TORONTO - The Orioles have gone 7-1-2 in 10 American League East series this year, losing just one. Tonight they play the rubber match game against Toronto after splitting the first two games of this series.

The Orioles are 7-5 versus the Blue Jays and have won the season series. They are 24-11 against division opponents. They have not lost a road AL East series, going 3-0-1 in four series and 12-4 in those games.

In tonight's series finale, Colton Cowser will bat leadoff again, Anthony Santander will serve as the DH as Ryan O'Hearn moves from left to right field. Ramón Urías starts at third base, batting ninth. 

Five players in the majors have now hit 30 or more homers. Santander, at 34, ranks second in the AL and tied for second in MLB in home runs.

MLB homer leaders:

TORONTO – The kid did it again. Jackson Holliday hit yet another homer off the Toronto Blue Jays and this one was huge.

With the Orioles down 3-2 in the seventh, Holliday connected on a two-run shot – his fourth in seven games since rejoining the club – and the O’s had a 4-3 lead.

Anthony Santander provided insurance, with a solo homer in the eighth, his second home run of the game. It came not long after he made a leaping catch against the right-field wall in the seventh to rob Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The robbery came with a man on second and two outs, which preserved the 4-3 lead.

The O’s bullpen got the outs late to make it stand up as the Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 to even this three-game series.

They improved to 68-47 and are 10-9 since the All-Star break. The Orioles are 24-11 in AL East games and 12-4 in division road games.

TORONTO - After losing both a game and pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to injury last night, the Orioles have to figure night two in Toronto will go better for them. 

Now in second place for the first time in over a month (since June 26), the Orioles 67-47 are now 33-22 on the road and 6-5 against Toronto.

The Birds had won the last two games at Cleveland but have now lost three of five and nine of their past 16 games. They are 9-9 since the All-Star break.

The Orioles are 23-11 in American League East games and 11-4 in division games on the road. They are 3-0-1 in four AL East road series. To not lose their first one of the year, they'll need two straight wins at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles had scored 16 runs on 30 hits on Saturday and Sunday in Cleveland and they went 3-for-29 at-bat last night. Jackson Holliday's solo homer to right-center in the sixth was Baltimore's first hit and the Orioles went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

CLEVELAND - A sense of calm finally settled over Cleveland yesterday. Two professional wrestling events over the weekend drew huge crowds at the arena and football stadium. Comedian Martin Lawrence’s standup tour made a stop at the arena. The city hosted the 2024 World Yo-Yo contest, which had its ups and downs. The Guardians inducted pitcher CC Sabathia into their Hall of Fame and welcomed back team legends like Mike Hargrove, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton and Andre Thornton. And an hour’s drive away were the NFL Hall of Fame inductions in Canton.

Hotel space was limited. Rooms cost the approximate amount of a home mortgage.

Interesting to learn that Cleveland is the entertainment capital of the world.

There’s also the craziness of the Guardians losing Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery and James Karinchak to a shoulder injury and being the only .600 team in baseball. And the Residence Inn a few blocks from the ballpark being perhaps the only hotel in the U.S. that doesn’t have a water dispenser to refill bottles – not even in the “fitness center.” Wanna hydrate? It’s gonna cost you.

What else did we find out?

CLEVELAND – The Orioles go for the series split this afternoon with their largely left-handed lineup that includes Colton Cowser batting leadoff. He’s built a 16-game hitting streak, one shy of Trey Mancini’s club rookie record.

Cowser is batting .383 (23-for-60) with three doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and a 1.075 OPS during his streak. He’s also reached base in 18 consecutive games, the longest active stretch in the American League.

Jackson Holliday, who’s 5-for-14 since returning to the majors, is batting ninth. Coby Mayo remains at third base and searching for his first major league hit.

Right-handed hitting Eloy Jiménez is the designated hitter, with Ryan Mountcastle on the bench.

Adley Rutschman is catching. His pinch-hit triple last night was the first for the Orioles since Austin Hays on Aug. 28, 2021.

CLEVELAND – The Orioles circled their infield tonight with players drafted by the organization, including their catcher, the lone member of the group to play in college. Two-thirds of the outfield also was homegrown.

Five prospects ranked in the top 10 have debuted this season. The present has caught up to the future, and it’s going to take a group effort to make a deep postseason run.

