TORONTO - It was an All-Star play by an All-Star shortstop.

With two runners on and the infield in, Bo Bichette, with his toes on the infield grass, backhanded a 94-mph one-hopper. He then fired an off-balance throw to catcher Danny Jansen, who barely had to move his glove to apply the tag on the runner coming home. The entire whirlwind exchange took about two seconds.

It didn’t matter. Jorge Mateo scored anyway. Bichette was helpless to stop it.

It was the kind of game-tilting speed that the Orioles have used to their advantage all season, and they broke it out again in a 7-3 win over the Blue Jays.

“We run on contact a lot, and we do because we have some team speed,” Brandon Hyde said after the game. “For him to be able to force a throw there, we’ve done it a lot this year. Mateo’s speed is off the charts, obviously, and it was a huge play.”

TORONTO - Much like the American League wild card standings entering Monday night, the glove on Ryan Mountcastle’s left hand tonight will be tight. Perhaps uncomfortably so.

But with so much riding on the Orioles’ three-game series in Toronto, the 25-year-old will “jam” the mitt on and get back on the field. 

The Orioles kept Mountcastle out of Sunday’s lineup in St. Petersburg, Fla., opting for fellow righty Tyler Nevin. The day off made a massive difference, said Brandon Hyde.

“I think that the entire day (Sunday) of getting some rest on that hand was beneficial,” Hyde said in the visitors dugout before batting practice. “He spent the majority of the day getting treatment on it yesterday and then today as well. He responded pretty well and is feeling a lot better, so he’s back in there.”

Mountcastle was frustrated he had to miss the series finale against Tampa Bay. But with the Blue Jays in control of the top wild card berth and the Orioles just 1 ½ games out of the final spot, he’s playing through some pain in the hopes of helping the team gain some ground.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles will try again today to win their first series against the Rays at Tropicana Field since 2017.

Ryan Mountcastle is out of the lineup after former Orioles reliever Jimmy Yacabonis drilled him on the left hand yesterday in the ninth inning. Mountcastle swung a bat and played catch this morning, and had the hand wrapped in ice again later.

“It’s sore, swollen, but I’m going to try to work, I guess,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get out there and play, but as of right now it doesn’t really feel great, but try to work it out.

“Hopefully, I can get in there today, but we’ll see. … In the morning it felt about the same as it did right after. Yeah, doesn’t feel great.”

Manager Brandon Hyde said Mountcastle is day-to-day.

Terrin Vavra returned to his locker yesterday morning as neighbor Tyler Nevin wrapped up an interview about the rookie, the last compliment reaching his ears. Vavra never turned to watch, never acted like he overheard it. He just went about his business until he couldn’t ignore it any longer.

Nevin didn’t let the moment pass quietly, telling Vavra afterward that he had just finished treating his friend with extreme kindness. Vavra knew he was the main topic after hearing the word “trade.”

They arrived together at the 2020 deadline, when the Orioles sent reliever Mychal Givens to the Rockies. Never teammates in the minors until changing organizations.

“Got to know him in instructs, spring training, stuff like that,” Nevin said, “but as far as on the team, those first few weeks in Norfolk were our first experience doing that.”

Nevin quickly became more familiar with Vavra’s abilities as a hitter. He’s studied enough plate appearances to feel confident that the on-base skills wouldn’t taper in the majors.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has made some changes to tonight’s lineup, opening a four-game home series against the Rays with Jonathan Araúz at shortstop and Trey Mancini and Jorge Mateo on the bench.

Araúz is 4-for-24 with the Orioles and hasn’t played since July 8. His last start was July 7.

Mancini is 0-for-20 with nine strikeouts in his last five games. He’s hitless in his last 22 at-bats.

Mateo has been playing every day and is due for a breather.

Adley Rutschman has moved back up to second in the order. Anthony Santander is batting fourth as the designated hitter, with Ryan McKenna in right field.

Trey Mancini is starting in right field today, with Adley Rutschman the designated hitter for the final game of the Orioles’ series against the Yankees at Camden Yards.

Rutschman moves down from second to fifth in the order. He has 16 doubles since June 10.

