When Japanese right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki signed as an international amateur with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s defending World Series winners got a top pitcher for a very modest signing amount.

The rich got richer.

That angered some fans who speculated that the Dodgers had some sort of handshake agreement to add Sasaki all along. I don’t know about that, but the industry seemed to expect the Dodgers to get him months ago and they did.

What troubled me about the team recruitment of Sasaki was his “homework assignment” for various clubs during the recruiting process. What he asked teams to do before meeting with him. And that was to assess why his fastball lost some velocity in Japan during the 2024 season and how they would fix that.

I don’t know how many teams completed their homework assignment, but clearly some teams went deep into possibly helping the pitcher fix his fastball and did not even get him on their team. That sounds to me like Sasaki and his camp crossed a line here or pushed an envelope a step or two too far. Tell me how I can be better so I can take that to my new team and stay good, he seemed to be saying.

Since early last season, the Orioles have lost just one American League East series. They need a win tonight at Rogers Centre for that stat to continue. Right before the All-Star break the O's lost a series to the Yankees. But they are 17-1-6 in their past 24 division series. 

They went 32-20 in AL East games last year and are 24-11 this season heading into this series finale. The O's are 7-5 against Toronto and 12-4 in AL East road games.

After losing Tuesday in Toronto 5-2 as they were held to three hits, they won 7-3 last night when they hit three homers.

With last night's win, the Orioles have clinched a second straight season series win over the Blue Jays. This is the first time they’ve accomplished that since winning the season series in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

From 2020-2022, they went 16-32 against Toronto. But since the start of 2023, they are 17-8 versus the Blue Jays. 

TORONTO – It didn't happen in April when he went 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts. But it's happening now. Jackson Holliday, who will not turn 21 until Dec. 4, is now doing special things for the Orioles.

So special that last night, Holliday's go-ahead homer in the seventh led the Orioles to a win but he also became the youngest player in American League history to homer in three straight games.

Looking overmatched and not ready in April, now he looks every bit like the best prospect in baseball. Those that called him overhyped and overrated then are eating their words faster than a buffet lunch. 

The fun started last Wednesday in Baltimore, in his first game back in the bigs since April. 

He drilled a ball 439 feet in the sixth inning against Toronto for a grand slam. A 4-3 lead became 8-3 and Jackson got all of that one. He hit an 0-2 slider with 109.2 mph exit velocity.

Small sample sizes shouldn’t produce a chorus of long-term outlooks. The word “small” is the giveaway Baseball requires patience over the course of a 162-game season.

OK, we got that out of the way.

Left-hander Gregory Soto has made three appearances with the Orioles since the deadline trade with the Phillies. He’s allowed eight runs and nine hits and walked three batters in 1 1/3 innings. And his second outing was scoreless.

It wasn’t clean. Soto allowed two hits Sunday in two-thirds of an inning in Cleveland and was bailed out by Cedric Mullins’ outfield assist.

The first five Guardians batters reached against Soto Friday in his Orioles debut. He retired one and was removed.

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.

Sometimes you can "turn and burn" but sometimes "you take rather than rake."

When I interviewed Ryan O’Hearn in spring training and we talked about his strong 2023 and hopes for the 2024 season, he knew he may still have some doubters out there.

“I’m sure there are people saying, ‘He’s a one-hit wonder or a flash in the pan’ type of thing. You know, I’m eager to prove that is not true,” he said in that March interview in Sarasota.

Then O’Hearn spelled out some specific plans to improve this year and they have played out on the field pretty much exactly as he had hoped.

He wanted to walk more. He is. He wanted to do a better job in 3-2 counts and he is big time.

Hidden within the madness of the July 30 trade deadline, with its aggressive roster churn that resembled a tidal wave, was the Orioles' decision to recall Triple-A Norfolk catcher Blake Hunt. He made the trip from Charlotte to Baltimore in case backup James McCann went on the 10-day injured list. And the news barely created a ripple.