They need to get there first.

Coby Mayo drew two walks in his first major league game and Jackson Holliday was productive at the bottom of the lineup, but the Orioles couldn’t climb out of a seven-run hole and lost to the Guardians 8-4 at Progressive Field.

The Orioles are 65-46 and can’t do any better than a split of the four-game series. They began the night tied with the Yankees for first place and nothing changed.

The Cleveland Guardians, the American League Central leaders who hold the best record in the AL, have been tough to beat for the Orioles. Both this year and in recent seasons.

Cleveland hit three homers accounting for eight runs last night as they beat Baltimore 10-3 to take the opener of this four-game series. David Fry and Bo Naylor hit three-run homers and José Ramírez added a two-run shot.

The Guardians are 3-1 this year versus the Orioles and have won seven of the past 11 games between the teams. In their last 45 games, Cleveland is 30-15 against Baltimore.

The Guardians are 66-42 and are 34-15 at home. They have won four in a row and seven of their past nine games. 

The Orioles are 4-2 in the last six games, scoring 42 runs. But over their past 12 games, they are 5-7. And since June 21, they are 16-20.

When the Orioles beat Toronto 10-4 on Wednesday and Jackson Holliday hit a grand slam, the high of that win got deflated postgame by the news that Jordan Westburg had fractured his right hand and would miss significant time.

When they got hammered 10-3 by Cleveland last night as lefty Trevor Rogers gave up five runs in his O’s debut, the gloom and doom of that loss was lifted by the news that Coby Mayo is joining the Orioles today in Cleveland.

The news was first reported here on MASNSports.com last night.

Mayo is ranked as baseball’s No. 12 prospect in the top 100 by Baseball America and No. 15 via MLBPipeline.com.

It seemed that when Westburg got hurt, that Mayo might replace him at third base. But Livan Soto was called up yesterday. However now, just like that, the team is turning to Mayo.

CLEVELAND - Gregory Soto thought he ruined his chance. Fire a pitch too close to Gunnar Henderson and forget about playing for the Orioles.

The anecdote is more amusing when told in front of his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field, where the Orioles played the Guardians last night.

Soto was acquired from the Phillies last Friday for right-handed pitchers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace. He met his teammates and drew a crowd of media at his locker.

There was a lot of it going around with five newcomers at the scene. Trevor Rogers wasn’t bothered until later because he was the starting pitcher. Can't break the unwritten rule.

A three-game series in Baltimore in June gave Soto more chances to observe and study the Orioles.

It’s been said that “baseball is a game of inches.” Sometimes it’s less than that.

To hear Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser tell it, a ½ inch is making a difference for him. He cites two things that have helped turn his bat around. He is raking now with a 13-game hitting streak since the All-Star game.

A nice mental reset at the break helped and so too has using a bigger bat, one a bit heavier and one that is 34 inches. A bit longer than the 33 ½ inch model he previously used.

Going into the All-Star break, Cowser was 4-for-31 (.129) with 12 strikeouts his last 10 games.

Coming out of the break he's been on a roll and his hitting streak was extended Wednesday afternoon with a homer and single. Over the 13 games he is batting 19-for-50 which is .380/.429/.660/1.089 with two doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs.

Colton Cowser laid into a fastball, watched it soar to right field and raised his right leg. It probably won’t become his signature home run pose, but he was in the moment.

Jordan Westburg wasn’t as confident in the outcome of his fly ball the following inning until it landed in the bullpen area to tie Game 2. He went the more conventional route, with bat dropped and feet motoring.

The Orioles brought early power to the back end of the doubleheader, but lapses on the mound and in the field cost them a chance at a sweep.

Cade Povich didn’t make it through the fifth inning, the walks hurting him again, and the Orioles lost to the last-place Blue Jays 8-4. The twinbill drew an announced crowd of 22,272, with the nightcap starting late due to rain.

An 11^th loss in 17 games lowered the Orioles' record to 63-44. The Yankees are a half-game back for the division lead after hammering the Phillies 14-4.

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.

The first road trip of the second half produced a 3-3 record for the Orioles, who fumbled a three-run lead in the ninth yesterday and won 7-6 in the 10th. They lead the Yankees by two games in the American League East during a stretch when they could have plummeted down the standings.

Maybe it isn’t the best division in baseball anymore.