Tyler Nevin is starting at third base.

Ramón Urías is batting .404/.440/.723 (19-for-47) with three doubles, four home runs, 16 RBIs and 10 runs scored since being reinstated from the 10-day injured list on July 4. He’s the second baseman today.

Dean Kremer made eight starts in the first half and posted a 2.59 ERA and 1.320 WHIP in 41 2/3 innings. He didn’t allow a run in four of his last six starts, but in the others surrendered a total of eight runs and 16 hits in 8 2/3.

The way he was pitching and putting up zeroes made it a fair question to ask: Would Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer leave the game today because the Angels scored off him, or would a high pitch count send him from the mound?

He was putting up zeroes and piling up strikeouts, but his pitch counts were getting elevated, too. Meanwhile, the Orioles were not backing him with much offense as they tried to win their seventh straight game for the first time in nearly five years.

Pitch count won out over runs allowed as Kremer threw scoreless ball for the fourth time in his last five starts as the Orioles pulled out another close game, beating the Los Angeles Angels 1-0 at Camden Yards.

The winning streak continued in front of 32,286 that came to downtown Baltimore to see a hot baseball team and get a Hawaiian shirt.

The Orioles (42-44) have won seven in a row for the first time since Aug. 23-30, 2017. They continue their perfect homestand at 6-0 with one game remaining tomorrow with the Angels. They began today four games out of the final American League playoff spot and then went out and won for the 12^th time in 17 games and 18^th in the last 27. They are 21-14 since June 1.

It was another night, another win and another evening of solid Orioles pitching from beginning to end of the game. They have now won five straight after Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels to get to 40-44. They are 10-5 over the last 15 games and 16-9 over the past 25 games.

Right-hander Jordan Lyles was the latest O’s starter to provide a quality start, something Baltimore's pitchers have now done in six of the last nine games. Lyles allowed just one run in six innings plus one batter as he improved to 5-7 and lowered his ERA to 4.50. He has produced three quality starts over his last four outings, pitching to an ERA of 2.81 in that span.

And O’s starting pitchers are on quite a roll right now. They have allowed one earned run or less in 15 of the last 20 games, pitching to an ERA of 2.46 in that span.

Orioles pitchers have allowed two runs or less 12 times in the last 20 games and the club is 11-1 in those dozen games. So yeah, pretty good.

Overall, Baltimore pitchers have allowed 45 runs the last 15 games and 58 over the past 20. 

Kyle Bradish is making at least one appearance on an injury rehab assignment.

Bradish will start for Double-A Bowie in Saturday night’s game at Somerset. He’s on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation.

The Orioles could activate Bradish next week, depending on whether they decide that he’s built up and ready to face major league hitters again. The other alternative would be to option him to Triple-A Norfolk.

Bradish is 1-4 with a 7.38 ERA and 1.770 WHIP in 10 starts. He allowed 11 runs and 20 hits in 8 2/3 innings in his last two games, and didn’t complete the fifth in his last five.

The initial plan of having Bradish pitch in a simulated game today at Camden Yards was scrapped in favor of Saturday's rehab start.

It was a father and son sitting together in a baseball stadium. But these weren't just any two men. It was the interim manager of the Los Angeles Angels Phil Nevin sitting next to his son Tyler, an Orioles infielder. Tonight as the elder Nevin continues to serve a suspension he will get a rare treat. The ability to watch his son’s big league game.

His 10-game suspension will end Saturday and then he will manage against his son’s Orioles team. Today father and son talked about what figures to be a very, very special next four days for the Nevin family.

The last time the dad saw the son play a pro game Tyler was playing in Hartford, Conn., in 2019 in Double-A and his dad was a Yankees coach and drove two hours to see part of a game. He saw five or six of Tyler's games that year.

“It’s special,” Phil Nevin said sitting next to his son in the O’s dugout earlier. “You really have to ask me some questions after Saturday’s game as I really have no idea what to expect. We were meeting with the staff earlier and going over some things we normally do (to prepare) for the game and I got to his name and I didn’t even know what to call him. I finally said Nevin and the whole room laughed. So, it will be different. Tonight, tomorrow, just being able to watch him play a big league game if he gets in there would be special for any parent, right? Unfortunately, I have to watch it from upstairs, but maybe this is how it is all supposed to be.”

