CHICAGO – The Orioles had been good this year both on the road and in series-opening games, but that combination did not lead to a win today at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Playing better baseball after a three-game sweep this week of National League Central-leading Pittsburgh, the Cubs hit three homers this afternoon in one inning off Baltimore lefty Cole Irvin and then had one big inning later versus the O’s bullpen in a 10-3 win over the Orioles.

The Cubs (32-37) won for sixth time in seven games as a big crowd of 37,515 cheered them on in the opener of the weekend series. Chicago is 10-7 the last 17 games.

The Birds had scored 42 runs in winning six of their past seven games, but did not score big today in the opening game of their five-game road trip.

The Orioles fall to 43-26 overall, to 21-13 in road games, to 16-7 in series openers, to 9-3 in road series openers and to 6-11 all-time against the Cubs.

CHICAGO – The Orioles enjoyed a successful homestand, going 5-1 against Kansas City and Toronto. They swept the Royals and took two of three from Toronto, winning a fifth straight American League East series.

The Orioles lost their first two AL East series of this year, but have now gone 11-4 in winning their last five. They beat Toronto 4-2 Thursday to win the rubber-match game and improve to 43-25.

The Orioles are 5-1 this season versus Toronto by a combined 36-21 score. They are 14-11 against the Blue Jays since the start of the 2022 season.

The Orioles are now 8-4 in June and they are 9-5 in 14 games since Cedric Mullins got injured.

In winning six of their past seven games overall, the Orioles have scored 42 runs, producing hits in double digits five times in that span.

CHICAGO - As the Orioles play the Chicago Cubs today to start a three-game series at Wrigley Field, manager Brandon Hyde expects to see a good number of Orioles fans in the stands.

That was the case last July 12-13 when the O's swept a two-game series at Wrigley.

"We are traveling well," Hyde said pregame in the visitors' dugout. "I'm loving the way our fans are traveling. It's been a lot of fun on the road to see and to hear during the anthem. That's when you notice it the most, honestly, during the anthem. I've been pleasantly surprised. The way they are showing up for us on the road has been awesome."

Hyde provided a brief update on first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who went on the 10-day injured list Tuesday due to vertigo.

"He is starting to feel a little bit better," Hyde said. "But he's still a little bit under the weather."

None of the trio pitched for a big-time SEC school or were a high draft pick. One reaches the backend of a top 30 O's prospects list. But in an organization without a lot of touted, high-draft pick pitching, they are trying to make their way to Baltimore.

And with the starts that right-handers Alex Pham, Jean Pinto and Ryan Long have gotten off to for High-A Aberdeen (28-28), they might have that chance.

Pham, 23, selected in round 19 in 2021 out of the University of San Francisco, was recently named the Pitcher of the Month for May in the South Atlantic League. He went 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA over five starts allowing just 10 hits in 23 1/3 innings with 12 walks, 34 strikeouts, a .128 average against and 0.94 WHIP for the month.

“Everything has been working for him,” said Aberdeen manager Roberto Mercado of a pitcher with a fastball in the 92, 93 mph range that has touched 95.8 this season. “The velocity is up a little bit. His cutter has been excellent and so has his curveball. He’s really been getting ahead of hitters and letting his stuff play in the zone. Done a tremendous job for us and big props to our pitching coach Austin Meine who has done a great job creating pitching plans for each pitcher and working on goals that each pitcher has here.”

Pham over 11 games and nine starts for the year overall, is 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA that ranks fifth-best in the league. Over 45 1/3 innings he has allowed 28 hits with 23 walks, 67 strikeouts and a 1.13 WHIP. He’s just been solid and in his most recent outing pitched five hitless and scoreless with 11 strikeouts. 

Every year it seems like some of the biggest winning clubs in baseball have players succeed throughout their roster. Not only the roster of 26 players but many more that contribute in a myriad ways over the long season of 162 games.

The Orioles are getting that right now and it was on display in Sunday’s 11-3 victory that completed a three-game sweep of Kansas City by a 20-6 score. The Orioles earlier had three game sweeps at home April 21-23 versus Detroit and May 19-21 at Toronto. This was their first three-game sweep of Kansas City since the 2017 season.

