Nothing that I do in my life, nothing that’s accomplished in a press box or television booth, is more fulfilling and important to me than being a Girl Dad. My daughter is my best work.

I lost my father to cancer three years ago. He was the ideal role model. I miss him terribly and try every day to live up to his standard. To reach the bar that he raised.

Being on road trips to cover the Orioles satisfied me professionally but also hurt my heart. Six weeks at spring training felt like an eternity, no matter how much I loved Fort Lauderdale. I’d fly home and go directly from the airport to my daughter's classroom, where the teacher waved me in like a third base coach.

She’d jump in my arms – my daughter, not the teacher - and ask whether I brought T-shirts for her instructors and friends. Of course I did. I just had to take out a second mortgage.

I lifted her up when she was in fifth grade and she whispered into my ear, “Put me down, put me down.” I was embarrassing her in front of her friends. My little girl was growing up.

KANSAS CITY - Anthony Santander rocked back on his left foot, pausing to admire his work.

When you hit a ball 455 feet into the fountains at Kauffman Stadium, you’re allowed a little time to bask.

Santander’s solo splashdown in the first inning of Sunday’s game was the first of three home runs for the Orioles and set the tone for the team’s marathon 10-7 win over the Royals (20-39).

The Orioles (26-35) hit 850 more feet worth of homers in the second, getting back-to-back shots from Ryan Mountcastle and Rougned Odor to open the inning and push the lead to 3-0. But the barrage didn’t end there, as the O’s scored two more in the inning on RBI singles from Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays off Kansas City starter Brad Keller.

“We swung the bat good all day," said manager Brandon Hyde after the win. "We had 15 hits, had really good at-bats, started early, which is great to see. We haven’t done that a ton.”

Going back to what I wrote yesterday, the Orioles’ draft board is down to five players they could choose with the first-overall selection.

Of course, no one is going to pass around the names, but prep infielder Termarr Johnson obviously is on it. He worked out yesterday morning, his audience including executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, manager Brandon Hyde, co-hitting coaches Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte, and head athletic trainer Brian Ebel.

Catcher Adley Rutschman walked over to the batting cage and watched part of the session.

Baseball America’s 4.0 mock draft has the Orioles selecting Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday. Previous versions have tied the Orioles to Georgia prep outfielder Druw Jones, son of former major league outfielder Andruw Jones.

Probably safe to assume those two also are on the Orioles’ board. But they also are scouting IMG Academy outfielder Elijah Green, son of former NFL tight end Eric Green, and Cal Poly shortstop Brooks Lee is viewed as a top five talent by many evaluators.

Cionel Pérez has been so successful and dependable for the Orioles this season that any stumble feels like a hard fall.

Manager Brandon Hyde replaced starter Jordan Lyles with Pérez Thursday night after the veteran let the first three Mariners reach base in the sixth and allowed a run-scoring single to Eugenio Suarez. Hyde wanted Pérez to face the left-handed hitting Adam Frazier, and the inning never really matters.

It's all about the matchup.

Frazier lifted a sacrifice fly, Pérez walked the next two batters – including left-handed hitting Taylor Trammell - and Joey Krehbiel surrendered a two-run single to Luis Torrens.

Only the second earned run charged to Pérez this season in 20 games, his first since May 12 in St. Louis. His ERA skyrocketed to 1.08.

Keegan Akin had no idea that he held an Orioles’ record or that it existed. A visitor to his locker yesterday shared the news.

No Orioles reliever had thrown two or more innings in his first 11 appearances of the season. Akin blew past Jimmy Haynes for the team mark of 10 and has tied Chuck Crim for the major league record of 14 set in 1987.

“I did not know that,” Akin said, making no attempt to impersonate Johnny Carson.

The item is in the game notes, but Akin probably doesn’t peruse them at his locker.

“That’s pretty cool,” he said, smiling. “I didn’t see that.”

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.”

Orioles lefty reliever Cionel Pérez, who is having a big year out of the bullpen, was a member of the high Single-A Buies Creek Astros in 2017. He pitched in just 25 1/3 innings for that team, but his pitching coach was Chris Holt. The same guy who is Baltimore's pitching coach now.

Pérez remembered today that Holt helped him, and having Holt here made his transition to his new team easier this year. He made the Baltimore roster out of spring training this year after the Orioles claimed him, via waivers, from the Reds in November.

“He has been a big help,” Pérez said today through O’s interpreter Brandon Quinones about Holt. “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.”

I asked Pérez if Holt had a hand in bringing him to Baltimore?

“In reality I don’t know if he played any part in the Orioles getting me, but I’m really thankful and grateful that I’m here. Especially with the year I’m having and the team is having a lot of fun. Been a great year so far,” he said.

