At a time when Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle have been two of the Orioles most productive hitters, they are showing an ability to hit in the clutch, too. They keep coming up with big hits in key spots, both early and late in games. They are doing damage and doing it in some of the biggest moments of the game.

It may be yet another step in the development of the young hitters.

Through 62 games, Hays is batting .280/.342/.456/.798 with 15 doubles, nine homers and a team-high 37 RBIs. He has an OPS of .797 at home and .798 on the road. Mountcastle has hit .269/.307/.480/.787 with 11 doubles, 12 homers and 36 RBIs. He went hitless Sunday to end an eight-game hitting streak during which he hit .400 with an .857 OPS. His OPS was 1.072 in June through Saturday’s games.

Hays is batting .302 with runners in scoring position, along with an OPS of .860 with RISP. For him it comes down to knowing one important fact – in big spots late in games, it's the pitcher who's in more trouble.

“It goes hand and hand with however is on the mound,” he said over the weekend about hitting in the clutch. “I feel like pitchers tend to make more mistakes in tighter situations in games. I don’t know if they are afraid to make a mistake or are trying to do too much. But for me personally, I feel like I get more good pitches to hit and more mistakes in clutch situations of games. And I just really try to lock in on not chasing pitches out of the zone and making those pitchers make a mistake. I feel like if I wait them out they are bound to make one.

O’s manager Brandon Hyde went to closer Jorge López again Friday night for a save of more than three outs, and once again his right-hander was fully up to the task. López got the final out of the eighth and three outs in the ninth for his 10^th save and recorded all four outs on strikeouts, the last with a 98 mph fastball that he threw past Brett Phillips. He protected yet another one-run lead.

Hyde would rather not have to call on López to do such heavy lifting. But he got the job done again. And his five saves of more than one inning put him in a tie with Pittsburgh’s David Bednar for the most in the majors.

“Prefer not to,” said Hyde before Saturday’s game. “Feel like we get two outs in the eighth and there is a big spot and I’ve got a right-hander coming up and Lopie is the best for me. Not the ideal way. But, because of the way he has pitched in the past, he’s not been a one-inning guy; he’s been a starter. He likes going multiple innings; I think that is important also. He wants the ball, and he wants the ball in that spot. He’s done amazing with it.

“Not every closer, ninth-inning guy, or high-leverage guy is like that. That is why Lopie is a little bit unique for me. He can give you a five-out, four outs, six outs, when he is your best option against the middle of the order or in a big spot in the game. When the game is on the line. Because of the pitch mix and he is used to pitching multiple innings.”

López has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 appearances, covering 14 innings. He has recorded a save in four of his past six outings, and 23 of his 28 outings have been scoreless. His 0.82 ERA ranks second among all pitchers (with a minimum of 30 innings).

Could it be that the Orioles are catching the Tampa Bay Rays at the right time? We rarely have had even a chance to say that the last few seasons about this Tampa Bay team that has made the playoffs three straight year and has won the American League East the last two seasons. The Rays won 100 games in 2021.

But they come to town after losing 2-1 last night at New York, and they were swept three straight in that series at Yankee Stadium and have lost five of six games on a trip to Minnesota and New York. Now it's on to Baltimore. The Rays lost the first two games to the Yankees by scores of 2-0 and 4-3.

Tampa Bay is 35-28 for the year and has dropped to third place in the AL East, 12 games back of New York, but is just 4-7 over the last 11 games. Since the Rays started the year going 18-10 in early May, they are 17-18. The Rays are 10-9 in AL East games, but have lost seven of their last 10 within the division. The Rays are just 2-4-2 their past eight series and are 2-7 in road series-opening games.

So yeah, maybe it is a good time to play the Rays. We’ll see about that starting tonight.

The Orioles (28-37) got swept in a season-opening series at Tropicana Field. But they won a series against Tampa Bay May 20-22 in Baltimore, winning twice in extra-inning walk-offs. In the first game of that series, the Orioles won 8-6 in the 13^th inning when Rougned Odor hit a two-run homer. In the last game, they won 7-6 in 11 innings on Odor’s fielder’s choice grounder that was misplayed at first base.

TORONTO – Don’t look now but the Orioles may slowly be making some gains on their American League East opponents. Not in the standings yet – as they're still in last place – but they're making gains in head-to-head competition.

Through the season’s first 65 games, the Orioles have already won or tied series with every AL East club – the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays.

The Orioles have won one series against New York, two against Boston and one against Tampa Bay. And Thursday’s 10-2 win at Rogers Centre, once a house of horrors for the Orioles, gave them a four-game split with Toronto.

