It was a night where the Orioles trailed for most of the first 4 ½ innings. Their starting pitcher lasted just 4 1/3 innings and last-place St. Louis was trying to ruin the start of a very important week-long homestand.

Then Cedric Mullins entertained us and brought Camden Yards to life with one swing.

Mullins hit his second grand slam of the year and the third of his career to put the Orioles ahead 8-5 and they beat St. Louis tonight 11-5 at Oriole Park to improve to 91-52.

The Orioles have won eight of nine, 14 of 18, 17 of 22 and 20 of the last 27 games. They are 28-11 in the past 39 games as they opened this three-game series with their 46^th comeback win of 2023.

The O’s had scored twice in the second to lead 2-1, but St. Louis got to O’s starter Dean Kremer for the lead scoring three in the third and adding one more in the fifth.

With 20 games to play, the Orioles lead the American League East by three games over the Rays. While the Rays (88-56) play at Minnesota tonight the Orioles (90-52) will host the Cardinals to start a three-game series.

For Baltimore, this opens a weeklong homestand that will see the Birds host the Rays for four games starting Thursday night. This is the second-to-last homestand of the 2023 regular season.

The Orioles saw a seven-game win streak snapped with Sunday’s loss at Boston. Overall they have won seven of eight, nine of 12, 13 of 17 and 16 of the last 21 games. The Orioles are 27-11 (.711) in their past 38 games.

The Birds are 42-26 at home and 36-17 in the second half.

The Cardinals (63-80) are 17 games under .500 but are playing better lately winning five of its past seven, and seven of 11 games. The Cardinals have won their past two series, two to one against both the Braves and the Reds.

After going through a recent stretch where their starting pitchers produced just one quality start in a 14-game span, the Orioles have now gotten two straight quality starts as they head into the second game of their series with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Orioles (29-37) got consecutive six-inning outings from Tyler Wells Thursday at Toronto and Dean Kremer last night versus the Rays. They combined to throw 12 innings, allowing 10 hits and one run. The Orioles now have 14 quality starts for the year and are 10-4 in those games. Wells and Jordan Lyles lead the club with four each.

Kremer lowered his ERA to 2.35 in three starts with an 82-pitch outing. It was the Orioles fourth scoreless start of five innings or more this year. Bruce Zimmermann threw five scoreless on April 17 versus New York and Lyles went five scoreless on April 20 at Oakland. Wells pitched six scoreless May 30 at Boston before Kremer allowed no runs on just five singles last night.

The O’s bullpen took it from there in a 1-0 win to open this series. Félix Bautista, Cionel Pérez and Jorge López combined to strikeout eight batters in the last three innings with no walks as Bautista touched 101.4 mph with his fastest pitch, while Perez got to 98.6 mph and Lopez 98.4. Lopez recorded his 10^th save and his fifth of more than one inning, getting the last four outs. His ninth-inning ERA of 1.21 is second-lowest among all major league relievers.

On June 12-13, in back-to-back games at Kansas City and Toronto, the Orioles' bullpen allowed 11 runs over 7 2/3 innings. But over the past four games the ‘pen has yielded just two earned runs in 14 innings.

The Orioles bullpen underwent more changes today as right-hander Joey Krehbiel returned to the active roster and righty Logan Gillaspie was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk. Krehbiel’s last game was June 2, and he's been out since with right shoulder discomfort and inflammation. But he has been throwing while not active and said today he feels very ready for his return to the active roster.

Krehbiel, who has pitched in the majors with Arizona, Tampa Bay and the Orioles, was claimed by Baltimore off waivers from Tampa Bay on Sept. 21, 2021. He was off to a good start to his season before his IL stint, going 2-3 with a 2.74 ERA over 22 games and 23 innings. He has recorded a 1.130 WHIP and has allowed just one run in seven innings over his last six appearances.

