As they begin the final series before the All-Star break tonight, the Orioles are looking to extend their winning streak and possibly get within one game of or closer to the final American League playoff spot.

Beginning play tonight, the Orioles (45-44) are 1 ½ games back of Toronto and Boston, which are both 47-43 and tied for the last AL playoff berth. The Rays hold the first AL wild-card spot currently, with Seattle holding the second and the Red Sox and Blue Jays tied for that third spot.

Seattle has won 11 in a row and the Orioles go for No. 11 tonight. The Birds beat the Cubs in Chicago 4-2 on Tuesday and 7-1 Wednesday to extend the win streak to 10 and to move one game over the .500 mark.

Before they won that second game at Wrigley Field, the O’s had not been over .500 since April 8, 2021. The O’s have outscored their opponents 52-30 during the win streak. Their team pitching has an ERA of 2.93 in the streak with their starters ERA at 3.19 and the bullpen ERA at 2.58.

Over the last 25 games, O’s pitching has allowed two runs or fewer 15 times for an ERA of 2.59 in this span. In those 15 games, the Orioles are 14-1.

The Orioles have had a winning streak of 10 or more games in 11 different seasons in club history. The 2022 edition can join the list with a win tonight at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

The Orioles beat the Cubs 4-2 on Tuesday to extend their winning streak to nine straight games. That is the longest in-season streak since the club won 13 in a row from Sept. 7-22, 1999. Right-hander Jordan Lyles allowed just two runs over seven innings last night and Baltimore got a two-run homer from Ramón Urías and a solo shot from Jorge Mateo in their latest win.

Lyles allowed single runs in the first and second innings and then blanked the Cubs after that, finishing with 101 pitches. Over his past five games he has thrown four quality starts and pitched to a 2.76 ERA. O’s starters have thrown seven innings or more just six times this year, and four times Lyles has done that. Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer have each done it once.

The Orioles reached the .500 mark Tuesday night at 44-44. The last time they were at .500 before this was last April 10 at 4-4. The last time they were .500 or better this deep into a season was in September 2017.

Now they shoot for a 10-game win streak.

Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins admits it would bother him that his arm strength would get criticized. So he has put in the work to improve in that area. And both the eye test and Statcast metrics tell us he has done just that.

He is now throwing better than ever, and when you couple that with his ability to run balls down in the gaps, you have a player becoming an elite defender in center.

“I just feel like my carry (on the ball) is much better this year than it has been in the past,” Mullins told me during the just-concluded homestand. “Been working with the staff and (catch partner Austin) Hays, because he has a cannon, and just kind of picking his brain on what he kind of feels and what his body is feeling preparing for throws. Try to mimic that, and of course we long-toss a good bit to create more arm strength. My arm has been feeling good and I think it’s been showing itself.

“The accuracy, for sure, has been better. I’ve had a fair amount of accuracy in the past, but not the arm strength I would want, and that was a main focus of prepping for the season, the arm strength.”

Statcast tracks miles per hour on outfielders' throws when they have to make a strong throw, and not necessarily on just any throw in from the outfield. But on such plays, the data clearly show Mullins is trending up. He has gained nearly 3 mph per throw this year alone, and his throwing strength has improved the last several seasons.

A great homestand marked by close wins and walk-off wins comes to an end for the Orioles today. They are looking to complete it with back-to-back series sweeps and without a loss. They can do that with a victory this afternoon over the Los Angeles Angels.

The Orioles swept three from Texas to begin the homestand and have beaten the Angels by 4-1 Thursday, by 5-4 with Friday’s ninth-inning rally and by 1-0 on Saturday afternoon. Today they go for their first four-game sweep since July 17-20, 2017 versus Texas.

The Orioles' win Saturday gave the team a seven-game win streak for the first time since Aug. 23-30, 2017. The last time the Orioles won eight games in a row was when the team won 12 in a row from Sept. 30, 2015 to April 12, 2016 and the last time they won eight in a row in a single season was April 22 to May 1, 2005. 

With the win Saturday, the Orioles have clinched this series win, and they've matched last year’s series win total barely past the halfway point of the 2022 season. The club went 12-32-8 in series last year and is 12-11-14 this season.

The Orioles are now 24-17 at home and are 11-3 in the last 14 home games. As they try for a perfect homestand today they have already surpassed last year’s series win total at home. They went 5-15-6 in home series in 2021 and are 8-4-2 this season.

On Friday night as the Orioles faced Los Angeles Angels right-hander Raisel Iglesias in the ninth inning, they were facing an experienced closer who was called on to protect a 4-2 lead. A closer who, since the start of last season, has 49 saves, 0.940 WHIP, a 1.6 walk rate and a 13.1 strikeout rate.