In fact the Orioles are 9-7 in their last 16 AL East games. They are 13-18 (.419) overall for the year versus the AL East after going 20-56 (.263) last year. The Orioles are 4-9 versus the Yankees, but are 9-9 combined against the rest of division. They are 5-3 against Boston, 2-2 versus Toronto and 2-4 against Tampa Bay. They are 1-3 in series versus New York, but 3-1-1 in their other five AL East series.

Before the game Thursday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde talked about the club’s more competitive play within the division.

TORONTO – It was the night when Adley Rutschman hit his first career homer and Ryan Mountcastle hit two longballs. The Orioles rallied from five runs down to tie the game. It was set up to be a huge comeback win. But the Orioles instead absorbed a 7-6 walk-off loss at Toronto.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continued to torment O’s pitching with a 116 mph single into left field in the 10th inning to end the game. It was his fourth hit of the night, his first career walk-off RBI and third career four-hit game.

Some notes and quotes on the third game of this series, which Toronto now leads 2-1.

He got to wear the chain: Starting to swing the bat better and with a 5-for-18 mark over his last five games with three doubles coming into the night, Rutschman went deep for the first time in the majors.

Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos gave up just one hit over the first six innings, and it was Rutschman’s drive to right-center in the fourth that went the distance. It was a two-run shot that cut the O’s deficit to 5-2. Rutschman would later double for his fourth multi-hit game of the year and his second game with two extra-base hits.

TORONTO – He may not have put up stats as he did earlier in the year, but right-hander Jordan Lyles got his team off to a good pitching start tonight. And then his offense scored in four straight at-bats to back him. Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homered as the Orioles beat Toronto 6-5 to even this four-game series at a victory for each club.

The Orioles (27-36) improved to 3-3 on this road trip and to 6-5 in their last 11 road games. They are 12-17 on the year versus American League East clubs, but are 8-6 in their past 14 division games.

Lyles allowed four runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA. He has an ERA of 5.08 in eight starts within the division this season.

Jorge López got the last five outs and did some big-time heavy lifting again. It was his fourth save of the year of more than one inning. He got Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández in order in the last of the ninth. 

The Orioles broke the early scoreless tie when Mountcastle went opposite field with his 10^th homer of the year in the Baltimore third. That provided a 2-0 lead, scoring Richie Martin, who had walked. Mountcastle hit a 1-0 fastball 396 feet with an exit velocity of 106. And Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who had given up seven runs over 5 1/3 his past two starts, was behind in the third tonight.

TORONTO – After a blowout loss on Monday night, the Orioles look to even their series against the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at Rogers Centre. It’s the second of a four-game series.

Toronto (36-24) outhit the Orioles 19-5 in the series opener and bashed six extra-base hits in the win. The Blue Jays went 14-5 against Baltimore in 2021, including an 8-2 mark at home, and last night was the first meeting this season between the clubs. Toronto has beaten the Orioles seven straight games dating to last year.

The Orioles' up-and-down nature shows an 8-1 loss on Friday at Kansas City and an 11-1 loss last night. But they won back-to-back games versus the Royals in between those defeats, scoring 16 runs.

Toronto right-hander Alek Manoah, the American League ERA leader, shut out Baltimore on one hit through six innings. But in the seventh, against reliever Julian Merryweather, Adley Rutschman produced an infield hit with one out and then scored on Kyle Stowers’ double to left-center, which was his first major league hit and RBI. Stowers went 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch in the last inning.

The Orioles (26-36) are 4-4 over the last eight games and 12-12 over their past 24. They are 11-21 on the road, but 5-6 over the last 11 and 2-3 on this eight-game trip. The Orioles went 7-14 in April and 14-16 in May, and are 5-6 this month.

TORONTO - The Orioles lineup tonight is missing Trey Mancini. He was hit in the right hand by a pitch last night and had his hand wrapped today in the clubhouse earlier. X-rays showed there is no fracture and Mancini is hopeful that he may only have to miss a day or two, or a few at most.

“Trey’s hand is pretty swollen today,” manager Brandon Hyde said during his pregame media briefing. “It’s going to be a few days. We don’t think it’s going to be an IL stint. We got lucky with no fractures last night. But hopefully it’s going to (only) be a few days.”

Any time without Mancini will be challenging for an Orioles team trying to match up on offense with this Toronto club. Mancini is 0-for-5 the last two games but his .797 OPS for the year is 30 percent above league average. And since May 1, he is batting .326/.424/.482/.907 in 38 games.