At 41-24, the Orioles are playing .631 ball which translates to 102 wins for a full year. They are 17 games over the .500 mark for the first time since June 26, 2016.

But on a day Gunnar Henderson grabbed some headlines with his long home run in the eighth, Ryan O’Hearn reached base five times for the first time in his career. And he did it versus a Kansas City team he has played 342 games with. O’Hearn went 3-for-3 with two walks, four runs and he hit a changeup with a 107.9 mph exit velocity in the home eighth for his fourth O’s home run.

In 24 games with Baltimore, O’Hearn is batting .328 with a .989 OPS. Among all Orioles this year, that OPS is second on the team to outfielder Aaron Hicks, who is batting .345 with a 1.058 OPS, going 10-for-29 with eight runs and seven walks in 10 games.

From April 21-23, the Orioles swept three straight at home from Detroit, beating the Tigers by a combined 9-3 score. From May 19-21 they swept three at Toronto, outscoring the Blue Jays 20-10. Today they can complete a three-game sweep of Kansas City if they win this afternoon at Oriole Park. 

The Orioles (40-24) have beaten the Royals by 3-2 and 6-1 scores in this series, allowing just thee runs in two games after allowing 23 runs in three games at Kansas City in early May. The Orioles did take two of three then and are 4-1 this year against Kansas City and are 18-6 in their last 24 games at home against the Royals since 2015.

The Orioles are now 14-6-1 in 21 series this season. They did not secure their 14th series win last year until the 31st series, from July 25-28 vs. Tampa Bay. Baltimore didn't win more than 12 series of more than one game in any of the three full seasons from 2018-21 (12-32-8 in 2021, 10-34-8 in 2019, and 9-39-5 in 2018). With the win Saturday, the Orioles became the fourth major league team to reach 40 wins this season. They did not earn their 40th victory last season until their 84th game.

Right-hander Brady Singer needed 39 pitches to get through the bottom of the first inning Saturday, as the Orioles had two hits and three walks and got an RBI double by Anthony Santander and an RBI single by Ryan O’Hearn.

Gunnar Henderson blasted a 408-foot homer to center in the second inning. It was his third in six games and his eighth of the year. Henderson pounced on a first-pitch slider, had two hits on the day and is 5-for-8 in this series.

If you think O’s closer Felix Bautista is having a better season than even last year, when he closed games well for the club late in 2022, you would be right.

His ERA is lower and his strikeout rate is much higher, and he is a pitcher on a tremendous roll right now.

For the year, over 30 games and 31 innings, he is 3-1 with a 1.16 ERA and 17 saves, to rank tied for second in the major leagues. His 18.6 strikeouts per nine innings, up from 12.1 last year, ranks first in the majors among all pitchers throwing at least 20 innings.

Bautista, who has saved each of his last six chances, has fanned 64 of 126 batters he has faced this year. That K percentage of 50.8 ranks in the 100^th percentile, meaning it’s the absolute best in the majors right now. He also ranks in the 100^th percentile in whiff percentage. Hitters that swing at his splitter miss the pitch 59.3 percent of the time. He only throws his slider four percent of the time, but when hitters offer at that pitch they miss 80.0 percent.

He is averaging 99.2 mph on his fastball, up a bit from last year, and he touched 101.1 mph when he got the save Friday in an overpowering performance against Kansas City.

Riding some momentum with their latest comeback win on Thursday at Milwaukee, the Orioles open their next homestand tonight at Camden Yards, hosting Kansas City and Toronto for three games each.

The Orioles are 0-2-1 their past three home series, splitting four games with the Los Angeles Angels and losing two of three each to Texas and Cleveland. So, while they are 17-12 at home for the season, they are 4-6 in the three most recent series at Oriole Park.

But the team produced its 21^st comeback win yesterday. They were down 3-0 going into the seventh and scored once that inning, three times in the eighth and twice in the ninth to beat the Brewers, 6-3. Ramón Urías hit a solo homer to right to get the Orioles on the board in the seventh. Anthony Santander’s RBI double in the eighth ended an 0-for-25 slump and was his first hit of the road trip. Then Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer to left to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead. It was his second go-ahead homer in the late innings on the road trip, and his seventh on the year. Eleven of Henderson's last 20 hits are extra-base hits. Adam Frazier’s two-run double in the ninth completed the scoring and provided insurance runs.