But down to their last out, the Orioles produced four straight hits to beat Iglesias and the Angels 5-4 in a stunning, comeback, walk-off win.

On Saturday, O’s manager Brandon Hyde talked about the quality of the at-bats his hitters took at the end of that game and how in many late-inning situations this year, the O’s at-bats seem to get better. Then he wondered if his team could begin having more of those intense, quality at-bats earlier in games or more consistently through nine innings of games.

“For us to take the next step forward offensively, it’s going to be the focus of the at-bats be in the early and middle part of the game like they are late a lot of nights,” said Hyde. “Those at-bats off Iglesias were unbelievable. They had a pass-the-baton mentality of getting the right guy up. Sometimes with young players, (they) try to do too much at times. Game's not in the balance at that point, you know you are just trying to take the at-bat. But I feel like so far this year the last third of the game our at-bats have improved. And it’s usually off premier, back-end guys too.

“So it’s in there with our guys. And it’s not realistic to do it night after night after night. But, to be a relentless offense and to be able to blow teams out, which we have a hard time doing, or put up a big number, which is hard for us to do, it’s because we don’t take those at-bats we took in the ninth inning for nine innings. And for me, that’s our next step.

It is quite amazing, but for the third time in the last five games the Orioles produced a walk-off win last night, and each time they were down to their last out in the ninth inning and they either tied the game to extend it or, in the case of last night, scored three runs with two outs and none on to win it.

Wasn't it just a couple of days ago that the Orioles lost back-to-back walk-offs in Minnesota and were a team in a mini crisis?

Monday, on the Fourth of July, they were down by a run with one out left in the ninth when Adley Rutschman’s double tied the game and the Orioles won in 10 innings. Next night, same thing in terms of being down to the last out. Then Rougned Odor homered and they won it in 10 against Texas.

Last night there were two outs and none on bottom nine when Odor singled and stole second and third. Rutschman’s double on a 3-2 pitch pulled Baltimore within 4-3. Cedric Mullins’ RBI single on a 1-2 pitch tied it, and he reached second on the throw home. He scored the winning run on Trey Mancini’s single to left on a 3-2 pitch. The Orioles scored three in the ninth and beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4. 

Three straight huge, clutch hits.

Behind improved pitching and the ability to pull out some close games, the Orioles have crafted a five-game winning streak. They try to extend that tonight in the second game of a four-game series versus the Los Angeles Angels.

Jordan Lyles allowed just one run over six innings and Adley Rutschman hit his fourth big league homer and first at Camden Yards in Thursday’s 4-1 win. O’s pitchers held the Angels to six hits, and the O’s five-game win streak has come by eight total runs.

It is their longest win streak since they took six in a row from Aug. 7-13, 2020.

The Orioles have now moved within four games of the .500 mark (40-44) by winning 10 of their last 15 games and 16 of 25. They are 19-14 since June 1 and 33-30 since May 1. They are now 22-17 at home and are 9-3 in their past 12 games at the Yard.

The Angels (38-46) have tied a season low at eight games under the .500 mark after losing the series opener. They have lost five of six and 10 of 15 games. They went 4-2 versus the Orioles last season but are 1-3 this year in the season series.

After completing their first three-game series sweep of the season on Wednesday night, the Orioles welcome the Los Angeles Angels to town tonight to begin a four-game series to wrap up a seven-game homestand.

The homestand has started quite well for the Orioles, who, after recording 10-inning walk-off wins on Monday and Tuesday, beat Texas 2-1 last night, holding the Rangers to six hits as the O’s completed the sweep, winning each game by one run.

The Orioles' last six games have been decided by seven total runs. They lost the first two of this stretch via walk-off losses in Minnesota, and now have won the last four.

The Orioles (39-44) are playing .470 baseball and on a pace to finish the 2022 season going 76-86. They have won nine of the last 14 and 15 of 24 games. They are 18-14 since June 1 and 32-30 since May 1. They improved to 21-17 at home.

The Orioles recorded a three-game sweep for the first time since July 23-25, 2021 versus Washington, and they have now won eight of their last 11 games at Oriole Park. They have matched a season long with four consecutive wins. The O’s swept the Rangers in a series for the first time since July 17-20, 2017, when the O’s took all four games at Oriole Park.

It was a father and son sitting together in a baseball stadium. But these weren't just any two men. It was the interim manager of the Los Angeles Angels Phil Nevin sitting next to his son Tyler, an Orioles infielder. Tonight as the elder Nevin continues to serve a suspension he will get a rare treat. The ability to watch his son’s big league game.

