple with all the pitches,” Means said, “and then should be back throwing to hitters pretty quickly.”

Cedric Mullins remains confident that he can avoid the injured list as he recovers from tightness in his right quadriceps.

Mullins is out of the lineup for a third consecutive game. He sustained the injury Saturday night in the second inning while running from first to third base on Jordan Westburg’s fly ball down the right field line.

The ball sliced foul, and Mullins walked off the field with head athletic trainer Brian Ebel.

Asked how he’s progressing, Mullins replied, “I’d say pretty good.”

“It’s just one of those weird things where, as I’m getting work done to it, the soreness kind of accumulates from that,” he said. “Just continuing with the progression there. But I think it’s coming along pretty well.”

Cedric Mullins remains out of the Orioles lineup, his day-to-day status extended while he recovers from right quadriceps tightness.

Aaron Hicks is playing center field again tonight. Austin Hays is in left and Colton Cowser is in right.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman, and he’s batting ninth.

Gunnar Henderson remains atop the order. He’s hitting .350 with a .650 slugging percentage against breaking pitches since June, according to STATS, compared to his .128 average and .277 slugging heading into the month.

Tyler Wells has a 3.18 ERA and the majors’ lowest WHIP at 0.927. He’s allowed two earned runs in each of his last seven starts, and two or fewer in eight straight.

Orioles scout Trent Friedrich used the word multiple times today when describing outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr.

Different.

Friedrich watched Bradfield play at American Heritage High School in Plantation, Fla. in 2018. He tracked Bradfield at Vanderbilt University, with Tennessee part of his territory. And he knew.

“He impacted the game in so many ways,” Friedrich said. “It’s been really fun ever since he was a sophomore in high school, following him through high school, and then coming into my area at Vanderbilt and being able to watch him the last three years.

“He’s just been different every step of the way.”

The Orioles filed off the field last night with their first loss since July 4. The winning streak expired at eight games.

It didn’t influence their standing as the team with the third-best record in baseball.

The trade deadline arrives in two weeks. The club isn’t broken, so why fix it?

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is intent on strengthening it. There’s a difference. He’s finally free to operate as a buyer, and he’s got the prospect resources to keep his phone ringing.

A partner is necessary to consummate a deal, and the Orioles will be active in the search. But what exactly do they need?

The first three pitches from Grayson Rodriguez tonight were clocked at 98.9, 99.2 and 99.8 mph, resulting in a fly ball from Dodgers leadoff hitter Mookie Betts.

That’s when he decided to turn up the heat.

Rodriguez concluded an eight-pitch at-bat against Freddie Freeman by getting him to ground a 101-mph fastball to third baseman Ramón Urías. Six of his pitches exceeded 100 mph in the inning. He didn’t top 99.3 during his first stint with the club.

This wasn’t the same version of Rodriguez. Not until he came back out for the sixth.

Twice handed three-run leads, Rodriguez couldn’t record an out in the sixth and watched from the dugout as Chris Taylor hit a grand slam off Bryan Baker in the Dodgers’ 6-4 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 21,956 at Camden Yards.

Aaron Hicks has returned to the Orioles lineup tonight after being scratched yesterday with lower-back soreness. He’s in center field.

Cedric Mullins remains day-to-day with a sore right quadriceps. Manager Brandon Hyde said Mullins is “a lot better” and the club is encouraged by his progress.

Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter. Colton Cowser is in left field, with Austin Hays on the bench.

Gunnar Henderson is leading off and playing shortstop.

Ramón Urías is at third base and Adam Frazier is playing second.

The Orioles recalled Grayson Rodriguez from Triple-A Norfolk today and optioned reliever Eduard Bazardo.

Rodriguez is making his 11^th start tonight and his first since May 26 against the Rangers. He went 4-0 with a 1.96 ERA in eight starts with Triple-A Norfolk, striking out 56 batters in 41 1/3 innings.

Rodriguez posted a 7.35 ERA and 1.743 WHIP in 45 1/3 innings with the Orioles before they optioned him. He walked 21 batters and struck out 56. He also surrendered 13 home runs.

