BOSTON – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde waited until less than an hour before first pitch to post tonight’s lineup because he needed to check the availability of some players.

“We have a few things going on,” he said earlier today. “Waiting to kind of see how a few guys feel.”

Ramón Urías and Terrin Vavra are on the bench tonight.

Urías is trying to finish out the season despite the occasional spasms between his neck and right shoulder. He took ground balls this afternoon during batting practice.

“He is feeling better today than he did yesterday,” Hyde said.

TORONTO – He’s No. 99 on your scorecard but No. 1 in your hearts.

OK, that is a stretch. But heading into Sunday’s series finale at Toronto, some fans must have thought that the rookies were doing their part. When would the vets pick up some slack too? Well one did late in the game yesterday and in a very big way.

It was an unlikely candidate in Jesus Aguilar, the first Oriole ever to wear a number in the nineties. But beyond that distinction he had struggled badly in his first eight O’s games. Once an All-Star in 2018 when he drove in 108 runs with a career OPS of .772, his O’s OPS was .261 at game time Sunday. He was only in the lineup because Ryan Mountcastle was hurt.

Then Aguilar, who started his day 0-for-3, hurt the Blue Jays.

His solo homer in the eighth was his first with the Orioles and pulled them within 3-2. After Adley Rutschman’s two-run single gave the O’s the 4-3 lead in the ninth, Aguilar singled in their fifth run. And they needed it when Toronto pulled within 5-4 in the home half of the ninth.

The debate over American League Rookie of the Year is boiling down to Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman and Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez. Much of the field is evaporating. They could be one and two, though more than a month of the season remains.

The ballot distributed to qualified members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America holds three names.

Does Orioles reliever Félix Bautista belong on it?

“Yeah, he’s been unbelievable this year,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle.

“Absolutely,” said starter John Means.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – For the Orioles it felt like and it really was a big game. A chance to shine on national television. The rubber match in a key series versus an AL East opponent. And needing a win to stay within striking distance of an AL playoff spot.

When Boston’s Franchy Cordero hit a pinch-hit homer to tie the game in the eighth, the O’s needed some late-inning magic. They got it with a three-run double off the bat of shortstop Jorge Mateo to beat the Red Sox 5-2 in the Little League Classic at Bowman Field.

They improved to 63-58 overall and to 12-7 this month to stay within 2.5 games of a playoff spot.

“I definitely think every game is a big game now and we treat it as such,” said catcher Adley Rutschman who singled and scored in the O's two-run first inning. “We wanted to give the kids as good an experience as we could. But once game time started, it was all about the game. I think we have a lot of guys with a lot of maturity on this team that could compartmentalize two things.”

Rutschman was not biting his tongue when a reporter asked him about becoming the face of the team.

BOSTON - In an August mailbag race, mine isn’t vying for a third wild card. It’s running away with the division. Can’t be caught.

It can, however, be emptied.

Don’t ask me how that works.

This is the latest sequel to the beloved original. You ask, I answer, you keep asking and I keep changing my responses to confuse the heck out of you.

Trust the first one.

The stomach bug that knocked down Jordan Lyles Sunday didn’t keep the veteran on his back. Lyles spoke with manager Brandon Hyde the following day, reporting that he felt much better, and showed up this morning ready to pitch.

Hyde could have given Lyles a little more recovery time, but he decided it would really benefit Tyler Wells to get an extra day of rest.

That’s how Hyde settled on the order of his rotation for the Nationals series, sending Lyles to the mound tonight with the Orioles trying to post their fifth win in seven games.

Lyles completed six innings for the first time in five starts and turned in 6 1/3 on 92 pitches. He surrendered only two runs, the offense produced fewer, and the Nationals won 3-0 before an announced crowd of 15,197 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (30-39) failed again to creep within seven games of .500 for the first time since May 23.

After winning just one game all of last year against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles have already won two of three series against the Rays this season. They are 4-5 versus Tampa Bay after Sunday’s win gave them a series victory. The O’s lost the first three games of the year at Tropicana Field but are now 4-2 in the last six versus the Rays.

But after going 15-19 versus the American League East – and 11-8 in their last 19 division games – the Orioles begin a stretch of 21 consecutive games outside of the division tonight. They host the Washington Nationals for the start of a two-game interleague series and the first two of four games these clubs will play in 2022.

