Orioles rookie Heston Kjerstad was a part of the Triple-A Norfolk team last year that ended up winning the Triple-A championship. He was with the Orioles when the Tides won that title in late September, but the lineup that night for the Tides included infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers, who were traded today to the Marlins for lefty pitcher Trevor Rogers.

That lineup also included Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo and Joey Ortiz.

It's easy to see how that team won a title.

Today Kjerstad is still an Oriole, but the other two are not.

“Norby and Stowers have been awesome. Not only great friends to me but great baseball players,” Kjerstad said this afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse. “They’re going to go on and have great big league careers. They’ve been fun to watch play.

Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle are on the bench this afternoon and Connor Norby is at second base, as the Orioles continue their series against the Padres.

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

Adley Rutschman is catching. He’s 8-for-64 (.125) this month.

Anthony Santander, who’s in right field, has hit six home runs in his last eight games and leads the club with 29, one more than his 2023 total.

Cowser has a career-high seven-game hitting streak. He’s 10-for-24 during that stretch.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Ryan O’Hearn has his left knee wrapped after being hit last night by a 95.1 mph fastball from Rangers reliever Daniel Robert. He’s out of the lineup but would have been on the bench with the Orioles facing left-hander Andrew Heaney.

O’Hearn stayed down as head athletic trainer Brian Ebel and manager Brandon Hyde rushed onto the field in the seventh inning. O’Hearn finally rose to his feet, walked to first base and refused to come out.

“Got a lot of family here, I don’t get to play here very often,” said O’Hearn, a Florida native who grew up in Texas and attended Sam Houston State. “Had probably 15 people in the stands, so I wanted to stay in the game, and glad I did.”

The other reason was the home run that O’Hearn hit off José Leclerc in the ninth inning. He lifted a slider 387 feet to left-center field and made it around the bases.

“Felt good,” he said. “I’ve been driving the ball to left field pretty well lately. I know in Camden that’s probably an out, but to be able to get it out opposite field here, it feels good.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles reinstated outfielder Heston Kjerstad from the seven-day concussion list today and optioned outfielder Kyle Stowers to Triple-A Norfolk.

Kjerstad had a full workout yesterday and was cleared to play. He’s in right field tonight.

Stowers is 11-for-36 with four doubles and a home run in 19 games with the Orioles. He had one at-bat after replacing Kjerstad on the roster, and his single off Clay Holmes ignited Sunday’s ninth-inning rally against the Yankees that produced a walk-off win.

Anthony Santander is the designated hitter tonight. Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base and Ryan Mountcastle is on the bench.

Colton Cowser is in left field and Cedric Mullins is in center. Ramón Urías is playing third base, with Jordan Westburg at second.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Danny Coulombe and John Means are visiting teammates at Globe Life Field this weekend, another reminder of how much they are missed.

Means is recovering from his second Tommy John surgery and has his left elbow in a brace. Coulombe underwent a procedure to remove bone chips from his left elbow.

Coulombe said his recovery is “going along really well.”

“I feel like it’s right on track. We’re pretty optimistic about it,” he said.

“We’re still just working on a little bit of range-of-motion stuff. But it’s coming along really well. And, hopefully, soon we can start some catch and then just get it rolling.”

The Orioles tweaked the bullpen again this afternoon.

Right-hander Vinny Nittoli had his contract selected from Triple-A Norfolk and rookie starter Cade Povich was optioned after last night’s game.

Left-hander Danny Coulombe was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster.

Nittoli allowed one run and struck out four batters in three innings with Norfolk. The Orioles signed him to a minor league contract on July 2 after the Cubs designated him for assignment.

Nittoli appeared in seven games with the Athletics this season and allowed two runs in eight innings. He appeared in one game with the Mariners in 2021, two with the Phillies in 2022 and three with the Mets last summer. He’s registered a career 3.07 ERA in 14 2/3 innings.

It is not an exaggeration to say the Orioles have done very well in the MLB Draft. They have high picks near the top of the board they like, players like Adley Rutschman, Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser, and some that came a bit later that are now All-Stars, like Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.

They have the No. 1 farm system in baseball, and that farm is a big reason they lead the American League East.

But as another draft is set to begin tomorrow night, the Orioles are confident, but not cocky, that they will do well again.