His 10-game suspension will end Saturday and then he will manage against his son’s Orioles team. Today father and son talked about what figures to be a very, very special next four days for the Nevin family.

The last time the dad saw the son play a pro game Tyler was playing in Hartford, Conn., in 2019 in Double-A and his dad was a Yankees coach and drove two hours to see part of a game. He saw five or six of Tyler's games that year.

“It’s special,” Phil Nevin said sitting next to his son in the O’s dugout earlier. “You really have to ask me some questions after Saturday’s game as I really have no idea what to expect. We were meeting with the staff earlier and going over some things we normally do (to prepare) for the game and I got to his name and I didn’t even know what to call him. I finally said Nevin and the whole room laughed. So, it will be different. Tonight, tomorrow, just being able to watch him play a big league game if he gets in there would be special for any parent, right? Unfortunately, I have to watch it from upstairs, but maybe this is how it is all supposed to be.”

So how will dad try to get son out if he comes up in a key spot?

We are now less than two weeks away from the First-Year Player Draft, where for the third time in draft history the Orioles will have the No. 1 overall pick. They selected pitcher Ben McDonald out of LSU No. 1 in 1989 and catcher Adley Rutschman No. 1 out of Oregon State in 2019.

Now for the second time in four drafts, they again pick 1/1.

Here are the latest top five player draft rankings, which includes four high school players at the top, by MLBPipeline.com:

* No. 1 – Georgia high school outfielder Druw Jones. He is the son of five-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner Andruw Jones. The 18-year-old Jones gets 70 tool grades for running and fielding, and he could grow into plus power, too.

* No. 2 – Oklahoma high school shortstop Jackson Holliday. Yes, another son of a famous father, his dad is a seven-time All-Star outfielder. The younger Holliday has an impressive advanced hitting approach, and added size and strength this year.

The Orioles (38-44) have not had a three-game series sweep this season, and after back-to-back walk-off wins over the Texas Rangers, they can get one with a victory tonight at Oriole Park.

Cedric Mullins' RBI double in the 10th last night lifted the Orioles over Texas 10-9 in a wild one. The victory improved the Orioles' record to 20-17 at home and to 6-3 in extra-inning games.

Most walk-off wins in the major leagues in 2022:

10 - New York Yankees
7 - Orioles
6 - San Diego
5 - Tampa Bay, Minnesota

The Orioles have now secured the series win versus Texas and have gone 11-11-4 in series this season and 7-4-2 in home series. They've already surpassed their home series win total from 2021, when they went 5-15-6 at Oriole Park. And now they are one series win shy of tying their overall total from last season, when they went 12-32-8.

The Orioles have seven walk-off wins – the latest was by 10-9 in 10 innings last night over the Texas Rangers – but they have no series sweeps this season. They’d be happy to add to either total tonight, but you know manager Brandon Hyde would not mind a much more routine win that didn’t require a walk-off or a lot of late-inning drama.

But last night’s game had both. So did Monday’s game and each one in Minnesota too. The club has now played five straight games decided by six total runs, and four of the five were decided in the final at-bat by the home team. Two they lost, two they won.

If you like down-to-the-wire baseball, the Orioles' recent run has been for you.

The last two nights they were down to their last out in the last of the ninth and down by a run. An out from a loss each time, before an Adley Rutschman RBI double on Monday and Rougned Odor’s solo homer last night extended each game to the tenth inning.

The Orioles (38-44) are now 6-3 in extra-inning games, 20-17 at home, 12-15 in one-run games and 7-4 in games decided via a walk-off, winning seven times and losing four. They have had walk-off wins this year via a walk, error, fielder’s choice, hit-by-pitch and twice by home runs.

A team’s fortunes can change fast in baseball, and the Orioles are realizing that this week. When they hit five homers and beat Seattle 9-2 Monday night, they improved to 4-1 on this road trip and moved to within five games of the .500 mark. The next night they were locked in a 0-0 game in the eighth inning at Seattle. They would lose that game 2-0 and then fall in the series finale the next day at Seattle.

Then it was on to Minnesota to face the first-place Twins. In each of the first two games there, the Orioles have taken a one-run lead to the last of the ninth. And while they were 29-0 when leading after eight innings when this series began, now they have lost back-to-back in the last of the ninth in a pair of walk-off defeats at Minnesota.

Now the Orioles (35-44) are reeling with four straight losses and five in the last six games. They need to win today to avoid being swept in this series and to complete a .500, 5-5 road trip. One that started with such promise at 4-1 halfway through it.

But closer Jorge López has suffered back-to-back blown saves and the Orioles have lost two games in a row by one run for just the second time this season.

