Cal Ripken Jr. stepped to the plate in the sixth inning on Sept. 29, 1991, and stroked his second home run of the game against the Detroit Tigers. It would be his 34th and final homer of the season. Ripken, Baltimore's career home run leader, tied Boog Powell for seventh on the O's single-season home run list with that effort; both players now rank 17th. Powell, who has the third-most career home runs in Orioles history, held four of the top 10 spots on the single-season list when Ripken...

Browse the Nationals' individual offensive numbers this season, and it'll take you a bit to get to Nate McLouth's name. In pretty much any major category, go past Jayson Werth and Denard Span and Anthony Rendon. Keep skimming down the page past Wilson Ramos and the struggling Danny Espinosa. Eventually, you'll find McLouth, who sports a lowly .182 batting average and a .582 OPS on the season. But those numbers don't tell the whole story of how McLouth has performed over the season's first...

HOUSTON - With a loss tonight, the Orioles would fall below .500 for the first time since they were 9-10 on April 22. They also would have their third four-game losing streak of the season. The Orioles are 6-12 in their last 18 games, beginning with a loss to the Astros on May 11 at Camden Yards that denied them a sweep of the series. The offense bogs down or the starters can't get through the middle innings or the bullpen buckles under the weight of constant use. "I think we've seen flashes...

There have been a few players off to real solid starts in the Orioles minor leagues this season, but perhaps none is faring better right now than Double-A Bowie first baseman Christian Walker. Walker has always been a good solid hitter with gap-to-gap power, but this year he's continuing to hit for a high average and he's mashing more homers, too. Through 52 games, the 23-year-old right-handed hitter is batting .330 with eight doubles, a triple, 14 homers and 46 RBIs. He has an OBP of .390, a...

HOUSTON - For the first time since April 27, the Orioles are a .500 team. Losing three straight games and eight of 12 will remove you from the positive side of the ledger. "I think if there was an easy fix we would have found it by now," said first baseman Chris Davis. "It's kind of the nature of the beast. Sometimes, you're playing well and you're not clicking on all cylinders, but you're able to get away with it. Right now we're obviously not able to get away with it." Is the...

HOUSTON - There may come a point during the 2014 season when the Orioles are clicking on all cylinders. Quality starts, an abundance of runs and a string of easy victories. For now, it seems to be one or the other. Ubaldo Jimenez escaped enough jams tonight to hold the Astros to one run over six innings, but the Orioles were unable to do much at the plate in a 3-1 loss at Minute Maid Park. The Astros have won six in a row. "He deserved a better fate, but we knew coming in here that they...

After their starting pitchers had worked to an ERA of 7.71 over the last 10 games, tonight the O's got an effective start from Ubaldo Jimenez. But it still didn't lead to a win. Houston rookie George Springer continued his recent torrid hitting with a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh as Houston beat the Orioles 3-1 in the opener of a four-game series. The Orioles have lost eight of their last 12 and 12 of their last 18 games. Houston has won six in a row for the first time since...

HOUSTON - Ubaldo Jimenez had two clean innings for the Orioles tonight at Minute Maid Park - the first and the sixth. He finished the way he started, leaving the game with the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Jimenez didn't work past the fifth in his last two starts, but he retired the Astros in order in the sixth and left with his pitch count at 112 - six short of his season high. Jimenez allowed one run and three hits in six innings, with three walks eight strikeouts, a wild...

HOUSTON - Nick Markakis led off tonight's game with a single into center field, making him 21-for-51 (.412) in the first inning this season. Steve Pearce followed Markakis to the plate and flied to left field. Pearce is batting second to start a game for only the fourth time in his major league career. Manny Machado is hitting seventh for the 14th time in his career. Machado hadn't batted seventh or lower since the end of the 2012 season. "I'm trying to take advantage of Steve right...

HOUSTON - Orioles reliever Tommy Hunter has been throwing on flat ground for the past four days and could be ready to come off the disabled list when eligible on June 5. Assistant athletic trainer Brian Ebel is flying back to Baltimore for his son's graduation, "and he's going to pick up Tommy's rehab a little bit there," said manager Buck Showalter. "Tommy's been on flat ground for four days. He feels good. I'm going to let Brian kind of handle that once he gets there about when he...