Can you build a bullpen and get significant contributions from other teams' castoffs and have that bullpen perform about as well as any in baseball? So far, for the Orioles, that answer is yes.

Over time we will see if this bullpen can keep up its impressive start and how the ‘pen will hold up when having to cover so many innings. But if we gave a 49-game grade, how could they get anything other than an A?

Even in losing 12-2 Sunday, right-hander Cody Sedlock helped preserve the bullpen for tonight by pitching three innings plus in his major league debut. He and Marcos Diplán combined to give up six runs, but no other pitchers were needed on a day when starter Bruce Zimmermann allowed five homers and pitched just four innings.

The O’s ‘pen, in having this big year, has been a real key in the team’s overall improvement and ability to beat good teams and win some close games. The Orioles seem to be slowly getting better at winning those close games as the year goes on.

Through Saturday’s games, the Baltimore 'pen had an ERA of 3.00 to rank second behind Houston at 2.53. And the O’s bullpen compiled a 2.61 ERA in May, also second to the Astros, whose relievers are at 1.94 for the month.

The Orioles won’t rush a prospect to the majors, in terms of how they dictate the pace, just to fulfill an unexpected and ill-timed need on the major league roster. They’re adamant about it. There’s no gray area in black and orange besides the uniform.

They might need to do something about their rotation after Spenser Watkins threw 13 pitches today and was drilled on the right arm by a 106-mph line drive from Tampa Bay’s Ji-Man Choi.

Watkins spun off the mound as third baseman Ramón Urías retrieved the ball, glanced home and threw late to first base. All three batters reached against Watkins, whose ouster forced Joey Krehbiel into a game that the Orioles rallied to tie with two outs in the ninth, just as a storm hit and halted play after three hours, 52 minutes.

It resumed following a 51-minute delay, Cionel Pérez tossed two scoreless innings, leaving the bases loaded in the top of the 11th, and Choi whiffed on Rougned Odor’s chopper to first base that scored automatic runner Adley Rutschman and gave the Orioles a 7-6 victory before an announced crowd of 23,778 to close out the homestand.

Chris Owings laid down a sacrifice bunt before Odor batted, and the Orioles had their third walk-off win in four days. Rutschman had his first major league run, with the play scored a fielder's choice and no error.

The Orioles had lost 16 games and two starting pitchers before tonight. High marks less than a full month into their season.

They won’t run the table after tonight’s 9-4 victory over the Twins at Camden Yards, but perhaps they could avoid more changes to their rotation created by injuries.

The lesser of two long shots.

Chris Ellis was supposed to replace John Means, at least for a while, but he’s done in 2022 after today’s procedure to clean up his right labrum and rotator cuff.

Spenser Watkins closes out the series Thursday night opposite Chris Archer, and Jordan Lyles, Tyler Wells and Bruce Zimmermann stay in turn this weekend against the Royals. Kansas City is starting Carlos Hernández, Daniel Lynch and Zack Greinke.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – If you haven’t been impressed yet by the Orioles' dramatically improved pitching, maybe you missed the last of the fourth inning Friday night.

O’s lefty Bruce Zimmermann was rolling again. He had buzzed through the first three innings against the Los Angeles Angels, a first-place team beginning play Friday, on 33 pitches. In the last of the first he fanned reigning league MVP Shohei Ohtani and then got Mike Trout to line out and Anthony Rendon to ground out. On seven pitches, by the way.

But here they came to bat again in the fourth and this time they were getting a second look at Zimmermann. So up came Ohtani, who hit 46 homers last year. Zimmermann struck him out swinging on five pitches with a slider. Next was Trout, a three-time MVP and eight-time Silver Slugger, who fanned at a curveball to go down on strikes on the fifth pitch. And then five more would be needed to strike out Rendon, also a Silver Slugger winner, with a changeup.

It wasn’t Carl Hubbell in the 1934 All-Star game, but for a guy throwing 90, 91 mph, it was darn impressive.

“That 1-2-3 (in their lineup) is a serious punch. It’s definitely a challenge but that is what makes this game fun, is playing against guys like that," said Zimmermann.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – He was getting ahead of hitters. He had their timing disrupted with his changeup. His fastball was hitting spots and his secondaries were on point. Lefty Bruce Zimmermann, whose season began with two scoreless outings, threw a third straight strong game tonight.

It was some impressive pitching.

And the Orioles offense, which came to life yesterday after Trey Mancini’s ejection, tonight matched their season high in runs.

The Orioles beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 to start a three-game weekend series. They improved to 5-9 overall, to 2-3 on this road trip and to 2-6 in road games.

How good was Zimmermann tonight?