However, it was a wise move considering that McCann suffered multiple nasal fractures from a fastball to his face, a horrific scene that usually takes a player off the active roster and dumps him into a hospital bed.

McCann isn’t your typical player. He wears a protective mask when he bats. He gets his starts behind the plate. And Hunt, optioned the following day, gets to stick around on the taxi squad – the role usually occupied by David Bañuelos this season.

The team boarded its charter to Toronto after Sunday’s game at Progressive Field, but McCann hopped on a Southwest flight back to Baltimore to receive more medical attention on his nose. He prefers the exit row, according to industry sources with direct knowledge of his seating.

Major league field coordinator Tim Cossins also works as the Orioles' catching instructor. He played the position at the University of Oklahoma, in the minors with three organizations and in independent ball. He can relate to the abuse that the body takes, including the foul ball Sunday that nailed Adley Rutschman in the groin area, causing an entire ballpark to grimace.

Right-hander Zach Eflin started for the Orioles in Game 1 yesterday. He threw well and got the win against Toronto in his O's debut. He also did something unusual for him. He fanned seven batters to tie a season-high and had six strikeouts after just four innings.

Thirteen times this year in his 20 starts, Eflin fanned five or fewer. He's mostly a control artist and a pitch-to-contact guy.

He is much more of that style pitcher then one with a premium fastball and a big strikeout rate.

Eflin can be a strikeout pitcher. And last year when his ERA was 3.50 and he finished sixth for the AL Cy Young award, he averaged 9.4 strikeouts per every nine innings. But the year before, in 2022, he averaged 7.7 K/9 and this year his average is 7.1 K/9.

There was a day in this game when 7.1 strikeouts per 9 was a lot. For instance, Jim Palmer for his career averaged 5.0 strikeouts per nine and yet won three Cy Young Awards. Today 7.1 per nine is below average.

TORONTO - For the Orioles, it has been a while since they scored so few runs and awhile since they suffered a walk-off loss.

But they dropped to 3.5 games out behind the surging Yankees in the AL East with a 3-2 defeat in the last of the ninth at Toronto. They previously had two walk-off losses on back-to-back days, April 6-7 at Pittsburgh.

They came into this game going 10-2 and scoring 75 runs the previous 12 games. Then they scored twice in the second inning and nothing after that in their lowest scoring game since producing one run in the second game of the series at St. Louis.

Toronto (29-32) produced its second walk-off win and 11th comeback win.

Even with a loss the Orioles are 6-3 in a 14-game stretch against AL East teams. Overall they have won five of seven and 10 of their past 13. Last night was just their second loss in their last 11 games at Rogers Centre.

TORONTO – The Orioles are eight games into a stretch of 14 consecutive games versus AL East opponents. With how well this team now plays within its own division, this is good news.

And with Tuesday’s 10-1 blowout win at Rogers Centre over Toronto, the Orioles are now 6-2 in this stretch versus Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

The Orioles are 13-4 (.765) against AL East clubs this year. For just the second time in team history they have won 13 of their first 17 division games. That also happened in 2005.

The Birds just keep hitting since they got swept at St. Louis and scored eight runs total in those three games.

They are now 10-2 the past 12 games. They have scored 17 runs this series, 29 in the last four games, 52 in eight games and 75 runs in those past 12 games. In this span they have 118 hits, including 22 home runs and are batting .280 with an OPS of .844.

Anthony Santander didn’t feed the appetites of the launch angle lovers this afternoon while breaking the final tie of the day. The four combined home runs from the Orioles and Blue Jays would have to satisfy those cravings.

Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. raised his mitt in an attempt to knock down Santander’s 103.9 mph one-hopper with two outs in the sixth inning and could only deflect it, allowing Austin Hays score on the third consecutive single against reliever Yimi García.

Four degrees of separation between a tie and lead.