Bazardo was sent down following yesterday’s 5-4 win over the Marlins. He was charged with three runs and retired only one batter in the ninth inning.

The roster still holds 14 position players and 12 pitchers. Outfielder Cedric Mullins is day-to-day with a sore right quadriceps muscle, and outfielder Aaron Hicks was scratched from yesterday’s lineup with lower-back discomfort.

Dan Simonds didn’t need consecutive years to form an opinion on Mac Horvath. He didn’t even need a full season.

The relatively brief amount of time that Horvath spent at IMG Academy in Florida revealed traits that made him special. Intangibles that Simonds knew would separate Horvath from a talented group of players.

The total package prompted the Orioles to draft Horvath in the second round last week out of the University of North Carolina. Maybe a little higher than Simonds imagined before Horvath walked onto the Chapel Hill campus, but understandable based on the projections.

Simonds has spent 10 years at IMG Academy and oversees the entire operation as Baseball Director, including camps that run throughout the summer, winter and spring, and the professional training at the Bradenton facility. Horvath transferred from Century High School in Minnesota for his senior year.

In the fall of 2019. Before the world shut down early in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.

The Orioles made a late lineup change this morning.

Aaron Hicks has been scratched and no longer gets the start in center field.

Austin Hays goes from the bench to left field for the series finale against the Marlins at Camden Yards. Colton Cowser’s first start in Baltimore switches from left field to center.

Hays is batting fourth, with Ryan O’Hearn moving down to fifth.

For the Orioles
Gunnar Henderson SS
Adley Rutschman DH
Anthony Santander RF
Austin Hays LF
Ryan O’Hearn 1B
Ramón Urías 3B
Colton Cowser CF
Adam Frazier 2B
James McCann C

The Orioles are trying today to complete their sixth series sweep before the Dodgers come to town. They’re also attempting to extend their winning streak to a season-high eight games.

The Marlins are starting an opener, left-hander Steven Okert, who retired all four batters last night with three strikeouts.

Manager Brandon Hyde knows that the Marlins are going with a bullpen game today and made out a lineup that includes Colton Cowser in left field, the former first-round pick’s first Camden Yards start. Aaron Hicks is in center and Anthony Santander is in right.

Cedric Mullins is sitting after experiencing tightness last night in his right quadriceps.

Gunnar Henderson is leading off and playing shortstop, with Ramón Urías at third base. Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Ryan Mountcastle stepped into the cage yesterday for batting practice and hit a ball into the second deck in left field. It meant nothing and everything.

The stats didn’t change. Mountcastle’s last official home run is May 24 in New York, about two weeks before dizziness and blurred vision forced him onto the injured list.

The diagnosis was vertigo, which he never experienced in the past. He spent about a month away from the majors and made his first start last night since June 8, after manager Brandon Hyde used him twice off the bench.

“I feel good,” Mountcastle said yesterday. “Those couple weeks were brutal. I wanted to be back with the team so bad, but it just kept flaring up and finally got it right. I was just happy to be back and feeling like my normal self.”

A sense of normal also eluded Mountcastle at the plate. He was mired in a 4-for-30 slump before going on the injured list and kept struggling in his rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk.

Only two of the six clubhouse televisions this afternoon were tuned into the first game of the Rays’ doubleheader against the Royals. The Cubs-Red Sox also aired on two of them. Or players could choose between the Scottish Open and a scouting combine men’s basketball tournament.

No one seemed interested.

One player sat in a recliner for a few minutes during the media’s access, got up and left. The place emptied for a meeting. Further evidence that the first-place Rays aren’t an obsession.

The Orioles may check the standings, but they know how little it matters if they don’t win.

They might have lost their center fielder again.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde understands the logic behind going with a 12-man pitching staff, with the four-day All-Star break creating a rested bullpen. An extra arm isn’t necessary.

Hyde endorses the unbalanced ratio of pitchers to position players.

Ride with a dozen until it can’t be done.

A five-man bench is ideal for Hyde, however long it lasts. The late-game choices are much more enticing than in past seasons with the increase in talent.

“I have options this year," Hyde said, "which is nice.”