The Orioles (30-38) have won three of four and six of their past nine games. They are 8-6 over the last 14 games, 9-8 this month and 16-14 since May 19. They are 17-16 at home this season. And they are 4-3 in games against National League opponents.

The Nationals (24-46) ended an eight-game losing streak with Sunday’s 9-3 win over Philadelphia. But Washington has lost 11 of its past 14 games, and is 6-15 in series-opening games and 3-7 in road series openers. The Nats are on a pace to finish 56-106.

Last season, the Orioles went 3-3 against the Nationals. They were swept in three games at Nationals Park from May 21-23 before sweeping Washington in three games at Oriole Park from July 23-25. The Birds have gone 48-38 against the Nats since the team moved to Washington in 2005, including 26-17 against them at home. The Orioles have gone 4-3 in interleague play this season and own an all-time record of 219-251 against NL opponents in the regular season.

Yesterday’s 2-1 win over the Rays was just so … Orioles.

The bad news about starter Jordan Lyles, scratched in the morning with a stomach virus. An unsavory bullpen game. Trey Mancini’s removal from the lineup with more hand soreness.

So many reasons to fold, so much stubbornness.

They should've lost to a team that beat them in 18 of 19 games in 2021 and was starting Corey Kluber. Instead, they took an early lead and held onto it.

The Orioles were outhit 9-4. They used seven pitchers, none for more than Austin Voth’s 2 2/3 innings. Voth made his first start since June 6, 2021. His longest outing before yesterday was three innings on June 1, 2021.

TORONTO – Don’t look now but the Orioles may slowly be making some gains on their American League East opponents. Not in the standings yet – as they're still in last place – but they're making gains in head-to-head competition.

Through the season’s first 65 games, the Orioles have already won or tied series with every AL East club – the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays.

The Orioles have won one series against New York, two against Boston and one against Tampa Bay. And Thursday’s 10-2 win at Rogers Centre, once a house of horrors for the Orioles, gave them a four-game split with Toronto.

In fact the Orioles are 9-7 in their last 16 AL East games. They are 13-18 (.419) overall for the year versus the AL East after going 20-56 (.263) last year. The Orioles are 4-9 versus the Yankees, but are 9-9 combined against the rest of division. They are 5-3 against Boston, 2-2 versus Toronto and 2-4 against Tampa Bay. They are 1-3 in series versus New York, but 3-1-1 in their other five AL East series.

Before the game Thursday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde talked about the club’s more competitive play within the division.

TORONTO – After the Orioles had secured a 6-5 win over Toronto last night, manager Brandon Hyde had several players and their contributions he could cite.

There was Jorge López and a five-out save against that lineup. There was Jordan Lyles providing some zeroes and making progress after a tough stretch. There were big homers by Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays. There was an entire team that played without Trey Mancini and had lost by 10 a night earlier, but still beat a good Toronto team that has been playing very well.

And there was shortstop Jorge Mateo making an outstanding, charging barehanded defensive gem of a play to get a key out to start the last of the ninth.

“The play that Mateo made, which potentially was game-changing, was just an unbelievable barehand play with a fast runner," Hyde said. "We played really good defense tonight.

“Just shows you his athleticism. I mean the closing speed to get to the ball and then to be able to bare hand that and get rid of it the way he did with something on it from that angle and get (Bo) Bichette there is really tough. That was an enormous play in the game.”

Last night was not his best effort – lefty Cionel Pérez walked two of the three batters he faced in the Seattle sixth inning – but overall he has had a big year for the Orioles this season out of the bullpen.

A waiver claim from the Cincinnati Reds in November, Pérez entered that outing last night having allowed just one run and 15 hits over 16 1/3 innings with seven walks to 17 strikeouts. His fastball is averaging 96 mph and he touched 97.5 in the game Wednesday night when he threw 1 1/3 scoreless and was the winning pitcher against the Mariners.

But he gave up one run in just 1/3 of an inning last night and his ERA increased to 1.08.

Before last night’s game Pérez mentioned that one reason he has had a nice comfort zone with the Orioles is his previous relationship with O’s pitching coach Chris Holt. When both were in the Houston organization, Pérez had Holt for his pitching coach when he was with high Single-A Buies Creek in the 2017 season.