Kyle Stowers will join Mancini on the bench as tonight’s game starts. With lefty Yusei Kikuchi (2-2, 4.44 ERA) starting for Toronto, Ryan McKenna is in left field tonight, with Cedric Mullins in center and Austin Hays in right. Ryan Mountcastle starts at first base and Adley Rutschman is the DH.

Stowers, the Orioles' No. 8 ranked prospect, per MLBPipeline.com, made his major league debut last night, going 1-for-3 with a seventh-inning RBI double.

TORONTO – During the long grind of a 162-game season where even after they feel they're making some progress and starting to play overall better baseball, building day-to-day momentum has been a real challenge for these 2022 Orioles.

They have one three-game win streak this year, and given a chance for a second one last night, they got hammered 11-1 by Toronto. It matches their biggest losing margin all year – 10 runs for the third time.

The up-and-down Orioles were held to 10 runs in three games versus Cleveland and then scored nine against the Cubs. They produced just six runs in two losses at Kansas City before scoring 16 and winning twice. Then the Toronto series started with a dud. 

And rookie right-hander Kyle Bradish, a young pitcher trying to find his way and make improvements in the rugged American League East, had another subpar night, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings – his third straight outing where he failed to pitch five innings. He threw 90 pitches but his ERA increased from 6.45 to 6.86.

Bradish felt he was making some progress the second time through the Toronto lineup. Maybe it’s something to build on, but he was still missing a key pitch again.

TORONTO – In winning the last two games of their series in Kansas City, the Orioles scored 16 runs on 25 hits and hit four homers. The sledding was much tougher tonight in their first meeting of the year with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto sent right-hander Alek Manoah to the mound, a pitcher who had allowed just 14 earned runs in 69 2/3 innings this year and had thrown 10 quality starts in his first 11 outings of the season.

He would not need a lot of runs tonight, but the Blue Jays got him a lot anyway.

They scored seven times in the last of the fifth to knock O’s starter Kyle Bradish from the game, and they routed the Orioles 11-1 at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles had been 7-5 in their last 12 games against American League East opponents, but now they have lost seven in a row versus Toronto dating to last season as they fall to 26-36 for the year and to 2-3 on this road trip.

TORONTO – After building some momentum with back-to-back wins at Kansas City in a four-game series split, the Orioles' road trip has now arrived in Toronto. The Blue Jays host the Orioles tonight to start a four-game series in the first meeting this year between the clubs.

The Orioles (26-35) lost the first two games in Kansas City before posting 6-4 and 10-7 wins on Saturday and Sunday. They scored 16 runs on 25 hits in those games with four doubles, two triples and four homers. They went 8-for-25 with runners in scoring position in those games.

The Orioles are 11-20 on the road for the season and 2-2 on this trip. But they are 5-4 in the last nine road games.

Their offense has now scored 31 runs the last five games, 124 in the past 23 and 222 runs in their last 49 games. They have hit 14 homers the last seven games and 21 in their past 12 games.

Toronto (35-24) beat Detroit 6-0 Sunday to take two of three in that series as right-hander Ross Stripling pitched six scoreless innings and three relievers completed the two-hit shutout. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer, his 14^th. The Blue Jays have won four of six and 13 of their past 17 games. They are 17-7 since May 15.

The Orioles have a chance to split their four-game series at Kansas City with a win today at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won the first two games of the series before the O’s picked up the 6-4 victory Saturday as Adley Rutschman produced his first career three-hit game and Tyler Nevin hit a go-ahead, three-run homer.

Rutschman hit three balls at 100 mph or more in going 3-for-4 with two doubles. And he is 4-for-7 with three doubles the past two games. Rutschman had a pair of two-hit games, but none of three hits until Saturday. He had gone 2-for-24 his previous seven games.

Right-hander Tyler Wells produced a quality start for the Orioles, allowing five hits and three runs over six innings. He is now 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA after his 84-pitch outing. The O’s bullpen allowed one run over the final three innings, and Jorge López closed it out to record his eighth save.

The Baltimore bullpen has allowed just two earned runs in 9 1/3 innings this series. On the year, the Baltimore bullpen ERA of 3.07 ranks sixth in the majors, behind only Houston (2.65), Detroit (2.80), the New York Yankees (2.89), Cleveland (2.93) and Atlanta (3.06).

Wells produced his third career quality start and the Orioles' 12th of this year. They are 8-4 when getting one in 2022.

