SAN FRANCISCO - The Orioles and Giants have exchanged victories in the first two games of this weekend series. The Orioles won 3-2 Friday and were held to five hits in last night's 4-0 loss.

Former O's right-hander Alex Cobb went 7 2/3 innings, allowing five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts on 103 pitches. He is now 5-2 with a 2.71 ERA.

This was the second-longest outing of the year for Cobb, who has a 1.43 ERA at Oracle Park, the fourth-lowest home ERA in the major leagues. In his last four starts versus the Orioles he is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA. 

The Orioles have scored just three runs, going 9-for-61 in this series with three doubles and one home run. They have scored three runs or fewer in seven of the past nine games.

A loss today would give the Orioles three consecutive series losses for the first time this year. They are 3-5 the last eight games and 10-9 over their past 19. They are 19-10 on the road and 11-5 in their past 16 away from Oriole Park.

Being shut out for the fourth time this season was the least of the Orioles’ worries today as they filed into the clubhouse.

Center fielder Cedric Mullins pulled up short of first base in the eighth inning while trying to beat out a ground ball to shortstop, and he’s been diagnosed with a strain in his right abductor/groin area.

Mullins is undergoing further testing, but he’s likely to go on the 10-day injured list.

“We’re hoping for great news on that, but you never know,” manager Brandon Hyde said following a 5-0 loss to the Guardians at Camden Yards.

Mullins walked twice today and was thrown out trying to steal in the first inning. He’s batting .263/.356/.479 in 53 games with 12 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 39 RBIs, 28 walks and 13 steals in 15 attempts. His .835 OPS ranks second on the club behind Austin Hays’ .867.

The six strikeouts in the first four innings today could be used as an example of Tyler Wells’ effectiveness against the Guardians. The whiffs or frozen bats off his four-seamer, cutter and changeup.

But also, the way he maneuvered out of a jam in the first inning when his outing could have fallen apart fast.

A leadoff single by Steven Kwan was followed by a comebacker from Amed Rosario that Wells knocked down and fielded before attempting to get the force at second base. A mixup in coverage brought together Jorge Mateo and Adam Frazier at the bag. Mateo failed to make the catch, and Wells was charged with the error.

The right-hander retired the next three batters on a popup, strikeout and ground ball. His 21-pitch inning would launch him to a third quality start.

It wouldn’t spare him the loss.

After a 22-game stretch of games against winning teams – one where the Orioles went 13-9 (.591) – they play a team with an under-.500 record today, hosting Cleveland (23-29) to open a three-game series at Oriole Park. 

The Orioles' 3-2 win over Texas on Sunday enabled them to take the final game of the series, avoid being swept three straight and avoid their second three-game losing streak of the 2023 season.

The Orioles (34-19) are now 16-10 at home and 15-10 this month. They are 12-4-1 in series this year and 11-2-1 in the past 14 series. They are 5-2-1 in home series and 13-4 in series-opening games heading into another one today against the Guardians.

The Orioles scored just eight runs in the three-game series versus Texas. They had 21 hits over the weekend and went 7-for-20 (.350) batting with runners in scoring position.

During the 22-game stretch versus Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Angels, Toronto, the New York Yankees and Texas they scored 94 runs, producing on average 4.27 runs per game.

A New York Yankees team that is playing good baseball right now produced a come-from-behind win last night, beating the Orioles 6-5 in 10 innings in the series opener at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles are now 13-3 in series-opening games. They actually did not lose either of the first two series where they lost the first game. Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 3-0 May 8 in Baltimore in the series opener, but the Orioles took the series, winning the next two games. They also lost the opener 9-5 on May 15 to the Los Angeles Angeles, but won the next two games of that set and split a four-game series.

The Yankees (30-20) have won seven of their last eight games, nine of their last 11 games and 12 of the last 15 games. Tuesday’s victory marked their fourth walk-off win this season (also 4/19 vs. Los Angeles-AL, 4/22 vs. Toronto and 5/3 vs. Cleveland). They improved to 4-2 in extra-inning games, and each of their last three wins have been come-from-behind wins.

They have won a season-high five straight games to mark their longest winning streak since a seven-game run from Sept. 18-25, 2022. New York is a season-high 10 games over .500. And, at 15-5 (.750) over their last 20 games (since 5/2), the Yankees hold the best record in the majors in that span.

