TORONTO – As the Orioles look for another American League East win tonight, they will face Toronto left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is making his season debut and pitching in the majors for the first time since June 1, 2022.

In that game he gave up three runs over four innings versus the Chicago White Sox, and later that month needed Tommy John surgery. He pitched just 27 innings last year, going 2-0 with a 5.67 ERA in six games before his surgery.

He makes his return tonight and the Blue Jays say they will temporarily go with a six-man rotation to give their other starters an extra day's rest.

Ryu pitched in four minor league rehab games, two at Triple-A, and allowed an ERA of 2.00. In 18 innings he allowed 13 hits with one walk, 16 strikeouts and 0.778 WHIP.

Over the weekend he pitched a final bullpen session as a tune-up for tonight.

PHILADELPHIA – Easy isn’t a road traveled by the Orioles. Whether at home or in a visiting ballpark. Their GPS won’t pick it up.

Kyle Bradish cruised through the first two innings tonight on six and eight pitches, and Adley Rutschman hit a three-run homer in the top of the third. A crooked number.

There’s rarely a straight line to the finish. The Orioles just bank of the right outcome, which didn’t happen tonight.

The lead was gone by the fourth, on J.T. Realmuto’s two-run double. Edmundo Sosa homered with two outs in the seventh after Austin Hays had tied the game in the top half of the inning.

A team addicted to comebacks ran out of them.

A familiar spot isn’t where the Orioles want to hunker down. They don’t find comfort on the wrong side of the score. The struggle to keep fighting back is real.

Harold Ramírez singled off Kyle Bradish tonight in the second inning, Brandon Lowe raced home, and the Orioles fell behind again. With their offense on mute.

Did they have a 36^th comeback victory in them?

They didn’t have a run.

Zach Elfin tossed seven scoreless innings to outduel Kyle Bradish, and the Orioles relinquished sole possession of first place in the division with a 3-0 loss to the Rays before an announced crowd of 19,703 at Tropicana Field.

With a series-opening win against Tampa Bay under their belts, the Orioles look to make it two in a row tonight to open this four-game series. And they start tonight behind a pitcher on a real roll.

The Orioles (59-37) beat the Rays (60-40) 4-3 in 10 innings in the opener of the series. Colton Cowser’s sac fly to left on an 0-2 pitch scored the go-ahead run in the 10^th. And then right-hander Félix Bautista put up a zero to get the win in the last of the 10th. Bautista, pitching for the second day in a row, needed just 15 pitches to get six outs in the victory.

The Orioles are in first place for the first time after 95 games of a season since Aug. 15, 2016. Until last night, the Rays had been in first place (or tied for the lead) in the American League East for the entire season.

The win means the Orioles have now gone 71 straight series without being swept. Baltimore is now 29-17 on the road, 6-5 in extra-inning games, 11-5 in July, 21-11 in series-opening games and 17-9 in one-run games.

The Orioles have now won 10 of their past 12 games, outscoring opponents 79-44 in that span.

In an effort to get their sixth series sweep and fifth three-game sweep of the year, the O’s sent right-hander Kyle Bradish to the mound today to face the Miami Marlins.

They had to like their chances with Bradish, a pitcher on a roll, who started this day at 5-4 with a 3.32 ERA. Had he enough innings to qualify for league leaders, he would be 10^th in the American League in ERA.

And over his past 11 starts since May 12, he was 4-3 with a 2.52 ERA and .589 opponent OPS. Bradish had not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his last five starts.

And his strong pitching continued today as the Orioles got him a quick three-run lead on their way to a 5-4 win and a series sweep of the Marlins (53-42), the team with third-best record in the National League.

Trailing 5-0 to the ninth inning, the Marlins scored four runs off Eduard Bazardo and Danny Coulombe. Coulombe did get Luis Arraez to fly to left for the final out and strand the tying run at second to record his first career big league save.

The Orioles have four three-game sweeps this year - three at Camden Yards - and will try to add to the list today against the Miami Marlins. The O's have posted 5-2 and 6-5 wins to start this series and homestand. 

