TORONTO – After the Orioles got just one run over six innings in losing 4-1 last night to Toronto and lefty Yusei Kikuchi, they face another top starting pitcher today in former Oriole right-hander Kevin Gausman. 

After winning Monday and Tuesday, the O’s lost last night and now are 66-42 but once again lead the American League East. They are 1.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay for the eighth straight day after the Rays’ 7-2 loss to the Yankees.

The Orioles lead third-place Toronto by 6.5 games and are nine games ahead of Boston and 10 up on New York.

Even if the Orioles lose today and split this series, this will be the 10^th straight AL East series where the O’s won or tied the series and didn't lose it. They went 7-0-2 in the previous nine. They are 23-14 for the year in AL East games and 21-10 in 31 games over these last 10 division series.

Toronto has lost six straight AL East series and needs a win today to avoid losing this one. Toronto (60-49) has won six of its last 10 and 15 of 24 games overall. The Blue Jays are 34-24 (.586) over their past 58 games.

TORONTO – The Rogers Centre used to be a place where the Orioles came to often lose. But the 2023 Orioles are different. They came here in May and swept three from the Blue Jays by scores of 6-2, 6-5 in 10 innings and 8-3 in 11 innings. 

It was a stunning result when you consider the O’s had not swept three at Toronto since April 22-24, 2005. They had not swept an American League East series since taking three from the Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 2-4, 2021.

In the 2018 season, the Orioles went 0-10 in Toronto.

As the teams begin a new four-game series tonight in Toronto, it’s a big series with the Blue Jays playing better baseball and hoping to still make a run for the top spot in the division. This is their chance to gain on the Orioles.

The Blue Jays (59-47) lost in 10 innings 3-2 to the Angels on Sunday, but they are 5-2 their past seven games and 14-7 over the last 21 games. In their past 55 games, Toronto is 33-22 and playing .600 ball.

After recording their fifth walk-off win of the year last night and their second 1-0 victory of the 2023 season, the Orioles (63-40) host the New York Yankees (54-49) again tonight at Oriole Park. One more win in this series will give the O’s their 20^th series win of the season.

Anthony Santander’s solo homer in the last of the ninth with one out ended the game early this morning. A game that started two hours and 32 minutes late due to rain. It was Santander’s third career walk-off plate appearance and second homer to end and win a game. He hit his first also versus the Yankees, a three-run shot on May 19, 2022.

Last night he blasted a Tommy Kahnle 2-0 changeup for the game winner. He hit the ball 108 mph off the bat and it went 425 feet to break the scoreless tie.

The Orioles went 3-1 in one-run games on their recent road trip and are now 20-10 on the year in those games.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez pitched a career high 6 1/3 innings allowing three hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches and gave the Orioles their 41^st quality start. They are 31-10 in those games.

The Orioles have a winning road trip secured as they take the field in Philadelphia tonight, but they need a victory in the game to pick up another series victory. They’d love to win to erase the memory of their sixth walk-off loss of the year last night. The Phillies scored twice in the ninth to pull it out.

The Orioles (62-39) had a three-game win streak snapped and lost for just the second time in seven games and fourth time in the last 17. They had won nine of their previous 10 road games until this loss.

Tonight, they can extend their AL East lead back to 2.5 games after Miami beat Tampa Bay 7-1 this afternoon.

The road trip started with the Orioles going 3-1 at Tampa Bay and now are 1-1 this series for a 4-2 trip so far with one game left. The Orioles are 8-5 in rubber match games on the season, having not played one since they lost 11-7 in 10 innings to Cincinnati on June 28.

The Orioles are 19-10-3 in series play and are 10-4-2 in road series and 32-19 in road games.

The Orioles beat Tampa Bay 4-3 in 10 innings Thursday night and were held to just two hits in a 3-0 loss last night. So the O’s and Rays are right back where they were and separated by just percentage points when this series started.

They are tied for first atop the American League East with the Orioles at 59-38 (.608) and Tampa Bay at 61-40 (.604) and two games to go this series.