García was saddled with two losses last month in Toronto, and he earned another today. Tyler Wells turned in his third quality start in his last four outings, surviving two home runs from Danny Jansen, and Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista handled the last seven outs in a 4-2 victory before an announced crowd of 22,555 at Camden Yards.

Hays hit a 439-foot home run off Erik Swanson in the eighth, and the 24th comeback win of the season improved the Orioles to 43-25. They secured their 15^th series and pushed the Blue Jays six games behind them in the standings.

The Orioles (42-25) host the Blue Jays (38-31) today to wrap up a three-game series and a six-game homestand. The homestand began with the Orioles sweeping Kansas City and now they have split the first two games of this series.

Baltimore scored 11 runs each on Sunday and Tuesday, but where held to just six hits - all singles - last night in a 3-1 loss to Toronto. That result ended the Orioles' win streak at five in a row, two short of their season high. They fall to 4-1 this year against Toronto and to 13-11 versus the Blue Jays since the beginning of the 2022 season.

Toronto, which has won nine of 13 of and is 12-6 its past 18 games, is now 18-8 in its past 26 games at Oriole Park.

The Orioles are 6-4 in rubber match games and 3-2 when that game is against an AL East opponent. They have won three in a row within the division with rubber match wins over Boston, Tampa Bay and New York.

In their first four games this season against Toronto, Baltimore batters had produced 31 runs. But last night the Orioles were held without an extra-base hit for the third time this season. That also happened April 8 against the Yankees and June 7 against the Brewers.

Austin Voth is hoping to begin throwing again next week to test the right elbow that forced him on the injured list yesterday.

Voth is taking a stronger dose of an anti-inflammatory to reduce the swelling.

The Orioles placed Voth on the IL after he allowed two runs and three hits Tuesday in one-third of an inning. He also walked a batter, and Cavan Biggio’s homer was the first that Voth surrendered in his last 18 appearances.

Voth’s previous outing also was a struggle, with two walks in one-third of an inning against the Royals.

“It’s getting better,” he said this morning. “It’s just a matter of calming it down to the point where I can move it without moving something. And from there, I’m not throwing right now, so the next step would be probably throwing in maybe a week to see how it’s doing.”

Ramón Urías is making his second career start at first base this afternoon, as the Orioles concluded their homestand.

Manager Brandon Hyde is stacking his lineup with right-handed bats, including James McCann catching, Ryan McKenna in left field and Joey Ortiz at second base.

Austin Hays is leading off, with Gunnar Henderson in the cleanup spot.

Tyler Wells has posted a 3.24 ERA in 13 games (12 starts), and his 0.853 WHIP leads the majors. He’s allowed five runs in his last three starts over 18 innings.

Wells has made eight career appearances against the Blue Jays, including two starts, and allowed 10 runs and 18 hits in 14 2/3 innings.

TORONTO – The Orioles got a weekend’s worth of solid outings from their starting rotation and right-hander Dean Kremer joined the party today at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. But with a couple of key relievers not expected to pitch today, could the O’s bullpen hold a late lead without Yennier Cano and Felix Bautista?

They took a 2-1 lead to the last of the seventh, and after many missed chances earlier, Toronto did tie it up as reliever Mychal Givens made his season debut. He issued a leadoff walk and a bloop single followed. He would minimize the damage, but with one down, Matt Chapman's sac fly tied the game 2-2.

This game would go extra innings for the second day in a row in this series and the 2023 Orioles pulled out another one. With one amazing half inning. 

Each team scored in the tenth and then the Orioles plated five runs in the top of the 11th to record an impressive 8-3 win and a series sweep. They won on a day they could not use their entire bullpen and on a day they could not hold two one-run leads. 

The Orioles (31-16) recorded their first three-game sweep at Toronto since doing that April 22-24, 2005.

TORONTO – The Orioles six-game AL East road trip is off to a great start. They have posted 6-2 and 6-5 wins in 10 innings at Toronto and they can sweep this series this afternoon at Rogers Centre.