They now have 33 comeback wins, tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the most in the major leagues. Since the start of 2022, they have 69 wins in games they have trailed, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the most in the majors over that period.

The Orioles fell behind 4-0 in the second inning last night, but in the home half cut that to 4-3. Down 5-3, they scored once in the fifth to trail 5-4. They scored twice in the seventh to tie the game and take the lead. A lead they would hold onto.

So that is now a seven-game win streak for the Orioles. That ties their season high from April 16-24. They had a plus-16 run differential in the earlier win streak. It is plus-39 in the current win streak.

The Orioles have outscored their last seven opponents, 55-16.

Yesterday in this space we discussed the 100-pitch mark for starting pitchers in big league baseball. It is becoming more and more rare for some to hit the century mark in pitch cout. The Orioles have just 11 games this year where their starter went 100 or more pitches. Yet they still rank 12^th in MLB and seventh in the AL as their starters average 88.9 pitches per game.

There are just six teams in MLB that average 90 or more starter pitches per night at the All-Star break and the leader is the Chicago White Sox at 94.1. No MLB team even averages 95 pitches per game from their starting rotation.

The White Sox lead the majors with 33 games with a hurler going 100 pitches or more this year, per Stats Perform. Philadelphia is next with 27 followed by San Diego and Toronto with 25 and Atlanta with 23. At, the O's rank tied for 19th. Colorado is last with just two such games and Tampa Bay has second fewest with five. 

O’s manager Brandon Hyde discussed in this space yesterday the trend throughout the industry where, and he said, “for some very good reasons” teams don’t train pitchers on the farm to throw this many pitches. Some pitchers have to learn to get deeper only when they get to the majors.

“I’d love to push these guys as far as they possibly can go. Yeah,” Hyde said recently. “You know, it’s a lot easier to do when you are up 6-1 than in a 3-2 game when you walk the leadoff hitter in the sixth or seventh inning. Every circumstance is totally different and things change on a night-to-night basis. But I go into a game, excluding Tyler Wells last year, saying I’m going to take our pitcher that day as far as I can possibly go to try and win the game. Thinking that way.”

It has become a barrier for starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. A pitch count that reaches 100. We don’t see it very often anymore. Commonplace back in the day, so to speak, not so much anymore.

In fact there are just six teams that average even 90 or more pitches per night from their starters among the 30 clubs in the major leagues right now.

94.1 - Chicago White Sox
92.1 - Houston
91.1 - Washington
91.0 - Toronto and St. Louis
90.6 - Los Angeles Angels

That is the list. No other team averages more than 90 pitches a game from their starters.

The team ranking last is a shocker. It’s Tampa Bay at 74.1. I imagine that's due in part to the Rays' frequent use of openers.

As the Orioles get set to make a pick outside of the top five picks in round one of the MLB Draft for the first time in a while on Sunday, draft expert Jim Callis gives the Orioles props for both drafting and developing young talent under Mike Elias and his front office staff.

And certainly, it is not a stretch to praise an O's organization that now has the No. 1 ranked farm system in the sport.

They drafted No. 1 overall in 2019, taking catcher Adley Rutschman and No. 2 in the next year selecting outfielder Heston Kjerstad. Their first selection in the 2021 draft, taken No. 5 overall, was outfielder Colton Cowser who just arrived in the majors. Last year, with the third No. 1 overall pick in club history, they selected high school shortstop Jackson Holliday. MLBPipeline.com now ranks him as the No. 1 prospect on their top 100 list.

“They have obviously done well (in the draft)," Callis said this week. "You can argue when you are picking one, two, five and one, you should do pretty well. They got Gunnar Henderson with their second pick back in 2019. I think it’s not just in drafting, but also development. Guys are coming into their system and getting better.

“Heston Kjerstad is a guy we have talked a lot about, took forever to get going and now they’ve got him back to where he was. He’s everything they hoped he would be. Some later round picks like Coby Mayo, granted was an overslot signing, Joey Ortiz and Jordan Westburg have developed well. They’ve made good picks and good picks later in the draft.