Friday’s loss snapped the Orioles’ six-game road win streak, their longest away from Oriole Park since an eight-game streak from July 25 to Aug. 13, 2020.

With Thursday's win, the Orioles have now gone 71 consecutive series without being swept. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the most consecutive series of at least two decisions (no ties) without getting swept in Orioles history, ahead of 46 consecutive sweepless series from 1971-72. It is the ninth-longest such streak in MLB history, trailing the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals (124), 1906-09 Chicago Cubs (115), 1903-05 New York Giants (105), 1922-24 New York Yankees (83), 1904-1906 Philadelphia Athletics (74), and 1921-23 St. Louis Browns, 1997-99 San Diego Padres, and 2003-05 Atlanta Braves (72).

The Orioles have won 10 of their past 13 games and have scored 79 runs in those games.

After chasing the Tampa Bay Rays all season – a team that at times early this year seemed uncatchable – the Orioles caught them yesterday. They beat the Los Angeles Dodgers while the Rays lost to Texas and got swept in a three-game series.

So while the clubs are even atop the American League East in the games behind column, the Orioles are two games ahead in the loss column and lead the division by percentage points. The Orioles (58-37) are playing .611 ball and Tampa Bay (60-39) is playing .606 ball.

The Orioles, on a pace for 99 wins, have the best record in the American League and trail only Atlanta (61-33, .649) for the best mark in MLB.

The Orioles' 8-5 Wednesday win completed a 4-2 homestand and kept them from being swept by Los Angeles. The Orioles have not been swept since May of 2022 and have now gone 70 straight series without being swept. They became the eighth team in MLB history to go 70 or more series without being swept. Next on the list is the Atlanta Braves, who were not swept in 72 consecutive series from 2003-2005.

Since going through a stretch where they lost six of seven games, the Orioles are 9-2 in the last 11 games, outscoring opponents 75-41 in that span. The O's are batting .288 with an OPS of .868 in those 11 games. The Orioles scored 15 runs against the Dodgers and have scored 52 in the last eight games. At 4.98 runs per game for the year, the O’s rank fifth in the AL. The Rays are second at 5.31 runs per game.

The second half started for the Orioles on Friday night as the first half ended – with the Orioles winning. They improved to 20 games over the .500 mark for the first time this year with a 5-2 win over Miami. Adam Frazier produced his first career two-homer game with three hits and four RBIs in the win.

The Orioles (55-35) moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Rays, who were rained out Friday and plays a day-night doubleheader in Kansas City today.

Tampa Bay won the day portion of the twinbill 6-1, so the O's are now again two games back.

The Orioles are 20 games over .500 before August for the first time since 1997. 

The Orioles have a six-game win streak and have outscored their opponents 49-11 during this run. They have scored 26 runs the past three games. The Orioles have hit nine homers the past two games.

After ending the first half with an impressive five-game win streak, the Orioles look to extend the streak as their second-half schedule begins tonight. They host the Miami Marlins for three games this weekend and then play three more at home to end the homestand against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the third series out of the All-Star break, the Orioles (54-35) will play four games on the road against the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays (58-35). The Orioles win streak has seen them close to just two games back of Tampa Bay and the clubs are even in the loss column.

When last seen, the Orioles hit a season-high six homers and scored seven runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth last Sunday to rout Minnesota 15-2 and sweep that three-game series at Target Field by a 24-5 score. They put up 24 runs against the team that began that weekend leading MLB in team ERA and on Sunday was second by one point to Atlanta, 3.55 to 3.56.

The Orioles have been on a hot streak in recent games batting with runners in scoring position. They went 11-for-21 (.524) in three games in Minnesota and are 23-for-52 (.442) in the past five games with RISP.

This surge has lifted the club’s batting average for the season with RISP to .273 which is fourth-best in the AL behind Texas (.297), Tampa Bay (.289) and Boston (.284).

MINNEAPOLIS – The Orioles have won their past four games by a combined 29-7 score. And, after a 3-1 win in 10 innings Friday and a 6-2 win on Saturday afternoon, the Orioles can complete a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins this afternoon at Target Field.