The O’s offense broke out after scoring three runs or fewer in nine of the previous 12 games. They had scored just five runs the first two games in Milwaukee, and just 16 in the five games at San Francisco and Milwaukee.

The Orioles are now 1-3 their past four series, going 5-7 in 12 games since their 5-1 road trip to Toronto and New York.

With the Orioles now for the third time this year, lefty Cole Irvin will make his fourth O’s start tomorrow - his first in the big leagues since April 13 - when the Orioles host Kansas City on Saturday. 

He will, at least for one day, rejoin the rotation and, maybe if it goes well, stick around in the starting five. He began this year 0-2 with a 10.66 ERA in three starts before he was optioned to the minors April 14. He was back from May 16-21, but got into just one game, getting one out on just seven pitches for the Orioles.

But after going 6-1 with a 3.21 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Norfolk, Irvin is back on the mound tomorrow afternoon for the Orioles.

“I’m ready, I’m prepared,” he said in the clubhouse this afternoon. “I’ve fixed some things I needed to fix. Eliminated some walks, so now it’s just about getting out there tomorrow and putting in a good effort to get a win for this ballclub.”

With the Tides he pitched 42 innings, striking out 22 while allowing just four walks and 1.048 WHIP. In those first three starts with Baltimore he walked eight in 12 2/3 innings.

With a 20-10 road record on the year, the Orioles open a series at Milwaukee tonight looking for yet another series win and another road series win.

On the season, the Orioles are 13-5-1 in series play and they are 8-2 in road series. They lost their first road series of the season at Boston and have lost just one road series since then, at Atlanta. Since losing that series to the Braves they have won their past three road series at Toronto, New York and San Francisco, going 7-2 in the last nine road games.

According to Stats Perform, the Orioles’ 20 road wins in their first 30 away games ties for the second-most ever by an O’s club in the first 30 road contests. It trails only the 1969 club that won 23 of its first 30 on the road.

The American League East as the Milwaukee series begins:

* Tampa Bay, 43-19 (.694)

SAN FRANCISCO – When the series began on Friday the Orioles had lost back-to-back series for the first time all year. Their pitching staff had gotten torched for 12 runs on Wednesday versus Cleveland with the bullpen giving up 11 runs.

But during a weekend where they faced a San Francisco Giants team that had won four of its last five series and was 11-5 over the previous 16 games, the Orioles took two of three from the Giants.

Their pitching staff restored some order even as they played three more games without Cedric Mullins and the last 15 innings of the series without Gunnar Henderson, who left Saturday’s game with lower back discomfort. The good news there is that manager Brandon Hyde said Sunday he was doing better and he seemed confident Henderson could play in the Milwaukee series that begins tomorrow night.

O’s pitching gave up two, four and three runs in the series at Oracle Park, allowing nine runs on 21 hits in the games with 10 walks to 34 strikeouts.

Right-hander Tyler Wells set a career high with nine strikeouts Sunday, but all the Ks also helped escalate his pitch count and he left the game after 5 1/3 innings throwing 102 pitches. Mike Baumann, Yennier Cano and Austin Voth covered the last 3 2/3 allowing a hit and a run.

SAN FRANCISCO – In the first two games of this series at Oracle Park – where they had gone 1-1 – the Orioles scored just three runs on nine hits versus the San Francisco Giants. They scored in just two of their 18 innings at bat in those games and were scoreless going into the third inning today.

But suddenly the runs came in a bunch. The Orioles scored six times on four hits, three walks and an error in the top of the third as they beat the Giants 8-3 to record another series victory and get their two-city road trip off to a winning start.

Now 37-22 overall and 20-10 on the road, the Orioles improved to 6-4 in rubber-match games. They also improved to 13-5-1 in 19 series. They didn’t secure their 13^th series win last year until their 28^th series, on July 13.

The O’s big third inning began with catcher James McCann drawing a six-pitch walk off the Giants' starter, right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, who had walked nine over 67 1/3 innings coming into this outing. McCann advanced to third on Jorge Mateo’s double, just his second extra-base hit (both doubles) his last 24 games. Adam Frazier’s sac fly to center made it a 1-0 lead.