The O’s offense has had its own issues during the losing streak, scoring just eight runs on 20 hits the last four games and going 2-for-26 batting with runners in scoring position.

Maybe he’s been flying a bit under the radar on the O's farm, but right-hander Noah Denoyer should not be. He pitched well earlier this season for high Single-A Aberdeen and is now doing so for Double-A Bowie. In fact, he has been pitching well pretty much since the day the Orioles signed him as a minor league free agent on Aug. 5, 2019.

For a pitcher who was not drafted, his stats compare well right now to some of the best pitchers for the Orioles' minor league affiliates.

In 14 games this season between Aberdeen and Bowie, he is 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA. Over 51 1/3 innings he has allowed 33 hits and 11 walks while notching 66 strikeouts. He has yielded just a .183 opponent batting average and 0.86 WHIP.

Among O’s minor league pitchers throwing 40 or more innings this season, his ERA ranks first in the organization, and he is second in WHIP (to Grayson Rodriguez) and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.57.

In the 2021 season, Denoyer was also good, going 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA between low Single-A Delmarva and Aberdeen. He started this year with the IronBirds, going 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in five games. He had not been starting but throwing multiple-innings in relief, but then he made a start for Bowie on Friday night. Over five innings against Richmond he allowed four hits and two runs (one earned) on 79 pitches. It looks for now like he is in the Bowie rotation to stay.

When it comes to their preference for the first pick in the upcoming First-Year Player Draft, the Orioles, as always under Mike Elias, will not be tipping their hand on which player or players they prefer. The consensus seems to be they are working with a short list of five for that No. 1 overall pick on July 17, two weeks from tomorrow.

Baseball America’s top five for the draft shows Georgia high school outfielder Druw Jones No. 1 on their board, followed by Cal Poly shortstop Brooks Lee and Oklahoma high school shortstop Jackson Holliday. Then they have Atlanta high school star infielder Termarr Johnson rated fourth and outfielder Elijah Green of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., at No. 5.

Elias' top picks in his first three drafts with the Orioles started with his selection of Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman at No. 1 in 2019. The next year he selected University of Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad No. 2 overall, and last summer he tabbed Sam Houston State outfielder Colton Cowser at No. 5 overall.

The selection for this year will join Ben McDonald in 1989 and Rutschman as the third 1/1 pick by the Orioles in club history.

During a recent interview on WBAL Radio’s “Orioles Insider” pregame show with Brent Harris, Keith Law of The Athletic discussed how the Orioles play it very close to the vest in the lead-up to the draft.

After taking three of four games in Chicago and splitting games the last two nights in Seattle, the Orioles and Mariners play the third and deciding game of their series this afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

The Orioles hit five homers on Monday night as they won 9-2 over the Mariners, but then they were held to just one hit on Tuesday night in a 2-0 loss.

The Orioles (35-41) are 7-4 in rubber match games as they play yet another such game today. Overall, they are 4-2 on this road trip and 17-24 on the road for the season. They have gone 11-8 in their past 19 road games. They have won five of seven games overall and also six of nine and eight of their past 12 games. They are 11-6 over the last 17, 13-9 in 22 games and 21-17 over 38 games since May 19.

The O’s lost Tuesday while giving up just two runs, and they’ve allowed two runs or fewer in nine of their past 12 games with a team ERA of 2.01 in that span. O’s pitchers have allowed 11 runs the past seven games, 15 in nine and 24 runs in the past dozen games.

Baltimore starting pitchers have a 1.54 ERA (8 ER/46.2 IP) over the last nine games after Dean Kremer threw seven scoreless innings Tuesday. In allowing two runs last night the Baltimore bullpen saw a 13-game streak snapped in which the ‘pen allowed one earned run or none. The O’s bullpen ERA is 1.69 (9 ER/48 IP) over the last 14 games.

After taking three of four games at Chicago, the Orioles' road trip moves on to Seattle tonight for the first of a three-game series. A win would give the O’s a big leg up on another series victory and a winning road trip, and would also clinch a winning month for the Orioles for the first time in nearly five years.

They are 13-10 in June, outscoring their opponents 112-94 (+18). They need one win in their next three games to clinch their first winning month since August 2017, when they went 17-12. The Orioles have secured their first .500 month since July 2019 (12-12).

The Orioles took two out of three games the last time they visited the Mariners, from May 3-5, 2021. And the last time they played in Seattle, on May 5, 2021, left-hander John Means threw the sixth no-hitter in Orioles history in a 6-0 victory at T-Mobile Park. It was the first Orioles no-hitter since a combined effort by Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson on July 13, 1991 at Oakland, and the first individual, complete-game no-hitter by an Orioles pitcher since Jim Palmer on Aug. 13, 1969 versus Oakland.