“I actually only took maybe like five or six days off in a row not throwing,” he said in the O’s clubhouse pregame. “Just getting in the training room and (they were) taking care of me every day. I have thrown every day. First day I threw, just to play catch, then took a day off and for like the last 10 days, about eight of those days I’ve thrown every day.

“Threw off the mound first time just 15 fastballs, felt great. Next couple days off, then threw like an aggressive full-on bullpen. All my pitches and it felt even better than before. So twice (off the mound) I guess.”

And after pitching well for the Orioles to start this season, waiting out his IL time of 15 days was not easy.

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.”

On March 8, outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. got traded from the Blue Jays to the Orioles for international bonus money. He was about to leave the only organization he knew. The one that drafted him 53rd overall in 2011. He had played over 700 games in seven seasons on the Blue Jays' farm and briefly in the majors for Toronto in 2017 and 2018. And now he wondered how it would all turn out upon being traded. "I was just thinking, 'What's next?' " he recalled yesterday in the O's clubhouse. "I...

TORONTO - Convinced that his team can still make a run to get the second American League wild card, Orioles manager Buck Showalter today talked about his team's struggling offense. During a four-game losing streak, the Orioles have scored just five runs on 23 hits with two home runs. Have the Orioles just faced pitching that was real good or have they contributed to their recent team-wide slump? "It's both," Showalter said. "I'm always going to give credit to the opposition, but the...

HOUSTON - Today's pregame session with Orioles manager Buck Showalter included several injury updates. In addition, Showalter was asked about playing time at the corner outfield positions. Hyun Soo Kim is starting for the second straight day and Nolan Reimold started last night. Any changes coming here for the Orioles? "We'll take it day to day and keep everybody involved," he said. "I had two lineups for the first game. I thought he (Kim) matched up well with these three starters. We'll...

Congratulations to one of the real good guys in the Orioles minor leagues. Single-A Frederick Keys manager Orlando Gomez posted his 900th career minor league managing victory this week. He got the milestone win Thursday night in a 4-0 win at Lynchburg as Nick Haughian pitched six scoreless innings. Gomez then picked up number 901 in last night's 6-1 win over Lynchburg as Bobby Bundy gave up just one run over seven innings to get to 8-5 and tie for the league wins lead. Gomez, a native of...

If you want to meet someone that is almost bubbling over with excitement for the new Orioles season, check out new first base coach Wayne Kirby. Kirby is the only member of the new O's staff that has never coached in the majors, but he can't wait to get started. "I have a lot of passion for this game," Kirby said. "I bring energy every day and kids feed off that. If I'm dead, (a player) may be. I'll bring it every day and they might have to tell me to shut up." Kirby. who will also...

Orioles starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie said today at FanFest that he and the club have had a conversation about the possibility of a long-term contract. "I don't think the parties agreed on the length of it, but I love Baltimore. I love pitching here and anytime you can provide your family with security, it's a great option. I'm very happy to also play it out year-by-year and have the motivation to go out and do the best that I can. Whatever happens, I'll be a good spot," Guthrie...

Orioles lefty Brian Matusz is enjoying the optimism around the Baltimore Convention Center today and said he is pretty psyched for the 2011 season. "You can see it, everyone is excited," he said. "We just seem like a team, we all are real comfortable right now. I keep saying it, but I am real excited about this spring. Our new park (in Sarasota), I hear is amazing." Matusz said he had a productive winter of workouts on the West Coast. "It's been a good offseason. I've been working out...

Earlier today I wrote about Frederick Keys reliever Brandon Cooney. The hard-throwing right-hander is Frederick's closer and off to a great start. He is 2-0, 0.60 and tied for the Carolina League lead with five saves. Cooney, a 30th-round pick in 2007 out of Florida Atlantic, has pitched 15 innings for the Keys and has allowed 12 hits and just one earned run on the season, with seven walks to 18 strikeouts. Cooney seems like someone eager to learn and says he has gotten solid instruction...