NEW YORK – The latest prospect-packed Orioles lineup tonight includes Colton Cowser in left field again, with Gunnar Henderson leading off and playing shortstop, and Jordan Westburg at second base.

Manager Brandon Hyde put Ramón Urías at third base and Aaron Hicks in center field.

Cedric Mullins is the designated hitter.

Austin Hays stays on the bench.

Kyle Bradish has registered a 3.58 ERA and 1.205 WHIP in 15 starts. He’s held opponents to six runs in his last four starts covering 25 innings.

The Orioles reached the mathematical halfway point of the 2023 season this afternoon in frustrating fashion. They got a strong pitching performance from starter Kyle Bradish, but for the second day in a row, their offense was shut down.

Minnesota improved to 42-42, blanking the Orioles 1-0 in front of a crowd of 40,012 at Oriole Park that came to get O’s Hawaiian shirts and hoped to see the home team win. They had to settle for 1-for-2 today at the Yard.

The Orioles are 48-33 at the midpoint of the year. That’s a 96-win pace that would likely lead to a playoff berth. But in the short term, they now have their first four-game losing streak of this year.

The Orioles were held to three singles today, going 3-for-30. They were shutout 1-0 for the first time since Sept. 11, 2022 versus Boston. 

They are now 4-6-1 in their past 11 series since May 26, going 15-16 in that span.

After their 10-3 win over Cincinnati on Monday night, the Orioles had a three-game win streak and were 3-1 on this homestand. They were on their way, it looked like, to having a strong nine-game run at Oriole Park. But three losses later, by a combined 22-9 score, the Orioles are 3-4 on the homestand and need two wins the next two days to have a winning run in this stretch at home.

After Monday’s games the Orioles were 19 games over the .500 mark for the first time since the 2014 season. They begin play today at 48-32 (.600) and are 6 1/2 games back of American League East-leading Tampa Bay.

The Birds have lost three in a row, five of eight and seven of their past 12 games. Over a longer stretch, they are 11-8 the past 19 games and finished June with an 8-1 loss to Minnesota last night, completing a record of 13-11 for the month.

Earlier, the Orioles went 1-0 in March, 18-9 in April and 16-12 in May.

The O’s offense over the last six games has scored six, three, 10, one, seven and one run.

The bullpen never rests.

The Orioles made another move this morning, selecting Chris Vallimont’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk and optioning left-hander Bruce Zimmermann.

Reliever Mychal Givens was transferred to the 60-day injured list to create room on the 40-man roster. He’s headed down to Sarasota next week and will pitch in the Florida Complex League after the All-Star break.

Givens hasn’t pitched for the Orioles since making his sixth appearance on May 31. He won’t join them before August.

Vallimont, 26, is waiting to make his major league debut. He’s posted a 5.02 ERA in 22 games with Norfolk, including eight starts.

One day after Orioles reserve outfielder Ryan McKenna hit a walk-off home run in the 10^th inning, backup catcher Anthony Bemboom broke a tie in less dramatic fashion.

With less pop and some help from the Mariners’ defense, but only the result mattered.

Bemboom popped up a fastball down the right field line in the fifth inning that fell for a hit. Mariners second baseman José Caballero booted it further toward the corner, and Jorge Mateo came around to score from first.

Kyle Bradish retired 13 of his last 14 batters to complete seven innings, matching his season high, and the Orioles won 3-2 before an announced crowd of 19,143 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are 47-29 after claiming their 16^th series. Closer Félix Bautista notched his 21^st save after surrendering a game-tying home run yesterday to Mike Ford with two outs in the ninth.

With a walk-off win yesterday on Ryan McKenna’s two-run homer to right in the last of the 10^th, the Orioles moved a game closer to first place, strengthened their hold on a wild card playoff spot and set themselves up to try to win another series.

The Orioles (46-29) are 4 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay, which lost Saturday. They have won three of their past five games and nine of the last 14. They are now 4-4 in extra innings, 11-8 in June and 23-14 at Oriole Park.

They have split the first two games of this series and are 7-4 in rubber match games.