The Orioles (31-17) remain three games behind Tampa Bay for first-place in the American League East. Overall, they have won three of their past four, five of seven, nine of 13, 14 of 22 and 22 of the last 32 games. They are 16-9 on the road and 9-7 in games within the AL East.

NEW YORK – Joey Ortiz gets the start at third base tonight as the Orioles try to even their series with the Yankees.

Cedric Mullins is leading off against a left-hander, former Orioles Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes. Six of Mullins’ last nine hits are for extra bases. He has a six-game hitting streak, going 10-for-23 (.435) with four doubles, two home runs, six RBIs and three walks.

James McCann is catching and Adley Rutschman stays in the lineup as the designated hitter.

Adam Frazier, who starts at second base, has a 16-game on-base streak, batting .281/.349/.474 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, 10 RBIs and five walks. His longest career streak is 17 games in 2019.

Tyler Wells has registered a 2.94 ERA and 0.788 WHIP, lowest in the majors, in nine games this season. He faced the Yankees on April 9 and allowed four runs in six innings. Aaron Judge and Franchy Cordero hit home runs.

The Orioles aren’t running away from home. A charter flight to Toronto is coming later today, a much faster mode of transportation. But they’re going to dive back into division competition and miss the splash zone and charged atmosphere at Camden Yards.

They can do without the two Angels superstars who tried to ruin their chance at another series win, and the bullpen breakdowns later in the game, but the rest of it is cherished.

Shohei Ohtani, quiet since flirting with the cycle on Monday, homered off Tyler Wells in the first inning and Mike Trout lined a two-run shot over the left field wall in the third. The Orioles offered no response until tying the game in the fifth, capped by Anthony Santander’s two-run homer.

Had to get the place loud again.

It erupted in the seventh, after Adley Rutschman took a big cut at Chris Devenski’s fastball and watched it soar to the flag court with Austin Hays at first base to give the Orioles a lead. The groans were audible when an inherited runner scored against Austin Voth in the eighth, and Ohtani broke the tie by reaching on an infield hit with the bases loaded.

As the Orioles look to win the finale of a four-game series this afternoon against the Los Angeles Angels, they send the pitcher to the mound that has been their most consistent starter this year. 

Right-hander Tyler Wells (3-1, 2.68 ERA) will make his ninth appearance and eighth start. He leads the majors in WHIP at 0.723, and his ERA ranks eighth-best among qualifying pitchers in the American League.

The Orioles are 6-2 in Wells' outings this year, and they won 2-0 on Saturday at Oriole Park versus Pittsburgh when he pitched a gem. Over seven scoreless innings he allowed one hit with two walks and eight strikeouts on 96 pitches. It was his second outing of seven scoreless this season – he also did that April 21 versus Detroit.

In his past two starts – against Atlanta and Pittsburgh – he has pitched 12 innings, allowing four hits and one run.

Wells has allowed two earned runs or less in four of his starts, throwing two quality starts. In four home games, he is 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 0.8701 WHIP.

The Orioles are attempting today to win their 11th series before flying to Toronto and beginning a two-city road trip.

Mychal Givens threw his bullpen session today and could be activated by the weekend. Manager Brandon Hyde was going to check on Givens after completing his media obligations.

Asked if Givens could accompany the Orioles on their trip, Hyde said, "It is possible. We'll see how it goes today and make a decision on what we're going to do."

A bullpen with the lowest ERA in the majors at 2.89 is gaining a proven veteran setup man.

"Just adds some experience and a guy that's been in the back end of the bullpen for a while now," Hyde said. "We know what Mychal can do. Looking forward to getting him back."

After 6-3 and 2-0 wins this weekend, the Orioles (26-13) can complete their third series sweep of the year this afternoon at Oriole Park when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates (21-19).

Tyler Wells went seven innings Saturday night, allowing just one hit as Baltimore recorded its fourth straight win and fourth 2023 shutout. The Orioles begin today three games back of Tampa Bay for first in the American League East, and have won 17 of their past 23, 20 of 27 and 22 of 30.

Baltimore pitching has been on an eight-game roll:

* The team ERA is 2.21 over those eight games with 21 runs allowed.

* The rotation ERA is 1.74 in that span, allowing two earned runs or less seven times.

Most teams are losing series against the Orioles these days except for Atlanta, but everyone else they've played since April 10. Over a month into the season, the Orioles have won nine of their last 10 series after their latest win last night. 

They blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 for the team’s fourth shutout of 2023. Tyler Wells gave up just one hit – a second-inning single – in seven scoreless on 96 pitches. He improved to 3-1 with a 2.68 ERA and Pirates batters went 1-for-22 against him. Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista – the twin towers – finished off the shutout.

At 26-13, the Orioles are 13 games over .500 for the first time since the last day of the 2016 season. They also moved within three games of first-place Tampa Bay, the closest to the top spot in the American League East they have been since April 7.

Wells provided the staff its third game this year of seven innings and the 11^th quality start. When the O’s get one, they are 10-1. Today they go for their third series sweep of the year after winning two of two games at Washington and three of three at home versus Detroit.

The team ERA is 4.07, which ranks ninth-best in the AL, but the staff is surely trending up.

The party rages on with the Orioles.

All of the wins, the water games, the loud music and light shows in the clubhouse. Selling tickets at Camden Yards should be replaced by a cover charge.

They’re mashing, they’re splashing, they’re 13 games above .500 for the first time since the final game of the 2016 season.

Mike Elias wasn’t kidding when he said the rebuild was behind them.

Starter Tyler Wells was in a zone that didn’t include water, shutting out the Pirates on one hit in seven innings, Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson homered early, and the Orioles defeated the Pirates 2-0 before an announced crowd of 21,926.  

When the Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday night 2-1 in a series-deciding game, righty reliever Yennier Cano was remarkable again. He got a drama-free save, getting three quick outs in the ninth on just eight pitches. He sure earned a save.

But sometimes an unofficial save can come before the ninth inning, and for me, Wednesday was one of those nights.

Lefty reliever Danny Coulombe, who had given up some runs in the Kansas City and Atlanta series, came on in the top of the eighth, just after Tampa Bay had cut a 2-0 deficit to 2-1. Coulombe got two huge, huge outs to keep the O’s ahead and set up Cano to do his thing in the ninth.

Coulombe, acquired by the club in late March from Minnesota for cash considerations, has done a real nice job this year for the Orioles. And he's doing that throwing his fastball, which averages only 91.3 mph, just 13 percent of the time.

He told me earlier this year how he is very confident in his ability to “spin” the ball, meaning that he can throw quality breaking pitches. And he sure can. Per Statcast, he uses his slider 54 percent of the time and his sweeper 17 percent. That's a very high percentage of breaking balls for Coulombe, who is 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 16 games over 12 2/3 innings. He has walked three and fanned 18 with a 1.03 WHIP to go with a .208 batting average against and .575 OPS.

For the Orioles, I guess we could say they didn’t gain as many wins as they hoped, but they did gain respect. Respect in that they may in fact be a contending team that is ready to play with the big boys in big league baseball.

We can’t say that with certainty after just those three games in Atlanta but in five series this year versus clubs with current winning records they are 2-3 and a dropped fly ball from being 3-2. They are 7-8 in those games against Boston, New York, Texas and Atlanta.

But maybe the hard-fought series between the teams over the weekend at Truist Park does kind of validate the Orioles' 15-4 mark this year against their other opponents in Oakland, Chicago, Washington, Detroit and Kansas City. They took care of business big time against the second division clubs, perhaps hammering home the point that they are no longer one of them.

The Orioles lost two of three games in Atlanta, but it was probably as positive a weekend as it could be for a club going 1-2. The last two days they went 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position, which led to the 5-4 and 3-2 losses. They didn’t need an avalanche of clutch hits to pull out one or more of those games – just a couple would do – but they didn’t come.

In the last week such hits were the difference for the Orioles in scoring big or not. In producing games with 11 and 13 runs in Kansas City and nine in Atlanta on Friday, they were a combined 18-for-45 (.400) with RISP. But in scoring zero, four and two runs the other three games in those series they were a combined 2-for-25 (.080) with RISP.

ATLANTA – Brandon Hyde didn’t have much to offer the local beat crew before today’s game. Nothing had changed in 12 hours besides his lineup. Morning baseball doesn’t usually bring much news or anything of interest unless the roster is impacted. It just happens, taxing bodies and minds after a late night.

The Orioles’ manager held a cup of coffee, not his first of the day, and joked about his breakfast. Eggs over medium. Nothing is easy around here. Hyde got in a quick workout. And he tried to guide his club to an eighth series win in a row.

Of course, the game would go to extra innings. Baseball has a sense of humor.

It also has walk-off wins for the home team.