Adley Rutschman kept the rally going with an infield hit, his 11th infield hit of the year. Anthony Santander popped out, but Austin Hays flared a single into right field for a 2-0 lead. An Aaron Hicks walk loaded the bases and when Ryan Mountcastle walked on four pitches, the O’s lead was 3-0.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Orioles and Giants have exchanged victories in the first two games of this weekend series. The Orioles won 3-2 Friday and were held to five hits in last night's 4-0 loss.

Former O's right-hander Alex Cobb went 7 2/3 innings, allowing five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts on 103 pitches. He is now 5-2 with a 2.71 ERA.

This was the second-longest outing of the year for Cobb, who has a 1.43 ERA at Oracle Park, the fourth-lowest home ERA in the major leagues. In his last four starts versus the Orioles he is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA. 

The Orioles have scored just three runs, going 9-for-61 in this series with three doubles and one home run. They have scored three runs or fewer in seven of the past nine games.

A loss today would give the Orioles three consecutive series losses for the first time this year. They are 3-5 the last eight games and 10-9 over their past 19. They are 19-10 on the road and 11-5 in their past 16 away from Oriole Park.

SAN FRANCISCO – Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson exited last night’s game in the third inning with lower back discomfort, but the club is confident he will not need to go on the injured list. He is not starting today, but manager Brandon Hyde did not rule out the chance he could play in the game.

“He is feeling better today,” Hyde said pregame. “So, getting treatment right now. Little bit unsure if he’s available off the bench or not. Off-day will do him good tomorrow and we should see him back in there against Milwaukee.

“We are confident (it’s not an IL situation). He is definitely trending better from last night. Waiting to see if he can even go today.”

With Henderson not starting, Josh Lester will make his O’s debut today against the Giants, batting seventh and playing at third base. He hit .282/.339/.549 with nine doubles, two triples, 14 home runs and 50 RBIs in 52 games with Triple-A Norfolk. His second and last major league game was Sept. 6, 2022 with the Tigers in Anaheim. He is 0-for-5 as a big leaguer.

“Gunnar would have been in there today if he could go. But it does give Josh an opportunity to start here, and (Anthony) DeSclafani’s splits against righties and lefties are pretty significant. So Josh will start, and let’s see if he can deliver a couple of hits for us," Hyde said.

SAN FRANCISCO - After a 4-0 loss last night in which right-hander Alex Cobb shut down the O's bats for 7 2/3 innings, the Orioles try to get back in the win column today in the series finale at San Francisco.

Baltimore (36-22) won here 3-2 Friday night and is now 19-10 in road games and 10-10 all time against the Giants.

Second baseman Adam Frazier will lead off again today. He is batting .217 in six games this season when leading off. Austin Hays will bat cleanup again and Josh Lester, called up on Saturday, will make his O's debut batting seventh and playing third base.

Gunnar Henderson, who left last night's game with lower back discomfort is not in the lineup, and after the game last night manager Brandon Hyde said he was day-to-day.

For the Orioles

SAN FRANCISCO – After an uplifting opening game of this series and a Baltimore win by 3-2 Friday night, by mid-game tonight the Orioles were down three runs and one player. It didn’t go as well as last night.

Right-hander Alex Cobb got rolling against his former team while his current one scored three runs in the last of third and beat the Orioles 4-0 in front of 32,416 at Oracle Park. The series, now tied 1-1, will be decided here tomorrow afternoon.

Orioles rookie infielder Gunnar Henderson left tonight’s game when he was replaced by Ramón Urías, who went to third base for the last of the third. The team announced that Henderson exited due to lower back discomfort.

Henderson, who hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning last night, batted once tonight and struck out on a Cobb splitter in the top of the second. He entered tonight hitting .203/.330/.386/.716 with six homers and 15 RBIs.

The injury might have occurred when Henderson, from third base, threw out Mitch Haniger on a grounder in the last of the second. The MASN cameras showed Henderson grimacing after the play.

SAN FRANCISCO – With their latest series-opening victory and road trip win secured, the Orioles play at Oracle Park again tonight looking for a series victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Baltimore scored twice in the second inning last night – on Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single and Jorge Mateo’s swinging bunt hit – for a 2-1 lead on right-hander Logan Webb, who entered fifth in the National League in ERA.