The Orioles won the last two games of their series at New York by a 20-4 score and carried that momentum into Minnesota. They are 53-35 for the season and have the American League’s best road record at 27-17. A win today would give them a 5-2 road trip and 54 wins heading into the All-Star break.

The Orioles have three sweeps of three games this season:

* At Detroit April 21-23
* At Toronto May 19-21
* Versus Kansas City June 9-11

Saturday’s win for Baltimore was marked by a six-run top of the second inning. It was a strange game in that the Orioles scored six runs on six hits in that inning, but had no runs and no hits in any other inning yesterday. They went 0-for-24 at-bat outside of the second inning versus Twins pitching.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Orioles didn't have a huge night on offense or produce some record-setting numbers last night. They used old school pitching and defense to win.

Cedric Mullins made a great catch in center to rob a three-run homer and that helped lefty Cole Irvin continue to turn his season around with 6 1/3 innings allowing one run last night. When the Orioles broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run top of the 10th, it was enough to beat the first-place Twins 3-1 in the series opener at Target Field.

The Orioles are 52-35 and moved within three games of first in the American League East as the Braves beat the Rays, handing Tampa Bay a sixth straight loss. The Orioles are now 26-17 on the road and 3-2 on this road trip. They are 4-3 in July, 5-5 in extra-inning games and 19-10 in series-opening games.

One more win in this series and the Orioles will be 17-9-3 in their series before the All-Star Game.

Minnesota (45-44) had won five of its past six games as the series began. The Twins fell to 26-20 at home, to 14-15 in series openers and 8-4 in extra-inning games.

The Orioles hold second-place in the American League East as their last road trip before the All-Star break begins tonight. They will play four games at the New York Yankees and three this weekend at Minnesota leading into the break. 

The Orioles (49-33) are 5.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the division lead, and hold a four-game lead on New York (46-38) for second place as they begin this series in the Bronx tonight.

For the season, the Orioles are 14-9 in AL East games. But since losing their first two AL East series of this year, they are 5-0-1 in the last six, going 12-5 in that span. The Orioles have also won two straight series at Yankee Stadium, going 2-1 there late last year, and 2-1 there this season from May 23-25. In going 4-2 in those games, the O’s went 3-1 versus the Yankees in games decided by one or two runs in the two series.

According to Stats Perform, the Orioles have won three or more straight road series against the Yankees only three times. From 1964-68, they won 11 consecutive series in the Bronx. They won four in a row over the 1976 and 1977 seasons. They won three in a row during the 2012 season. A series win this week would take the current streak to three series wins in a row in New York.

The Orioles have won their last two games at Yankee Stadium. The last time they won three straight at Yankee Stadium was three games spanning 2017 and 2018.

With a 40-42 record, the Minnesota Twins would be in last place in the American League East and 15 games out of first place. But as they open a series tonight with the Orioles at Camden Yards, they are tied for first place.

Going into today, the Twins and Cleveland (39-41) were both two games under the .500 mark - a spot the Orioles have not been in for one day this season - yet they were tied for first playing .488 ball atop the American League Central.

The Central cannot brag of playing the season-long good baseball as the teams in the AL East have done, but some club is going to win that division and likely host a wild-card series this year. 

Minnesota comes to Baltimore off losing three in a row to Atlanta by scores of 4-1, 6-2 and 3-0. The Twins have lost nine of their last 14 games.

Minnesota has gone 2-4 through six games on their nine-game, 10-day roadtrip which began as they won two of three at Detroit. After this series, the Twins will travel back home to finish the pre All Star game portion of their schedule with a six-game, seven-day homestand, which consists of three games against the Royals and three games next weekend against the Orioles at Target Field.

After a night where every American League East team lost, the Orioles remain four games behind first-place Tampa Bay as they take the field tonight. It’s the rubber match game of their series with the Cincinnati Reds (42-38) after the Orioles won 10-3 Monday night and lost 3-1 Tuesday night.