“I think we have some humility. We can’t just turn anything into gold. That is just not the reality,” the O’s vice president of player development and domestic scouting, Matt Blood, said Friday at Oriole Park in a predraft update with local media. “I think that good scouting makes good player development and good player development helps make good scouting. I like to think that our two departments are very in sync and aligned. I would really hope so now, since I am overseeing them both.

“But it is something we take a lot of pride in, is our efficiency of development. We are going to look for players we feel like we can help and players that, if they come to our system, they will have an even better chance to be major league contributors.”

On Tuesday night during the All-Star game in Texas, no doubt at some point the national television audience will hear one of the broadcasters point out the two O’s starters in the game – Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson – were the first two draft picks by Mike Elias after joining the Orioles.

Rutschman was the No. 1 pick in that 2019 draft but the Orioles got Henderson at No. 42 overall. Baseball America had him at No. 30 in their pre-draft projections.

The first two picks of the new regime are now All-Stars.

“It is definitely a testament to Elias,” Henderson said in the clubhouse pregame yesterday. “I know Rutch was obviously the consensus 1/1 pick. But to take a chance on me, I can’t thank him enough for that. Just glad to be able to go out there and help the O’s win some games.”

So why was Gunnar still there at pick No. 42?

Heston Kjerstad is starting again in left field tonight as the Orioles begin their three-game home series against the Cubs.

Cedric Mullins is in center field and Anthony Santander is in right.

Ramón Urías is the third baseman, with Jordan Westburg at second.

Per STATS, the Orioles have three of the 20 qualified major league hitters with a .500-plus slugging percentage – Westburg, Santander and Gunnar Henderson. This would be the fifth time the Orioles have had three qualified players slug .500 or better at the All-Star break, including four in 1996 and 2005 and three in 1969 and 2016.

Henderson is the fourth shortstop to reach 50 extra-base hits before the All-Star break, joining Francisco Lindor (55) in 2018, Miguel Tejada (53) in 2005 and Trevor Story (52) in 2018.

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.

OAKLAND – An opposing right-handed pitcher today will cause Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and his staff to dig through the stats packets and check the splits before posting the lineup. It isn’t as simple as loading up on left-handed hitters.

Hyde sat Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad yesterday against Athletics right-hander Luis Medina. Austin Hays played left field, as he did the previous night. But he was matched against left-hander Hogan Harris in the series opener.

Hays doubled twice and singled for his second three-hit game of the season. He singled and doubled yesterday and had a sacrifice fly.

Medina’s splits are pronounced and reversed, with right-handers before yesterday slashing .295/.357/.459 and left-handers slashing .214/.323/.286. Within all of the minuscule sample sizes, Hays was 1-for-1 with a double against him lifetime.

Managers love lineup questions a little less than media members love asking them, but Hyde offered a solid explanation before yesterday’s game.

SEATTLE – Ryan Mountcastle is out of the Orioles lineup this afternoon in the series finale in Seattle after returning to it last night.

Adley Rutschman also is on the bench, as the Orioles go for the sweep.

Heston Kjerstad is batting second and serving as the designated hitter.

Colton Cowser is in left field. Jordan Westburg is at third base, with Jorge Mateo at second.

Corbin Burnes seeks his 14^th quality start. He faced the Mariners on May 19 and allowed an unearned run with 11 strikeouts in six innings.

The Orioles were looking for their third four-game sweep of this season and third in their past 11 series since May 23. But lefty Cole Irvin’s struggles continued tonight as the Birds fell in an early hole and lost big on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”

Irvin allowed five runs over 3 2/3 innings as the Rangers scored two in the second and knocked him out during their three-run fourth. The Rangers denied the Orioles the sweep whipping the Birds 11-2 tonight in front of 23,439 in the series and homestand finale at Oriole Park.

The Orioles fall back into a first-place tie with the Yankees after New York’s win this afternoon. Baltimore is leading the American League East by percentage points at .631 (53-31) to New York’s .628 (54-32).

After just their second off-day tomorrow since May 31, the Orioles begin a West Coast swing Tuesday at Seattle and then head for Oakland.

The Orioles went 18-12 (.600) in their run of 30 games over the last 31 days.

The choices were laid out again yesterday for Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.

A right-handed opposing starting pitcher and a roster with left-handed hitting outfielders Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad, along with switch-hitter Anthony Santander. Ryan O’Hearn, also from the left side, capable of playing the corner outfield or first base or resuming his usual role as the designated hitter in this situation.

