The theory that last night’s incident in the ninth inning that emptied both dugouts and bullpens and eventually sent Heston Kjerstad to the seven-day concussion injured list would light a fuse under the Orioles was doused pretty early this afternoon.

The anger lingers but so do the problems that made a first-place lead practically vanish.

Grayson Rodriguez’s streak of quality starts was over by the first inning, with three of the Yankees’ four runs scoring on Austin Wells’ two-out homer to the flag court. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back homers in the fifth, and the Orioles lost again, 6-1, before an announced sellout crowd of 44,018 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles hadn’t dropped a division series in the last 22, going 16-0-6, but they’re staggering to the All-Star break. They’ve lost 13 of their last 21 games to lower their record to 57-38 and they’ll need a victory Sunday to avoid back-to-back sweeps.

The five-game losing streak matches their season high and they lead the Yankees by mere percentage points.

OAKLAND – The Orioles’ two All-Star starters made the first two outs today, with Gunnar Henderson grounding out and Adley Rutschman flying out. Anthony Santander followed with a home run. Ryan O’Hearn and Jordan Westburg singled, and they scored on Heston Kjerstad’s three-run shot.

A day after surrendering 19 runs in a blowout loss, the Orioles pounced and vented early, leading from the beginning in a 6-3 win over the Athletics in their final game at Oakland Coliseum. And a few All-Star omissions – some might say snubs - couldn’t be silenced.

Santander’s homer off Mitch Spence raised his total to 23, tied for fourth in the majors as the ball landed in the right field seats. He was a finalist in voting for American League outfielders, missed by one spot and didn’t get selected as a reserve.

O’Hearn was a finalist at designated hitter, missing election by four percent of the votes. Jordan Westburg was a finalist at third base. They’re also staying home barring a late substitution.

Corbin Burnes brought the total number of Orioles to three with his fourth selection in a row. That was the cutoff.

In the final game of a three-game series and six-game road trip, the Orioles (56-33) play at Oakland (34-57) today. The O's won the series-opener 3-2 Friday and lost 19-8 on Saturday. 

That game produced season-highs or really lows for the Orioles.

* It was the most runs they have allowed this season, topping the 14 from June 21 at Houston.

* It is the most runs the Orioles have allowed since a 22-7 loss on Sept. 12, 2021 against Toronto.

* The Orioles also allowed season highs in hits with 18 (the previous most was 15) and homers, allowing five, one more than the four they gave up to Texas on June 29.

OAKLAND – The Orioles will try to win the series this afternoon while they also complete their West Coast trip, saying goodbye to the Oakland Coliseum for the last time.

They also want to avoid a second series loss to the Athletics this season.

Heston Kjerstad is in left field and Cedric Mullins is in center. Colton Cowser is on the bench.

Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter, moving down to seventh in the order.

Ramón Urías is playing third base again, with Jordan Westburg at second.

OAKLAND – A home run and walk in the first inning last night and a leadoff single and an error in the second threatened to detonate Albert Suárez’s start.

A runner stood on third base with one out. With his typical calm demeanor, Suárez struck out the next two batters to escape the jam and retired 12 in a row and 17 of his last 20.

Suárez allowed two runs in six-plus innings, and Orioles starters have surrendered only four in the last 23 1/3.

The Orioles began the series ranked first in the American League and second in the majors with a 3.42 ERA. Their 3.28 rotation ERA also was first and second, respectively.

They held those spots after last night’s 3-2 win at Oakland Coliseum, the staff at 3.40 and rotation still 3.28. The starters have allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of the last nine games.

SEATTLE – No team in baseball had a lower batting average or fewer hits before tonight than the Mariners. They scored the fourth-fewest number of runs. The pitching staff held opponents to the lowest average, but the offense sputtered and stalled while a division lead shrank like cotton.

Exposure to a hot starter wasn’t going to make the situation more comfortable.

Grayson Rodriguez followed his seven-inning, two-run outing against the Guardians by tossing 6 1/3 scoreless in the Orioles’ 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 36,173 at T-Mobile Park.

The Yankees lost to the Reds earlier today, giving the Orioles a one-game lead in the American League East.

Anthony Santander broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning, and the Orioles (54-31) delivered a nice bounce back after Sunday night’s 11-2 loss to the Rangers on ESPN. They’ve won five of six and posted their seventh shutout.

After a much-needed off-day, the Orioles (53-31) begin a six-game West Coast road trip tonight at Seattle in a match up of first-place clubs. The trip heads to Oakland starting Friday night. 

When we last saw them, the Orioles were getting blown out 11-2 at home Sunday night by the Rangers. But the Orioles had won the first three games of that four-game series. They finished June going 17-12 and ended a run of 30 games in a 31-day span by going 18-12 (.600).

The Orioles, who lead the majors with 139 homers, were held without one in that game for just the second time in the last 29 games.

Ryan O'Hearn and Heston Kjerstad drove in the O's runs on Sunday as the Rangers outhit the Orioles 13-7.