Michael Harris II doubled off Cionel Pérez in the 12th to score automatic runner Ozzie Albies with one out and give the Braves a 3-2 victory over the Orioles before an announced sellout crowd of 40,800 at Truist Park.

What has been a winning road trip will come to an end this afternoon when the Orioles (22-11) play at Atlanta (23-11) to wrap up this three-game series. 

The Orioles won 9-4 Friday night but lost 5-4 last night at Truist Park to fall to 7-3 in one-run games, 13-7 in road games and 3-1 in games versus National League teams.

The Orioles started the road trip going 3-1 at Detroit and then went 2-1 at Kansas City and are now 1-1 this weekend for a 6-3 mark on the 10-game trip.

Even with Saturday's loss, the Orioles have been winners in 14 of their last 18 games, 16 of their last 21, and 18 of their last 24. That .783 winning percentage (18-5) since April 10 heading into last night was the best in the big leagues over that stretch.

The Orioles have not lost successive games since April 8-9 at home against the New York Yankees, which was the last time they lost a series.

ATLANTA – The Orioles still have a chance to win their eighth series in a row to draw within one of the club record.

The Braves rallied last night for a 5-4 win on Kevin Pillar’s two-run homer off Danny Coulombe in the eighth inning.

Austin Hays returns to the lineup, batting fifth and playing left field. James McCann is catching a morning game after a night game, and Adley Rutschman is on the bench.

Anthony Santander is the designated hitter and batting second. Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop and cleanup hitter, with Jorge Mateo on the bench.

Manager Brandon Hyde spoke to Mateo at the infielder’s locker after last night’s game, likely to tell him about the day off.

KANSAS CITY – On the night when the Orioles won another series-opening game, scored 11 runs and got 10 of them in the middle three innings and Ryan Mountcastle produced his eighth career multi-homer game, a few defensive gems loomed large for the Orioles.

When center fielder Cedric Mullins sprinted deep into the right-center gap to run down a ball in the last of the fifth, it might have been the O’s top web gem of the 2023 season. Mullins made a diving catch on the warning track. A ball that Kyle Isbel hit 100 mph and 387 feet with an expected batting average of .450 was no match for Mullins' speed and glove.

The Orioles had scored seven runs the previous two innings to gain the lead and Mullins made sure the momentum stayed on their side.

“Cedric made the play of the year for me,” manager Brandon Hyde marveled after the game. “How about that play? What was the Statcast on that play? He outran that baseball and then the dive with the wall right in front. Super tough play. We played great defense tonight.

“We’re a better defensive club than we showed early. Still kind of finding our way a little and still making some mistakes here and there, but, you know we have to play well defensively and tonight we did.”

KANSAS CITY – On a night when an O’s former American League East nemesis, lefty Ryan Yarbrough, rolled through the Orioles to retire nine straight in the first three innings, the ability to foresee an O’s rally, much less an offensive explosion, might have been challenging.

But these are the 2023 Orioles, a club that rolled off 19 wins in the first 28 games and one that had produced nine comeback wins in that span. Also, a club that had not lost a series-opening game all year, going 9-0.

That streak stayed alive tonight.

Down 3-0 going to the fourth inning, the Orioles use a pair of Ryan Mountcastle two-run homers and Cedric Mullins’ huge two-run single to storm back and beat Kansas City 11-7 tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

They are now 20-9 overall and 10-0 in series-opening games. The Orioles have won five of six, 12 of 14 and 16 of their past 20 games. They improved to 11-5 in road games.

KANSAS CITY – The Orioles have played 16 of their last 19 games against teams with current losing records – going 13-3 in those games – and that stretch will continue tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

The Kansas City Royals (7-22) host the Orioles tonight to start a three-game series. After winning 15 of 19 since April 10 against mostly losing-record clubs, outside of the Red Sox, the Orioles face a struggling K.C. team tonight, one that has lost nine in a row at home. In fact, Kansas City is just 1-12 at home this year. They are going to start beating someone soon, and the Orioles just hope that all starts after they leave town Thursday.

But the Royals have really struggled and have a minus-64 run differential, the third-worst currently in the American League. Baltimore's run differential of plus 25 is fifth-best in the AL.

The Royals have lost four of the last five and 13 of 16 games. They just completed a 3-7 road trip to the Los Angeles Angels, Arizona and Minnesota. They are 1-8 in series play, 0-4 at home.

Kansas City went 65-97 last season and Matt Quatraro was named their new manager on Oct. 30. He was a coach for the last five years for the Tampa Bay Rays.