After the Giants (28-29) tied the game, the Orioles (36-21) gained the lead on Webb again on Gunnar Henderson’s blast to right field in the top of the seventh. The ball, which appeared headed for McCovey’s Cove, came up short of that and ended up in the back of the stands, but it was a huge homer for the 21-year-old Henderson.

He drilled a 2-1 changeup 410 feet with an exit velocity of 110.7 mph. Since he had a .659 OPS to end April, Henderson has a .765 OPS since the start of May. His OPS for the year is now .716, making it exactly league average, and his OPS+ is 100 on the dot. He has seven RBIs his past nine games.

The Orioles improved to 19-9 in road games and to 11-4 in the last 15 away from Oriole Park, to 14-5 in series-opening games and to 11-6 in one-run games. The Orioles have won 27 of their past 41 and 30 of the last 45.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Orioles added infielder/outfielder Josh Lester to their roster today as bullpen lefty Danny Coulombe went on the bereavement list. O’s manager Brandon Hyde expects Coulombe, who has 2.08 ERA in 26 games, to miss only the final two games of this series with the San Francisco Giants. He should return for the Orioles' series at Milwaukee, which begins Tuesday.

As for adding Lester, Hyde said the schedule of upcoming starters the O’s will be facing helped lead them in his direction to fill that roster spot.

“I'm excited for Josh,” Hyde said today in the visitors' dugout at Oracle Park. “He swung the bat so well in spring training for us, off to a good start in Triple-A. We're running into a string of right-handed starters these next handful of games. With the off-day here in a couple of days, we feel like we're in good shape, bullpen-wise, to be able to add another left-handed bat, and the guy is really swinging the bat well in Triple-A, and we're excited to have him.

“We had a lot of options going into the game yesterday knowing we were going to lose Danny. We had three of four scenarios and we had to see how the game played out last night,” he said of his roster, which for now carries 14 position players and 12 pitchers. 

The team moved bullpen right-hander Dillon Tate to the 60-day injured list with a right elbow flexor strain to create room for Lester on the 40-man roster.

SAN FRANCISCO - With a 3-2 win in the series opener on Friday night, the Orioles can win their series against the San Francisco Giants with a victory tonight at Oracle Park.

The Orioles (36-21) will again bat Adan Frazier leadoff with Austin Hays hitting cleanup and playing left field. Ryan O'Hearn is in the lineup again too, but this time in right field batting eighth. Ryan Mountcastle, who is 7-for-38 his past 10 games, was off Friday but returns to the lineup tonight at first base and batting sixth.

The Orioles would be 13-5-1 with a series win this weekend. 

For the Orioles

Adam Frazier 2B
Adley Rutschman C
Anthony Santander DH
Austin Hays LF
Gunnar Henderson 3B
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Aaron Hicks CF
Ryan O'Hearn RF
Jorge Mateo SS

During this month of May, the Orioles have twice won series after losing the first game of that series. They have a chance to do it again against Cleveland after losing 5-0 on Monday to the Guardians in a game that took just two hours and 19 minutes. The Orioles were held to just five hits by three Cleveland pitchers in front of 25,249 at Oriole Park on Memorial Day.

Baltimore (34-20) remained four games behind Tampa Bay for first in the American League East as the Rays also lost yesterday. The Orioles were shut out for the fourth time this season, all since May 3 and all in the last 25 games.

The Orioles are now 1-3 on this homestand and are 6-5 over the last 11 games. They went 13-9 in a 22-game stretch of games versus winning-record clubs that ended Sunday. But they lost to the Guardians (24-29) Monday as Cleveland won for just the fifth time in the last 13 games. Cleveland is now 8-10 in series-opening games and the Orioles are 13-5.

The Orioles dropped a third straight series opener and fourth in their last five series after beginning the season 13-0 in the first game of a series. They were shut out for the first time since May 14 versus Pittsburgh. The O’s have lost four of the last five games at Oriole Park after starting the season 15-7 at home.

Cleveland won a series opener away from Progressive Field for the first time since May 1 at Yankee Stadium. The Guardians shut out an opponent for the fifth time this season, the first time since May 22 against the White Sox. Their last team shutout on the road was on April 1 at Seattle, when Cleveland snapped a three-game road losing streak.