The Orioles had their best scoring and hitting month of the year in June, averaging 5.62 runs per game and hitting 60 homers. As a team, they batted .273/.333/.513/.847 during the month. 

SEATTLE – Ryan Mountcastle is out of the Orioles lineup tonight for the third game in a row.

Mountcastle was used as a pinch-hitter Saturday. Manager Brandon Hyde told the media Sunday night that Mountcastle was “under the weather.”

Heston Kjerstad is the designated hitter. Colton Cowser is in left field and Cedric Mullins is in center.

Jorge Mateo is the second baseman, with Jordan Westburg at third.

Gunnar Henderson’s on-base streak ended Sunday at 36 games. He struck out four times.

The relentless schedule and intense heat led the Orioles to implement a “breather day,” as manager Brandon Hyde called it. They treated it as a getaway game, with players allowed to report later and no batting practice held on the field. Dial back the intensity a smidge.

“Hopefully have lunch somewhere and be able to relax a little bit,” Hyde said this afternoon. “You do that periodically to try to keep guys as fresh as possible and not have them at the ballpark for 11 hours a day like normal.”

Freshness in these sweltering conditions didn’t seem possible, but tweaking the routine made sense for a team unable to find another gear and riding its longest losing streak in two years.

Credit the plan, Grayson Rodriguez, Gunnar Henderson or Cedric Mullins. All that matters is the result.

Henderson tied the game in the fifth inning with his 26^th home run and Mullins provided a late lead with his shot onto Eutaw Street in the seventh in the Orioles’ 4-2 victory over the Guardians before an announced crowd of 17,965 at Camden Yards.

During a five-game losing streak, the Orioles have allowed 40 runs and lost games where they scored eight and eleven runs. So Captain Obvious said the pitching must improve as they host Cleveland tonight in the series finale.

After getting swept once all year - from May 20 to 22 at St. Louis - a loss tonight would secure back-to-back series the O's have been swept. 

The Orioles (49-30) hit the 80-game mark tonight and begin play two games behind the New York Yankees (52-29). At 51-26, the Guardians have the best record in the American League and second-best in the majors behind the Phillies. The Yankees have the AL's second-best record and the Orioles have the third-best.

The Orioles have been outscored 40-23 during the losing streak and their team ERA is 7.71 in this stretch. Baltimore's starting pitchers have gone eight straight games without a quality start. In that span, the rotation ERA is 7.26 with a WHIP of 1.789. O's starters pitched five innings or less in six of the eight games.

In the past four games, O's batters have gone 2-for-24 batting with runners in scoring position. For the year, the O's are batting .262 when hitting with RISP to rank seventh-best in the American League. Their team OPS of .783 with RISP is fourth-best in the AL.

The losing streak has reached five games and the Orioles are one more defeat away from back-to-back sweeps and the third in 2024.

The Orioles haven’t been swept in consecutive series since May 13-18, 2022 against the Tigers and Yankees, also the last time they lost six games in a row.

Heston Kjerstad is in left field and batting seventh. Cedric Mullins is in center and Anthony Santander is in right. Colton Cowser, who homered last night, isn’t in the lineup.

Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter. Jorge Mateo is starting at second base, so his left hand and wrist are fine.

Gunnar Henderson has reached base in 32 consecutive games.

HOUSTON – Some nights you win by 12 runs and some nights you lose big. It doesn’t happen on back-to-back nights very often.

It actually was about to happen to the Orioles, who were down by 11 runs after Houston scored nine in the sixth inning. But it did not, as the Orioles' relentless offense produced three homers in the eighth inning when they scored seven runs.

In the end, the crazy final was Houston 14, Orioles 11 in the series opener.

The roof fell in on Baltimore's pitching not long after they had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth.

The Orioles, who began this night leading the American League in team ERA and tied for first in MLB, allowed three runs in the Houston fifth and nine in the sixth.

HOUSTON – After a stunning 17-5 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday, which gave the O’s two wins in three games that series, their road show has arrived in Houston for a weekend series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Orioles (49-25) are on a 107-win pace after winning back-to-back series from Philadelphia and New York.

Overall they have won four of their past five, 10 of 13, 15 of 21 and 20 of their last 27 games. They are now 24-11 on the road and score 5.6 runs per game in road contests this season.

The Orioles have gone 5-2 this season against New York and are 19-7 for the year in division games.

Their 17 runs topped their previous season high of 13 runs on March 30 versus the Los Angeles Angels. Their 19 hits topped the previous season's high of 15. The 12-run win was the largest victory margin of the year topping their 11-1 win on May 5 at Cincinnati.

The Orioles begin their three-game series in Houston with Colton Cowser out of the lineup for the second consecutive day.

Ryan O’Hearn is making his second start in left field, with Cedric Mullins in center and Anthony Santander in right.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman. Adley Rutschman is serving as designated hitter.  

Texas native Grayson Rodriguez is making his first career start in Houston. He faced the Astros last season at Camden Yards and allowed two runs in six innings.