They came up with their fourth walk-off win of the year, and they have had five such losses. They have walk-off wins on April 13 against Oakland and April 21 and April 23 against Detroit. Adley Rutschman’s homer ended the Oakland game and Adam Frazier was the batter for the other two previous walk-off wins.

McKenna, who drilled a 95 mph fastball 393 feet to right, produced his first career walk-off hit.

The Orioles road trip continues tonight at Tropicana Field as Baltimore begins a two-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays, the American League East leader and the club with the best record in MLB.

The Rays (51-24, .680) are on a pace to win 110 games, while the Orioles (44-27, .620) are on pace for 100 wins. The Rays lead the Orioles by five games atop the division but that margin is just three games in the loss column. While Tampa Bay's record ranks first in MLB, the Orioles are fourth in overall win percentage.

Both teams have won at a lesser pace over recent stretches. The Orioles are 3-4 in their past seven series, going 11-10 in 21 games in that span. But they have also won seven of their past 10.

The Orioles beat the Cubs Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep. They have not been swept in a series of at least two games since a three-game set from May 13-15, 2022 at Detroit. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, their streak of 62 consecutive series without being swept is the longest active streak in MLB, ahead of a 36-series streak by Arizona and a 23-series streak by Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay lost the last two games of its recent series with San Diego, and has gone 4-5 over the last nine games. In the last two series, the Rays went 2-2 against Oakland and 1-2 versus San Diego.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Gunnar Henderson returns to the Orioles lineup and the leadoff spot tonight against the Rays after being scratched Sunday with the stomach flu.

Henderson is the designated hitter.

Ryan O’Hearn is batting cleanup again and playing first base.  

O’Hearn is batting .349 with a 1.003 OPS in 29 games with the Orioles. Only five players have hit .350 or higher in their first 30 games with the Orioles, and seven have registered a 1.000 OPS or higher, per STATS.

Austin Hays is 9-for-17 in his last four games and 12-for-25 in his last six. He’s collected at least two hits in his last four games, the longest streak of multiple-hit games in his career.

To get his first career win in his own division and finally slay the Blue Jays, who battered him last season, Kyle Bradish needed to outduel the pitcher who hadn’t lost to the Orioles in 12 starts.

A pitcher who was perfect through four innings and unhittable until the seventh.

Bradish had good stuff and bad timing.

José Berríos retired the first 13 batters and was still eyeing history when Adley Rutschman singled into center field leading off the seventh. Just a minor glitch for Berríos, who again brought his best against the Orioles.

George Springer homered off Bradish with one out in the sixth, a changeup traveling 437 feet to left field, and the Blue Jays didn’t seem to need anything else in a 3-1 win before an announced crowd of 16,083 at Camden Yards.

After scoring 11 runs in back-to-back games, the Orioles now have a five-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents 37-15 in that span. They are now 42-24 for the year and four games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the American League East.

The Rays (48-22, .686) have the best record in the majors and the Orioles are now No. 2. Their .636 win percentage would produce 103 wins over a full year of 162 games.

Their longest win streak of the season is seven in a row from April 16-24. The Orioles are 21-12 at both home and on the road. They are now 16-6 in series-opening games.

The Orioles have gone 4-0 against Toronto this season by a combined 31-15 score, and are 13-10 against them since the start of 2022.

Gunnar Henderson went 3-for-5 in Tuesday’s 11-6 win over Toronto and is now batting .246/.355/.475/.830 with an OPS+ of 130, which is 30 percent above league average.

Joey Ortiz is back with the Orioles for the third time.

The Orioles recalled Ortiz from Triple-A Norfolk this afternoon and optioned Mark Kolozsvary, who joined the active roster yesterday and caught the ninth inning.

The move is another response to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle going on the 10-day injured list yesterday with vertigo.

Ortiz’s last game with the Orioles was May 24 in New York. He was optioned two days later and didn’t play for Norfolk again until June 8 due to illness, but he’s gone 9-for-25 with two doubles, a triple and two home runs this month.

Ortiz is 7-for-27 with the Orioles. He’s on the bench tonight.