He is still looking for his first big league homer and RBI. But Adley Rutschman now has his first three-hit game, and it came during Saturday’s 6-4 win over Kansas City. It helped to give the Orioles a much-needed victory and a chance to split the four-game series with a win this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

Rutschman began the game batting .153/.231/.220/.451. Despite that, the Orioles were simply not worried yet about baseball’s top-rated prospect. They knew how common it has always been for big-name prospects to struggle at the outset of their big league careers. Some O’s fans can remember how Earl Weaver once stuck with Cal Ripken Jr. when he was batting .117 in early May of 1982. Ripken ended that year as the American League Rookie of the Year and ended the next catching the final out of a World Series win.

But more than that, the Orioles knew the player and his makeup. It is off-the-charts good, always has been, and they simply knew Rutschman could handle some struggles. It would not beat him or overwhelm him. When Rutschman smoked a double at 100 mph in the eighth inning on Friday night, maybe that well-struck ball would be a turning point for him, some in the clubhouse and dugout might have thought.

That could prove to be exactly right.

On Saturday, Rutschman lined out in the second inning, and that ball was struck at 106.2 mph. His double in the fourth was hit at 95.3 mph, a sixth-inning single at 110.0 and a double in the eighth at 108.0. Not a bloop or flare among them.

In the opener of an eight-game road trip on Thursday night at Kansas City, the Orioles made up a three-run deficit, but when they fell behind a second time, they could not catch up. They lost 7-5 at Kansas City. The Royals host the second of a four-game set tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

The Orioles (24-34) are now 9-19 in road games. Their offense has now scored 107 runs the last 20 games and 205 over the past 46 games. This is all since the Baltimore offense scored just 24 runs in the season’s first 12 games.

Ryan Mountcastle’s two-run double to center in the O’s fifth tied the game at 4-4. He bashed the ball 107 mph off the bat off K.C. starter, lefty Kris Bubic. This marked Mountcastle’s third consecutive game with an extra-base hit and an RBI, and each of his last five hits have gone for extra bases. This after just 10 of his first 41 hits went for extra bases (24.4 percent) to begin the season.

O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles. That included an RBI two-bagger in the eighth inning. Six of Mullins' last seven hits have gone for extra bases over his last nine games.

The Orioles are now 5-9 (.357) versus the American League Central - including 2-2 against Kansas City - but are 19-25 (.432) versus all other divisions. They did not homer Thursday after hitting nine longballs in their previous three games, falling to 9-19 when they don’t homer. They’re 15-15 when they do. They fell to 11-3 when recording at least 10 hits this season, and two of those three losses have come versus the Royals. 

The Orioles (24-33) and Chicago Cubs (23-33) wrap up this quick two-game series tonight at Oriole Park after Baltimore hit five home runs and won the series opener 9-3 last night.

The Orioles tied a season high with the five longballs. They earlier hit five on May 5 versus Minnesota. Last night Cedric Mullins and Trey Mancini went back-to-back to start the last of the first, and it was the fourth time this year the Orioles hit back-to-back homers.

This marked the first time the Orioles tagged back-to-back longballs to start a game since Sept. 7, 2017 at Minnesota, when Seth Smith and Manny Machado did it. It was the first time O’s batters had hit back-to-back home runs to lead off a game at Oriole Park since May 10, 2012 in the opening game of a doubleheader versus Texas. Ryan Flaherty and J.J. Hardy did it then.

When the Orioles hit just four homers in their first 11 home games of the 2022 season, we had to wonder how much more difficult it would be to hit homers now that the outfield wall was moved back in left and left-center. But now the Orioles are bashing more and more homers in Oriole Park. They have hit nine in their past three games and 13 in their last six games in Baltimore.

Through last night’s game, the Orioles as a team have hit 31 homers in 30 home games with a slugging percentage of .375 and .678 OPS. They have hit 25 homers in 27 road games with a slugging percentage of .364 and OPS of .656.

Jorge Lopez Orange Jersey

To put it in his own words, Orioles right-hander Jorge Lopez, enjoying sustained Major League success for the first time at 29, is “letting it rip” and he’s having a blast closing games and being around a young team he said has had great energy from the start of spring training.

Lopez, who went 3-14 with a 6.07 ERA last year, mostly as a starter, now is 3-3 with seven saves and a 1.00 ERA. He has a 0.983 WHIP and his fastball velocity, which was 95.2 mph as a starter, is now 97.8 mph on average out of the bullpen.

And he has done some heavy lifting too, getting three saves of more than one inning, including a four-out save on Saturday versus Cleveland. Right now Lopez is up for whatever it takes in the late innings.