The Reds had lost the last two games of their series with Atlanta before coming to Oriole Park as their 12-game win streak was snapped on Saturday. But with Tuesday’s win they have won 13 of their past 16 and 16 of 21 games. And they are now 9-1 in their past 10 road games and have won five straight road series.

The Reds, who lead the NL Central by 0.5 games over Milwaukee, started the year going 7-15. But since then they are 35-23 (.603). That is the fourth-best record in the majors in that time frame.

The O’s pitching has slowed some hot Reds bats and held them to six runs and 12 hits in this series. Cincinnati for the year ranks fifth in the NL with a .744 OPS and fifth in runs per game at 4.89. They have done even better this month, ranking third in team OPS in the NL in June at .785, scoring 5.40 runs per game.

Their sensational rookie, Elly De La Cruz, came to Baltimore with 15 hits in his last 35 at-bats (.429) and with an OPS of .989 in his first 17 MLB games. But he is 0-for-8 with four strikeouts this series and has not hit the ball out of the infield.

Coming off a three-game series sweep of Kansas City – their first over the Royals since the 2017 season – the Orioles host the only club they have swept three from on the road tonight. The Toronto Blue Jays are in Baltimore to begin a three-game series.

The Orioles beat Kansas City by a larger score margin each day, winning 3-2 Friday, 6-1 Saturday and 11-3 on Sunday to improve to 41-24. They are 17 games over the .500 mark for the first time since July 26, 2016.

The Orioles have won four in a row by a combined 26-9 score. After going through a stretch where they lost three of four series, they are now 7-4 over the past 11 games.

Toronto (37-30) is in fourth place in the American League East, 10 games behind first place Tampa Bay. The Orioles remain in second place and are five games out. Baltimore’s .631 win percentage is tied with Texas for the second-best in both the AL and MLB.

The Blue Jays went 3-1 against Houston and 1-2 versus Minnesota over the weekend, winning the last game of that series. Toronto has won eight of its past 11 games. And, since getting swept by the Orioles May 19-21 at Rogers Centre by a 20-10 score, Toronto is 12-8.

The Orioles won another series opener and the Royals lost another one. And, because of that the Orioles need one win over the next two days to record yet another series win. 

Austin Hays homered and doubled and the O’s got RBIs also from Jorge Mateo and Anthony Santander in Friday’s 3-2 win over Kansas City. The Orioles are now 39-24 and remain 6.5 games back of Tampa Bay, which beat Texas.

The Orioles are 15-6 in series-opening games and 6-4 in such games at home. K.C. falls to 4-17 in the first game of a series.

The Orioles had allowed 23 runs and 36 hits when they played in Kansas City in early May, yet they took two of three in that series. So they are now 3-1 on the year versus the Royals and 12-5 against AL Central teams.

Kansas City (18-45) has lost four in a row, seven of eight scoring 19 runs in that time and is 4-14 in its last 18 games. The Royals are 7-7 in one-run games while the Orioles are 12-7.

Only once this year did the Orioles lose the first two games of a three-game series and that was May 26-27 versus Texas, but they did win the series finale to avoid a sweep. They need to do that again today or they will be swept by an opponent for the first time in 2023.

The last time they were swept in a series of two or more games was by Detroit on May 13-15, 2022 on the road.

Milwaukee has posted wins by 4-3 in 10 innings and 10-2 to leave the Orioles at 37-24 overall and 2-3 on their road trip that ends today.  The Orioles have their third road series loss of the season and are now 8-3 in road series. They remain in second place in the AL East, but are now 6.5 games back of Tampa Bay and just 1.5 games up on the New York Yankees, who reside in third in the division.

Even with a recent downturn by the offense, the Orioles remain with the sixth-best team OPS in the American League at .731 and they rank fourth in the AL in runs per game at 4.87.

But here were the O’s offensive numbers through their first 49 games: They batted .253/.330/.427/.757 and scored 5.18 runs per game.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Orioles have made their first trip to San Francisco since the 2016 season and the clubs open a three-game series at Oracle Park tonight. For the Orioles (35-21) it is the start of a two-city, six-game road trip that moves on to Milwaukee next.