In the 2018 season, the Orioles went 0-10 at Rogers Centre and that was not even against a winning Toronto team. While the Orioles went 47-115 that year, Toronto was 73-89.

This has just been a tough place for the Orioles to win over the years and today Baltimore (30-16) begins to play five games ahead of Toronto (25-21) in the standings.

The O’s win Saturday was another comeback win as Ryan O’Hearn’s three-run homer in the eighth tied the game at 5-5 and Félix Bautista fanned five over the last two innings to get the win. Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez allowed two runs and four hits over five innings. And O’s starters have allowed nine hits and three runs in 12 innings this series. The O’s offense has scored 12 runs, hitting five homers this weekend.

The Orioles did not pick up their 30^th win until Game 68 last year on June 19 when the club was 30-38.

TORONTO - The Orioles are getting a reinforcement today for their heavily-used bullpen as right-hander Mychal Givens has been activated as the Orioles try to sweep Toronto today at Rogers Centre. Givens has not pitched in an O's game since March 16 in spring training.

But today he comes off the 15-day injured list - he's been out with left knee inflammation. To make roster room lefty Cole Irvin was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk. Recalled Tuesday from the Tides, Irvin pitched just once since his return to the club and that was in yesterday's 6-5 Orioles win in 10 innings. 

He faced two batters in the seventh inning, allowing an inherited run on an RBI single to Alejandro Kirk and he got a popout to the infield from Matt Chapman. He threw just seven pitches.

With Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista having pitched in both games of this series and very likely not available today, the O's are short in the bullpen today and enter Givens to provide a lift.

Orginailly drafted by the Orioles as a high school shortstop out of Tampa, Fla. in the second round in 2009, he was later converted to pitcher. The O's traded him on Aug. 30, 2020 to Colorado in a deal that brought the club Terrin Vavra, Tyler Nevin and a player to be named later that became minor league outfielder Mishael Deson.

The Orioles will close out the 2022 season by playing a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Tonight’s game with the Blue Jays was postponed due to rain. A traditional, single-admission doubleheader has been announced, with the opener set for 12:35 p.m. Game 2 begins approximately 30 minutes after the final out.

Just one more oddity after the lockout delayed spring training and opening day and forced an adjustment to the schedule, which tagged this series at the end of it.

Mike Baumann starts Game 1 and Spenser Watkins starts Game 2.

The Blue Jays are sending Mitch White to the mound for Game 1. Game 2 is undecided.

TORONTO – The Orioles are pretty excited about both the present and future for some of their young hitters like Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays. But now, in addition to giving the team quality production, they are coming up with big hits at big times.

Last night's 6-5 win at Toronto was the latest example. Mountcastle got them started with a two-run shot to right field in the third inning for a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, after the Orioles had been tied 3-3 and saw a two-run lead disappear, Hays hit a leadoff homer for the 4-3 edge.

“They are just starting to pile up major league at-bats,” manager Brandon Hyde said today discussing the pair after they combined for four hits, three runs and three RBIs on Tuesday night. “Kind of like these guys over here (with Toronto). They’ve got some special, special young players that are now in their third, fourth, fifth years and the improvement that they’ve shown is remarkable. They have some superstar-type players.

“Our guys over here, like Hays, (Cedric) Mullins, Mountcastle, now that they are in their third, fourth, fifth years you are seeing improvement every year with the at-bats that they take that are really good. Mountcastle hit that ball to right-center, that ball is down and he hits it 400 plus feet. Haysie takes a sinker and hits it out to center field. Both of them have elite bat speed and power to all fields. That doesn’t come around all the time.”

Hyde said Mountcastle is rounding into form with his bat after a three extra-base hit night. Over his past 14 games he’s batting .296 with an OPS of 1.054 and 12 of his 16 hits have gone for extra bases with seven doubles and five homers.