“He has been a big help,” Pérez said through O’s interpreter Brandon Quinones about Holt before Thursday’s game. “Now that we are both here together he keeps me in check with my movement on the ball and if something is off with my delivery, he lets me know that and we work together with getting on the same page. Plus we are a big team here within the bullpen and if anyone notices something is off with another pitcher in delivery or whatever, we let each other know.”

Having fun with averages shows the Orioles have scored 21 runs the last four games. That’s a respectable 5.25 runs per game. But they got there by scoring nine, one, two and nine runs.

So yeah, some inconsistency, but at least they’ve scored a season high for runs twice in four games. And they won those two games and lost a third by one run.

Before last night, the Orioles had not hit two homers in a game at Camden Yards this year. Then they hit two in one inning. In a six-run O’s third, Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías hit two-run shots.

The Orioles took a 6-0 lead, saw the Twins get back in the game at 6-4, only to score three more runs an inning later to pull away again and win 9-4.

So the Birds are now 9-16 overall, 6-6 at home and 3-3 during the current homestand, which has four games left.

NEW YORK – The Orioles aren’t celebrating baseball’s reduction in rosters from 28 players to 26 beginning May 2. They want the extra bodies after a truncated spring training, and with their rotation requiring additional support.

They’re expected to carry 14 pitchers after learning this week that the limit has been raised, but there’s room to be flexible. Don’t get too attached to the math.

There could be a game or series that screams for a fourth bench player, and the club is willing to listen.

“It’s nice that we’re going to at least have the option,” manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday. “I think we’re going to see where we are from a pitching standpoint on that day and throughout the month. Tyler Wells is in our rotation and he’s not pitching that many innings, so it’s kind of, we’re carrying an extra guy there. We’re playing some really good offenses. … We’ll see where we are.

“It’s going to be a series-to-series decision. Hopefully, our starters can get some length and we can possibly keep an extra position player. We just don’t know right now.”

NEW YORK – Austin Hays is in left field tonight and Anthony Santander is in right, as the Orioles open a three-game series against the Yankees.

Jorge Mateo is the shortstop and Ramón Urías is playing third base.

Jordan Lyles is making his fourth start. He’s allowed six runs and 18 hits with six walks in 15 1/3 innings, but only one run in his last two starts over 10 1/3 innings.

Lyles held the Yankees to one run in 5 1/3 innings at Camden Yards.

Right-hander Luis Severino has made three starts for the Yankees this season and allowed only three runs in 13 innings. He’s surrendered 14 hits, walked four batters and struck out 14.

The Orioles are in New York for a three-game series that wraps up a long road trip. Three cities, one terrible piece of news regarding ace John Means and one significant update on catcher Adley Rutschman.

Rutschman is in Aberdeen tonight, where the high Single-A IronBirds open a six-game series against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. The usual Monday off-day is followed by six more home games against the Brooklyn Cyclones.

It’s highly unlikely that Rutschman sticks around for a dozen games, but the Orioles aren’t laying out an exact plan. He’s going to dictate how quickly he moves through his injury rehab assignment.

DL Hall also is reporting to Aberdeen this afternoon, but he isn’t returning from a recent injury. The Orioles have him on a progression after he made only seven starts last summer with Double-A Bowie due to a stress reaction his left elbow.

Hall already proved that he made a full recovery by firing fastballs at 98-100 mph in Clearwater while retiring the Phillies in order with two strikeouts. He’ll get back to Double-A Bowie, eventually pitch at Triple-A Norfolk and, assuming he stays healthy, debut with the Orioles this summer.

The Orioles reached their first off day since leaving Sarasota. No games or workouts. An early reset before the Yankees arrive and they get back into division play.

The only way to reset a mailbag is to dump out its contents. Sort through the pile. Wonder how many questions got lost along the way. 

They’re probably scattered in some back room. Hold onto the tracking numbers.

This is the latest sequel to the hit original. You ask, I answer, we promise never to speak of it again. And then we do.

There’s no editing here unless someone catches a typo. Bring your length and style. Don’t worry about clarity. And this is the home of the brevity.