So how will dad try to get son out if he comes up in a key spot?

SEATTLE – As the city of Seattle should know, defense wins championships.

Wait, sorry, wrong sport. Defense sometimes wins baseball games, as it nearly did tonight for the Baltimore Orioles. The offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain in a 2-0 loss, in which the Birds mustered just one total hit. 

"We're playing really well defensively," said manager Brandon Hyde. "That's why we're staying in games, pitching and defense is still extremely important, and we've been doing that." 

"I wouldn't be able to do it without the help of the defense," added Dean Kremer. "They're spectacular." 

Entering tonight’s game, Kremer had posted a 1.71 ERA through his first four starts of the season. In the same sample size, Robbie Ray boasted a 1.80 ERA in his previous four starts. They both pitched as their resumés would suggest on Tuesday night. 

Adley Rutschman’s family and friends can watch him serve as the Orioles’ designated hitter tonight in Seattle.

Rutschman is batting fifth and trying to extend his six-game hitting streak. He’s 18-for-55 (.327) in his last 15 games, with 10 doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs.

Tyler Nevin is starting at third base. Austin Hays is in right field and Anthony Santander is in left.

Rougned Odor gets the start at second base.

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Austin Hays RF
Anthony Santander LF
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Adley Rutschman DH
Tyler Nevin 3B
Rougned Odor 2B
Robinson Chirinos C
Jorge Mateo SS

CHICAGO – Richie Martin is starting at second base and Rougned Odor is on the bench for tonight’s series opener against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Odor usually starts against right-handers, and the White Sox are sending Johnny Cueto to the mound.

Tyler Nevin is starting at third base. Anthony Santander is in left field and Austin Hays is in right after hitting for the cycle last night.

Hays leads the Orioles in hits (71), extra-base hits (27), total bases (119), batting average (.287), slugging percentage (.482), OPS (.829), RBIs (40) and runs scored (37), and he’s tied with Cedric Mullins for the lead in doubles with 16.  

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Trey Mancini DH
Anthony Santander LF
Austin Hays RF
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Adley Rutschman C
Tyler Nevin 3B
Jorge Mateo SS
Richie Martin 2B

Trey Mancini is back in the Orioles’ lineup tonight as the designated hitter for the series opener against the Nationals at Camden Yards.

Mancini didn’t play Sunday against the Rays due to some lingering soreness in his right hand.

Adley Rutschman is catching and batting sixth. Tyler Nevin is the third baseman.

Rougned Odor is starting at second base, as he usually does against a right-hander.

Rylan Bannon, recalled today from Triple-A Norfolk, is counted among the four reserves. Bannon led the International League in slugging (.906) and OPS (1.424) last week.

TORONTO – Ramón Urías went on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a strained left oblique and isn’t close to being ready to jump back in the lineup.

Urías is making progress, but at a pace that disappoints him.

“I feel a little bit better,” he said yesterday. “Obviously, I feel like it’s going slow. The good thing is, every day it’s getting a little better.”

There isn’t much for Urías to do except receive daily treatments.

“I think I would have a better idea when I start swinging and see how it feels with the swing,” he said.

He is still looking for his first big league homer and RBI. But Adley Rutschman now has his first three-hit game, and it came during Saturday’s 6-4 win over Kansas City. It helped to give the Orioles a much-needed victory and a chance to split the four-game series with a win this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

Rutschman began the game batting .153/.231/.220/.451. Despite that, the Orioles were simply not worried yet about baseball’s top-rated prospect. They knew how common it has always been for big-name prospects to struggle at the outset of their big league careers. Some O’s fans can remember how Earl Weaver once stuck with Cal Ripken Jr. when he was batting .117 in early May of 1982. Ripken ended that year as the American League Rookie of the Year and ended the next catching the final out of a World Series win.

But more than that, the Orioles knew the player and his makeup. It is off-the-charts good, always has been, and they simply knew Rutschman could handle some struggles. It would not beat him or overwhelm him. When Rutschman smoked a double at 100 mph in the eighth inning on Friday night, maybe that well-struck ball would be a turning point for him, some in the clubhouse and dugout might have thought.