“I mean, every game you have to prepare for, no matter what. It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You have to be prepared for whatever situation. That is why we are in the bullpen, so, from what I have been learning, it’s just one more out. It makes it a little more difficult, but it is not something bigger than when I was a starter. There I might have to face 20 or more batters, so being able to just come out and hold the other team and have the chance to get the win is huge. It’s really huge and important for us to show what we can do and for me the first time being in this position is a good time to just let it rip and see what’s going on.

“So far it’s been really good. I’ve been feeling extremely good, my body and physically and mentally. So just keep going.”

The Orioles' homestand continues tonight as the club welcomes the Chicago Cubs to Baltimore to start a two-game series. The Orioles (23-33) are 2-4 on this homestand with series losses to Seattle and the Cleveland Guardians. Each time they lost the third and deciding game. They are now 6-4 in rubber match games.

Three of the last four O's games were decided by a run, and they went 1-2 in those games. They are 7-10 in one-run games for the season.

The Orioles scored just 11 runs and had only 13 hits in 91 at-bats (batting .143) in three games versus Cleveland pitching. They hit two doubles and four homers and went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position in that series.

Tonight is the first game between these clubs since the defending 2016 World Series champion Cubs team visited Charm City in 2017. The Cubs swept Baltimore in three games from July 14-16. The Orioles travel to Wrigley Field for another two-game set from July 12-13. Tonight's game marks only the 13th match-up between the two teams - who first met in 2003 - with the Cubs holding the advantage with a 9-3 record.

There are several in the Baltimore organization with ties to the Cubs.

Ignacio Feliz Aberdeen White Jersey

The Orioles high Single-A Aberdeen affiliate continues to roll with a record of 33-16 (.673) which is the best mark in the South Atlantic League and the second-best among 30 high Single-A teams throughout the minors.

The IronBirds have a roster dotted with some big names and one that features two of the O’s top 10 rated prospects in outfielder Colton Cowser and infielder Coby Mayo.

Lesser known with players more unheralded and mostly unranked is the Aberdeen pitching staff that has produced a team ERA of 3.76 to rank fourth in the league. In May when Aberdeen was 17-7, its pitchers ERA of 3.21 ranked first in the league.

I recently talked with Aberdeen pitching coach Forrest Herrman about some of his “length” pitchers - those that are getting the most innings whether that comes as a starter or out of the bullpen. This group has done a strong job all year for Aberdeen.

Herrmann also is new to the Orioles, in his first year with the organization. He was the Seattle Mariners pitching strategist for their entire organization in 2019 and was pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds at Single-A Daytona Beach in 2021. He has his own youthful look going and could easily be mistaken for a pitcher on the team and not a coach. But he’s also got plenty he brings to the organization and he has past ties to both Driveline Baseball and to the P3 Premier Pitching Performance center in Missouri where he spent some time working with current O’s pitcher John Means.

They are moving on up. The Orioles today promoted infielders Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. Both will now get tested at the minor leagues’ highest level, one step below the big leagues in Baltimore.

They are expected to be with the Tides (26-28) for the opener of their series Tuesday night at Nashville.  

Henderson, 20, is having a huge year and is now ranked No. 37 by Baseball America in an updated top 100 prospects list. MLBPipeline.com has him at No. 46.

In 47 games with Bowie he batted .312/.452/.573/.1.025 with 11 doubles, three triples, eight homers, 35 RBIs and 12 steals in 14 attempts, and scored 41 runs. He has made remarkable improvement in plate discipline and has walked more than he has struck out, 41 to 38.

The Orioles' second-round pick in 2019 out of an Alabama high school, Henderson will turn 21 on June 29.

When O’s executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias updated reporters Sunday about baseball’s top pitching prospect, Grayson Rodriguez, he noted that the right-hander is not doing anything with his mechanics that made him more likely to develop the lat issue that has now sidelined him.

But Elias did note one thing Rodriguez does that might make him more likely to have such an issue.

“I don’t think that he is doing anything particularly wrong mechanically that would have contributed to this. But, it is kind of a verified thing that very hard throwers like him have more lat recruitment, generally, in their deliveries," Elias said. "So, you do see this injury more with guys that throw in the upper 90s across baseball. If you recall, (Triple-A Norfolk lefty) DL Hall had something similar in 2019, and he’s another guy that throws hard. So, not a surprise.”

Elias confirmed Sunday that Rodriguez does have a Grade 2 lat strain but mentioned he hopes Rodriguez might return by September, although the Orioles still can’t exactly pinpoint his return. It could be sooner, but it also could be later. One thing that is all but set: Elias expects Rodriguez to begin the 2023 season in the Baltimore rotation.  

He could even pitch in the big leagues later this year if the rehab goes well.