Corbin Burnes remains one of the best pitchers and a very smart trade acquisition despite costing DL Hall and Joey Ortiz and likely being a rental. He was the stopper again yesterday before Craig Kimbrel’s blown save, holding the Marlins to three runs – the last scoring after he exited - in a season-high 7 1/3 innings for his 17^th quality start. He’s so good, his ERA actually went up from 2.38 to 2.45.

Burnes made his major league debut in Miami on July 10, 2018 and he recorded a six-out save.  He won a Cy Young Award three years later and could make it two this season.

That’s your Game 1 starter. That’s what they look like.

MIAMI - We thought when the Orioles produced a winning season in 2022, winning 83 games which was 31 more than the year before, that they had stopped the losing. We were further convinced they had stopped the losing last season with 101 wins and their first AL East title since 2014.

The dark days were gone.

They have returned to the Orioles, who must prove to all of us that this is just temporary. But with each lackluster performance and each loss, the phrase "this too shall pass" does not seem as reasonable and appropriate as it once did.

Is the latest losing run a bump in the road or a bigger pothole - one that could derail what just recently looked like a special season was possible? 

These Orioles still have World Series hopes, right?

MIAMI – In his major league debut tonight, Orioles right-hander Chayce McDermott handled himself well, throwing three scoreless innings and one where he got in trouble. 

But with the Baltimore offense not doing much this series, basically since the fourth inning last night, that poor inning looked like it would be enough to beat him tonight.

However, after going scoreless through five innings tonight and over their previous 11 innings this series, the O’s finally got the big hit they needed in the top of the sixth.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Colton Cowser’s three-run double down the right-field line off reliever Huascar Brazoban tied the game 3-3. Just like that the Orioles had their first extra-base hit this series and three huge runs.

But that tie didn't hold.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles already confronted the team that swept them in the Division Series, winning three of four games in Baltimore. However, tonight’s matchup brought them back to the scene of the final crime.

The visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field was a bit livelier this afternoon than on Oct. 10, when a 7-1 loss to the Rangers put the finishing torch to their championship aspirations.

“You had to bring that up?” manager Brandon Hyde joked earlier today.

“That was not a fun series in any way. We played good here besides that, though. So regular season, good memories, postseason, bad memory.”

Nathan Eovaldi won the decisive Game 3, but the Orioles jumped him early tonight. Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser hit two-run homers in the first inning, Anthony Santander homered twice and Corbin Burnes registered his 16^th quality start in a 9-1 victory before an announced crowd of 36,336.

When he got off to a sensational start to his 2024 season, outfielder Colton Cowser was showing for the first time that he might be a good big league player. Showing it, not in minor league games, but at the big league level.

But even he had to realize it might not always go as well as it was then, or he might not be able to make it look as easy as he did then.

Named the American League Rookie of the Month for March/April, he ended that period batting .303/.372/.632/.1.004 with six homers and 18 RBIs.

He ended April ninth in the AL in FanGraphs.com Wins Above Replacement among league position players.

But struggles would follow that torrid hitting stretch. While his OPS for this year of .740 puts him 13 percent above AL average, his OPS was .580 in May, .679 in June and is .490 so far in July.

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 gauntlet is coming to a close for the Orioles. Starting back on May 31, they began a stretch of playing 30 games in 31 days that ends with tonight’s game versus Texas.

They have gone 18-11 in this span, and 6-2-1 in nine series, even with a five-game losing streak and being swept in Houston. Tonight they could produce their second four-game sweep of this run with an earlier one at Tampa Bay. The run includes series wins over the Braves, Phillies, Yankees, Rays and Rangers.

“I think we have handled it really well. Whether we come out 18-12 or 19-11,” Colton Cowser said this afternoon. “I think coming out of this month with a winning record with the opponents we played, especially with one off-day, it is a testament to this team and the depth that we carry.

“I think we talked about it (before it began) but not necessarily who our opponents were. It was, ‘Damn, we’ve got one off-day in June.’ But yeah, I was talking to (James) McCann and he said every year it feels like there is one month to the season and it’s kind of a gauntlet.

“After this stretch, looking at the schedule, we only play four Mondays the rest of the year. Which is kind of crazy to think about. It’s more like a minor league schedule all the sudden. We’ll take it.”