Rodriguez has made three starts this month and allowed five earned runs in 19 1/3 innings. He’s walked two batters and struck out 16.

Reliever Jacob Webb mulled the latest injury that threatens to derail the Orioles, the sprained elbow ligament that might lead to surgery for Kyle Bradish, and pointed to a clubhouse full of players who rally in these situations.

“We’re pretty good at picking each other up,” he said.

Can be a starter or reliever. Can be a hitter. Brush it off and go play.

Grayson Rodriguez was the starter, allowing two runs in a season-high seven innings. Anthony Santander was the hitter, homering twice and finishing with four RBIs in the Orioles' 6-2 victory over the Phillies before an announced sellout crowd of 44,555 at Camden Yards.

Bryan Baker retired the side in order in the eighth and Craig Kimbrel struck out three batters in the ninth to improve the Orioles’ record to 46-24 and prevent a three-game losing streak that would have tied their longest of the season.

The Orioles' six-game stretch against the teams with the best records in the National League and American League continues under sunny skies this afternoon in downtown Baltimore. The Orioles (45-24) host Philadelphia (47-22) in the second of a three-game series at Oriole Park. They face the Yankees next week in the Bronx starting Tuesday night.

Last night's game featured a sellout crowd of 43,987 and a playoff atmosphere. A close game throughout that had a unique ending with a rain delay of one hour and 11 minutes before the 11th inning. When play resumed, Alec Bohm's two-run double off Jacob Webb gave the Phillies a 5-3 lead and win as the Orioles could not answer in the last of the 11th.

Baltimore came back three times to tie this game. Down 1-0 in the last of the third, Adley Rutschman's RBI double made it 1-1. Down 2-1 in the eighth, Anthony Santander's 15th home run tied it. Down 3-2 in the 10th, Cedric Mullins scored on a wild pitch and got his left hand in around the tag on a great slide to even the score 3-3. 

But the Orioles went 1-for-13 in the game with runners in scoring position and are 3-for-30 the last three games with RISP.

After an 8-1 win over Boston Friday night, the Yankees (50-22, .694) lead the Orioles by 3.5 games atop the AL East.

The Orioles placed starter Kyle Bradish on the 15-day injured list again today with an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow – the same injury that led to a platelet-rich plasma injection in January and delayed his 2024 debut until May 2.

Left-handed reliever Nick Vespi was recalled for the fourth time, giving the Orioles an eight-man bullpen.

The rotation is down to five starters.

Bradish exited last night’s game after the fifth inning with elbow discomfort. He’s undergoing more tests.

I’ll have more on Bradish later today.

As the Orioles began an important six-game stretch last night against the Phillies, the club with the best record in the National League and then the New York Yankees, the club with the best-record in the American League, it seems like a pretty important stretch of baseball.

How much will it say about how the Orioles will do the rest of this year? How much will it say about their chances to win this October?

Good questions that may not have answers right now. Success in this stretch doesn’t guarantee anything. But to see their team play well against two of MLB’s best will certainly make Birdland feel good.

How a good team stacks up against other good teams can be very important. Not just in the standings but for confidence. It can show a team that believes it can contend in October that they very well might be right.

So far this year the O’s have stacked up very well against good teams, a loss last night notwithstanding.

For Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, an emerging talent in the O’s rotation, the process to get better is ongoing.

Recently Rodriguez, 24, may have made some nice gains right in front of our eyes. When he allowed seven hits and one earned run in 6 2/3 innings on June 3 at Toronto, manager Brandon Hyde was raving about his outing. He liked the results yes, but he most liked how Rodriguez got the results.

He needed just 86 pitches in that outing to get 20 outs. He was pitch efficient, something that allowed him to go deep into that game and something if he can repeat, that could help him throw more innings over the full season.

Rodriguez pinpointed pitch efficiency as an area where he needed to make gains coming into this year. He has.

Last season he averaged 17.2 pitches per inning and that is now down to 15.9. If he had enough innings to qualify for league leaders, he would be 16^th in the American League stats in fewest pitches per inning. His teammate Corbin Burnes is 10^th at 15.3 per inning. A nice role model for Rodriguez in a lot of different ways.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Grayson Rodriguez hopped into the driver’s seat today and took his turn cruising the dome. Adley Rutschman rode shotgun.

After watching teammate Kyle Bradish retire 18 batters in a row yesterday, Rodriguez disposed of the first 15 Rays and didn’t allow a hit until Yandy Díaz lined a two-out, full-count single into right-center field in the sixth.

Rodriguez threw a career-high 107 pitches in 5 2/3 innings, the last 10 to Brandon Lowe, who dumped a broken-bat RBI single into right field. He walked off the mound, head bowed, to a standing ovation from another huge turnout of Orioles fanatics.  

Rutschman brought them to their feet again. He called a good game and took over it.

Anthony Santander homered again leading off the top of the fourth inning, Rutschman put the game out of reach with a grand slam in the eighth, and the Orioles moved closer to a series sweep with a 9-2 victory over the Rays before an announced crowd of 20,386 at Tropicana Field.