O’s batters struck out 16 times in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the White Sox, which kept the O’s from completing a four-game sweep. The Orioles had a four-game win streak end in that loss, their longest winning streak in a single season since they won four in a row from Sept. 4 (in the second game of a doubleheader) through 8, 2020, and their longest overall since winning four in a row from Sept. 27, 2020 to April 4, 2021.

Over their streak, O’s pitchers owned a 0.55 ERA (two earned runs over 33.0 inning pitched), their first time holding their opponents to two earned runs or fewer over a four-game span since June 5-8, 2016 (2 ER/36.0 IP). And the Orioles are one of six teams to limit opponents to only two earned runs in a four-game stretch this season, along with the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres.

After posting wins by 4-0 and 4-1 the last two nights, the Orioles look for another victory in Chicago against the White Sox this afternoon. The game is expected to start late due to rain, and no official start time has been announced as of this writing.

A win would give the Orioles (33-39) both a series victory and a four-game winning streak for the first time this season. At 33-39 they are playing .458 ball, which projects to a final record of 74-88 over 162 games.

With Friday’s win the O’s have won three in a row, four of five, six of eight and nine of their past 13 games. Over the last 18 games, they are 11-7 and are 19-15 since May 19, when they were 10 games under the .500 mark.

Since going 7-14 in April, the Orioles are 14-16 in May and now 12-9 in June for a combined 26-25 record since May 1. With five games left this month, the Orioles need to go 2-3 or better to post their first winning month since August 2017.

The Orioles are 14-11 in their last 25 games. The last time the team won 14 in a 25-game stretch in a single season was from Aug. 12 to Sept. 8, 2017. When the Orioles last had a winning month, they finished 17-12 in August 2017. Their last month with a .500 record was July 2019 at 12-12.

He is one of baseball’s best pitching prospects, lefty DL Hall of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, the Orioles top draft pick from 2017. They selected the lefty from a Georgia high school No. 21 overall and now he is on the doorstep of the majors. But when he'll take that next big step is the question now for the Orioles as Hall closes in.

Perhaps his latest outing on Tuesday at Lehigh Valley showed us both reasons to go get Hall and reasons why more time on the farm would also not be a bad thing for the 23-year-old hurler.

Through nine Triple-A starts, Hall is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA over 35 innings, which is already a few more innings than he threw in seven 2021 starts with Double-A Bowie. He has allowed 27 hits with 23 walks while getting 57 strikeouts, recording a .206 batting average against and 1.43 WHIP.

That WHIP number is a bit of a challenge right now, as are the walks. In Tuesday’s outing, Hall threw a season-high 92 pitches but cleared just 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four hits and five runs, just two earned, and recorded five walks and three strikeouts. In his two previous outings he has walked five and fanned 17 over nine combined innings. The strike-throwing ratio took a step back on Tuesday night.

Before Hall's start on Tuesday, Norfolk Triple-A pitching coach Justin Ramsey, who is spending time right now helping the O’s staff, said Hall had indeed made some gains in this department this year.

After being shut out 3-0 on Tuesday night in Baltimore, the Orioles need a win at home tonight versus the Washington Nationals to split this two-game interleague series. And they turn to their hottest starting pitcher to get it done.

The Orioles have won four consecutive starts made by right-hander Tyler Wells (4-4, 3.62 ERA) and he has recorded three quality starts in that span, including in his last two games. Over this four-start stretch, Wells is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA, allowing six runs and 14 hits in 22 innings. He has thrown 88, 62, 84 and 86 pitches in those games, allowing a batting average against of .180 and a .597 OPS.

In his most recent start, Wells limited Toronto to one run and five hits over six innings last Thursday afternoon at Rogers Centre, and he won his battle with Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman. The Orioles scored six runs in the third inning that afternoon to provide him an early 7-0 lead, and Wells told us after that game how he approached having such a big lead to work with.

“Honestly, whenever you get a big lead like that it’s easy to kind of say you can sit back, relax and breathe,” he said in Toronto. “The way that I try to trick myself into thinking, I try to make sure that I am more intense, more focused than I was before. It’s great to have big innings, and the guys absolutely crushed out there today, but it’s also just as important to have a shutdown inning. Trying to stay intense with my focus and getting into that next inning and being able to shut it down is also important.” 

He did that, for sure, producing his fourth career quality start. At the end of that game the Orioles had just three quality starts in their previous 22 games, and Wells had been the pitcher for all three.