The search to put it all together continues tonight for the Orioles

If the Orioles can get their offense going consistently and keep up some of the pitching we've seen recently, maybe they can finally go on a long winning streak or a long stretch where they win a large percentage of their games.

That is probably what it is going to take for the club to create some distance above the .500 mark. The most games under .500 the O's were this year was three games twice early in the season. The most games over .500 is six at 20-14 on May 10. The club's longest win streak is five games.

If it seems like when they hit, they don't pitch and vice versa.

Go back to the club's last road trip before this current one. The Orioles offense was good, scoring 51 runs over 10 games at Milwaukee, Houston and Texas. But they gave up 47 runs on that trip and went 5-5.

Now look at the club's just-completed homestand where the pitching gave up just 32 runs in 10 games and 11 of that came in one game. But the hitters produced just 29 runs and the Orioles went 5-5 during that homestand.

In one 10-game stretch, they hit well; in another one, they pitched well. But they didn't put it all together and went 10-10 over those games.

With Matt Wieters hurt, Chris Davis batting .221, Manny Machado batting .229 and J.J. Hardy not having hit one homer, the offense has taken a hit. We know the club has not gotten much out of the second base or catching positions at bat either.

But the starting pitchers have recorded nine quality starts the last 10 games with an ERA of 2.10. The Orioles have won six of those 10. If the starters continue pitching well, you have to think the offense can and will do enough to translate that into more wins.

Outfielder Nolan Reimold, who has been on a rehab assignment with Double-A Bowie, has missed the last two Baysox games. But it is not related to the neck injury that led to two disk fusion surgeries. Reimold suffered a minor groin injury and should return to the Baysox lineup soon.

In seven Bowie games, Reimold is batting .273 (6-for-22) with no homers and two RBIs.

Mike Yastrzemski and Trey Mancini made impressive debuts for Single-A Frederick last night. In their first games in the Carolina League, Mancini went 2-for-4 with a double, homer and four RBIs, and Yastrzemski went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.

They helped Frederick build a 10-2 lead at Carolina, but the Keys gave up nine consecutive runs - eight over the last two innings - to lose 11-10 in the first game of the second half.

The Orioles team in the Gulf Coast League begins a new season this afternoon playing the Rays. The O's GCL team is managed by Orlando Gomez. Kevin Grendell, a 20-year-old left-hander, gets the start on the mound today. Jomar Reyes, the 17-year-old infielder from the Dominican Republic is the starting third baseman for the GCL squad.

I'll publish the opening day GCL Orioles roster later today.

The baseball world was buzzing early Thursday morning when the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw pitched his no-hitter against Colorado. Kershaw became the first pitcher in major league history to allow no hits or walks and strike out 15 batters.

He came one error away from pitching the 22nd perfect game in the majors since 1900.

Here is the list of pitchers to allow no hits and no walks but also end with no perfect game thanks to a fielding miscue:

* Walter Johnson, July 1, 1920
* Bill McCahan, Sept. 3, 1947
* Dick Bosman, July 19, 1974
* Jerry Reuss, June 27, 1980
* Terry Mulholland, Aug. 15, 1990
* Jonathan Sanchez, July 10, 2009
* Clayton Kershaw, June 18, 2014

By the way, no O's pitcher has ever hurled a perfect game. There have been five no-hitters pitched by the Orioles in their history, but none since four pitchers combined on one on July 13, 1991 at Oakland. Here is the boxscore from the game where Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson teamed on a no-hitter.