That could prove to be exactly right.

On Saturday, Rutschman lined out in the second inning, and that ball was struck at 106.2 mph. His double in the fourth was hit at 95.3 mph, a sixth-inning single at 110.0 and a double in the eighth at 108.0. Not a bloop or flare among them.

KANSAS CITY - Anthony Santander appeared almost reluctant to don the Orioles’ home run chain Friday night.

After sneaking a meaningless solo home run inside Kauffman Stadium’s right field foul pole in the ninth inning of an 8-1 loss, Santander accepted the plastic chain with all the gravitas of a weathered monarch.

Tyler Nevin showed no such hesitancy Saturday. In fact, he welcomed it, beckoning Austin Hays to bestow the chain upon him after crushing a three-run, go-ahead homer to dead center field in the sixth inning of a 6-4 win over the Royals.

The honor was richly deserved.

Nevin’s 425-foot longball gave the Orioles their first lead since the third inning of Thursday’s series opener. Before the homer, the O’s had been outscored 18-7 in the first two-and-a-half games of their four-game series in Kansas City. 

The Orioles begin a four-game series in Kansas City tonight with Jordan Lyles on the mound after last night’s rainout adjusted his turn.

Lyles has a 4.50 ERA and 1.484 WHIP in 11 starts. He faced the Royals in Game 1 of a May 8 doubleheader and allowed two earned runs (four total) in a season-high 7 1/3 innings.

Tonight’s game won’t provide a matchup of sorts between the top two draft picks in 2019 - Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman and Royals infielder Bobby Witt Jr. A nice sidebar that’s put on hold until Friday.

Robinson Chirinos is behind the plate tonight. Rutschman is going to catch at least two games in the series and likely serve as designated hitter in another. He’s probably going to catch in three of the four games in Toronto, including Monday’s opener.

Rutschman already was going to sit tonight, and the postponement didn’t change the lineup pattern established days ago. Manager Brandon Hyde is easing him into the major league workload after the No. 1 prospect strained his right triceps at the spring training complex.

The creative maneuvering that Orioles manager Brandon Hyde must execute to provide rest to players, sometimes on a rotating basis, also could be necessary late in games with personnel on the field.

Last night’s lineup left the bench without a true utility player. Tyler Nevin plays the corner infield and outfield positions. Ryan McKenna plays all three outfield spots. Robinson Chirinos is the catching alternative to Adley Rutschman.

Chris Owings didn’t hit and he was an easy target for fans on social media, which didn’t go unnoticed by some members of the organization. But he could back up everywhere on the field.

If Hyde needs to replace shortstop Jorge Mateo, he can move Ramón Urías off third base and insert Nevin. Urías is the shortstop if Mateo is rested.

Pretty simple as long as Mateo and Urías don’t slip into day-to-day status with an injury, which they’ve done this season. If that happens, the bench is going to expand again with a phone call to Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles are going to be without reliever Joey Krehbiel for at least 15 days due to right shoulder inflammation. However, they don’t seem concerned that his absence from the bullpen will be extensive.

“Hopefully, it’s just a couple weeks and give him time to rest it and work in the training room with Brian (Ebel) and the guys, and it won’t be too long,” manager Brandon Hyde said today.

Left-hander Nick Vespi returns to the Orioles with his 0.00 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings with Triple-A Norfolk. His major league debut consisted of two scoreless innings before the Orioles optioned him.

“He’s had an incredible year in Norfolk,” Hyde said. “It was just one of those situations where we needed to send him out last time out just from a numbers standpoint and what we needed in the bullpen the next day, unfortunately, because he threw the ball so well for us. So, we’re happy to have him back.

“With the new rules this year, it’s unfortunate that you have to wait a little longer to bring guys back, unless there’s an injury, but also, as you start getting more talented in your upper levels, start getting more talented in the big leagues, you start having to make tougher decisions. But as well is having talented guys in Triple-A to call up, so we’re excited to bring him back up as a bullpen option for us. He’s going to be live for us tonight.”