Kjerstad sat Friday night despite hitting a home run and finishing with three RBIs the previous game. Cowser broke a scoreless tie with his homer in the fourth off future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. Hyde appeared to make the right call – unless Kjerstad would have hit two.

We’ll never know.

Last night’s lineup put Cowser in left field, Mullins in center, Santander in right and Kjerstad as the designated hitter. O’Hearn played first base and Ryan Mountcastle sat until called upon as a pinch-hitter.

Heston Kjerstad heard the crowd roar, looked up at the video board and locked eyes with himself. Unsure what to do, he smiled and pumped his fist. The fans had found him. They wanted to salute the rookie, but it’s much easier when he jogs back onto the field.

Kjerstad was confined to the dugout as the designated hitter. At least it kept him close to the hydration station.

The hoses were in demand after his grand slam.

The noise for Kjerstad lingered and he finally moved to the top step of the dugout and raised his cap in appreciation, his bases-filled blast off Michael Lorenzen in the bottom of the fifth inning lifting the Orioles to a 6-5 victory over the Rangers before an announced sellout crowd of 44,286 at Camden Yards.

They were down 2-1 in the fifth when Gunnar Henderson doubled, Ryan O’Hearn and Anthony Santander drew back-to-back walks with two outs and Kjerstad jumped on a cutter for the Orioles’ fifth slam of the season.

Heston Kjerstad could recite Kyle Stowers’ at-bats yesterday despite the many miles that separated them. The home run leading off the bottom of the second and the RBI double later in the inning. The triple in the fourth after Coby Mayo’s daily homer.

The cycle was three-fourths complete with only a single keeping Stowers from an historic achievement. The easiest of the hits.

“I really hope he gets that single. That would be sick,” Kjerstad said while sitting at his locker.

“I’ve actually been watching the game, kind of keeping an eye on it to see if he can do it. That would be really cool. That’s a really hard thing to do. Anytime someone gets close, normally they’re not a single away.”

It wasn’t meant to be. Stowers popped up in the fifth inning and grounded out in the seventh.

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.

The Orioles began a seven-game homestand last night by shutting down offensively after the third inning and losing to the Guardians 3-2.

They always seem to leave a trail of questions as they move through the season, and yesterday was no exception. Some can be resolved quickly and others are going to linger.

Here are three:

What’s happening with Dean Kremer?

In a perfect baseball world, Kremer would be in the Orioles rotation later this week and helping to steady a ship that hasn’t sunk but is veering off course.

The gut check came early tonight for Orioles rookie Cade Povich.

The first three Cleveland batters reached against him – a leadoff single on an 0-2 pitch, a walk after getting ahead 1-2 and José Ramírez’s run-scoring single that had fans grumbling and a manager wondering how he’d cover the rest of the game if Povich didn’t stick around.

The inning lasted 31 pitches, far from ideal, but Povich struck out Josh Naylor on a sweeper and David Fry on a changeup after a double steal. Will Brennan flied out and the Guardians settled for one run.

They scored again in the second and the Orioles tied the game again in the third. Ramírez led off the sixth with a homer to give him the last word.

Brandon Hyde got 5 2/3 innings and 95 pitches out of Povich. Much more than the kid appeared capable of offering back in the first. But the offense has scored four runs in the last three games. Much less than what it usually does.

The Orioles are prepared to wait a little longer on Dean Kremer before he returns to the rotation.

Kremer is expected to make a third injury rehab start after throwing only 39 pitches in two-thirds of an inning Saturday with Triple-A Norfolk. He worked 3 2/3 innings and threw 59 pitches in his first outing, and the Orioles hoped that he could build on it.

“We haven’t finalized it, but I would assume that he’s going to make another rehab start just because he didn’t get his pitches up, didn’t get out of the first inning there,” manager Brandon Hyde said earlier today. “It wasn’t an ideal situation for him from a pitch-count standpoint, but he did feel good after the two-thirds that he threw down there.

“I’m going to assume that we’re going to give him another rehab start. We just haven’t finalized it yet.”

Cole Irvin and Grayson Rodriguez start the last two games of the Guardians series. The Rangers arrive next for a four-game set that apparently won’t provide Kremer with his first major league start since May 20 in St. Louis.