The Orioles went 5-1 on their last trip to Toronto and New York but came home and lost back-to-back series for the first time this season. They went 2-4 against Texas and Cleveland.

The Orioles are 18-9 in road games this year and they are 10-4 the past 14 away from Oriole Park. They are a very solid 7-2 in road series, losing only at Boston and Atlanta.

The Orioles are 13-5 in series-opening games but they have lost their past three and in five of the last seven such games.

As they try to improve their series record for the year to 13-5-1 in San Francisco, they face a Giants team that lost two of three to Pittsburgh this week, losing the last two games and is 28-28 for the year. San Francisco began this year at 6-13 but is 22-15 since April 22. And the Giants are 11-5 in the last 16 games coming into this series.

After their worst loss of the year by margin - falling by 10 runs to Texas - the Orioles host the Rangers this afternoon looking to bounce back from Friday's 12-2 defeat. The previous biggest loss margin of the year was by 6-0 on May 3 at Kansas City. 

Through the season's first 50 games, the Orioles had played an MLB-high 46 games decided by four runs or fewer. Last night was a rare blowout game they were involved in and they were on the wrong end as Texas scored eight runs in the fourth off right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk after the game.

When the Orioles took two of three from Texas early last month on the road, they allowed just seven runs and 17 hits in three games. But a Rangers club that began the weekend leading MLB by scoring 6.33 runs per game, hit three homers and had 13 hits in last night's win. 

And now that runs per game average for the Rangers is up to 6.44 and they have scored 322 runs for the year. The Rangers have scored 10+ in an MLB-leading 13 games and have scored 5+ runs in an inning 15 times. They rank second in the majors with four or more runs scored in 36 games.

Texas leads MLB with 144 runs in May, along with a .286 BA and .812 OPS. The 322 runs scored are the most over the first 50 games of a season in franchise history, and is tied for 18th-most runs in a team's first 50 games of a season since 1901. The Rangers' season-best +122 run differential is tops in MLB.

The Orioles and New York Yankees have split two games in this series and play the third and rubber match game tonight in the Bronx. For the Orioles, it’s the end of a six-game AL East road trip where they have gone 3-0 at Toronto and 1-1 in New York.

The Orioles lost two of their first three series this year but they have gone 10-1-1 in series play since, losing only to Atlanta and splitting four with the Los Angeles Angels. They are 3-0-1 in their past four series and 3-2 in AL East series, winning their last three.

The Birds are 10-7 on the year in AL East games and are 8-3 in their past 11 division games.

They are 4-3 this season in rubber match games, which breaks down this way:

* Lost 9-5 at Boston

A New York Yankees team that is playing good baseball right now produced a come-from-behind win last night, beating the Orioles 6-5 in 10 innings in the series opener at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles are now 13-3 in series-opening games. They actually did not lose either of the first two series where they lost the first game. Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 3-0 May 8 in Baltimore in the series opener, but the Orioles took the series, winning the next two games. They also lost the opener 9-5 on May 15 to the Los Angeles Angeles, but won the next two games of that set and split a four-game series.

The Yankees (30-20) have won seven of their last eight games, nine of their last 11 games and 12 of the last 15 games. Tuesday’s victory marked their fourth walk-off win this season (also 4/19 vs. Los Angeles-AL, 4/22 vs. Toronto and 5/3 vs. Cleveland). They improved to 4-2 in extra-inning games, and each of their last three wins have been come-from-behind wins.

They have won a season-high five straight games to mark their longest winning streak since a seven-game run from Sept. 18-25, 2022. New York is a season-high 10 games over .500. And, at 15-5 (.750) over their last 20 games (since 5/2), the Yankees hold the best record in the majors in that span.

The Orioles (31-17) remain three games behind Tampa Bay for first-place in the American League East. Overall, they have won three of their past four, five of seven, nine of 13, 14 of 22 and 22 of the last 32 games. They are 16-9 on the road and 9-7 in games within the AL East.