The Orioles bullpen has to try to do it again. Continue with the next man up philosophy even as they lose another key member. Lefty Danny Coulombe with a 2.42 ERA in 29 games, went on the 15-day injured list before Tuesday’s game with left elbow inflammation.

The bullpen has been pitching all year without 2023 closer Félix Bautista, an All-Star and went through a stretch earlier this year when others, like current closer Craig Kimbrel, struggled.

The beat goes on and the recording of outs must go on.

It’s a Baltimore bullpen that began play last night with a 3.24 ERA that ranked third-best in the American League and fourth in the majors.

A bullpen that hit a speed bump in the eighth last night when Atlanta's Matt Olson hit a two-run shot off Keegan Akin. It tied the game 2-2 and ended the O's 23-innings scoreless run on the mound. But when Colton Cowser hit a two-run shot in the home eighth they had the lead again. The O's 4-2 win was their season-high sixth in a row.

From May 23-27, the Orioles won five games in a row, taking four straight at Chicago against the White Sox and the next game in the next series. Now they have matched their season-long win streak by winning five in a row again. They swept four at Tampa Bay and took the homestand opener last night against Atlanta.

Tonight, they look for a season-high six straight wins in the second of a three-game series with the Braves.

The Orioles (44-22) have the second-best record in the American League, playing .667 ball. They trail first-place New York (48-21) in the American League East by 2 1/2 games. The Yankees beat the Royals 10-1 last night, have won 11 of their past 13 and are 22-6 since May 11. The O's are 19-10 since that same date. 

The Orioles keep mostly winning to keep pace with the Yankees, with the teams having a three-game series looming beginning next Tuesday in New York. 

Right-hander Albert Suárez and four relievers teamed on the four-hit shutout Tuesday night, the Birds' sixth shutout of the year and second in their past four games. Their 33 shutouts since the start of the 2022 season rank as second-most in the AL in that span and are tied for fourth-most in the majors behind the Dodgers (36), Padres (35) and Mariners (34). In five seasons from 2017-2021, the O's tossed 28 shutouts, fourth-fewest in the big leagues.

When O’s rookie lefty Cade Povich makes his second big league start tonight facing Atlanta, his mound opponent will be a friend and former college teammate.

Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach was a two-way player at the University of Nebraska. He and Povich were on the team together there in 2020 and 2021. Schwellenbach was both a starting shortstop playing behind Povich and also closed out some of his wins too as a late-inning reliever.

During the 2021 season, when Povich was 6-1 with a 3.11 ERA for the Cornhuskers, Schwellenbach hit .284 with a .862 OPS in 48 games at short. On the mound he went 3-1 with an ERA of 0.57 and recorded 10 saves.

In the 2021 MLB Draft, Atlanta selected Schwellenbach in round two, No. 59 overall. Minnesota selected Povich in round three, No. 98 overall.

Tonight, the two former Cornhuskers face each other on the mound at Camden Yards.

When this baseball season began, Buck Britton, the third-year manager of the Orioles’ Triple-A Norfolk Tides team, was 37. He turned age 38 on May 16, just six days after he recorded his 400^th win as a minor league manager.

The Orioles have the No. 1 ranked farm system in the majors and many people have had a hand in that. But to hear some players with the Orioles now that have played for Britton, he is a very big reason why.

His last season as a Triple-A player was in 2016, so he’s young enough to relate to current players, experienced enough to have seen a lot in a seven-season minor league career and savvy enough to know what he doesn’t know or had lesser knowledge of at one time. He brought himself up to speed with the data and analytics in the game and when you put it all together, Britton, as the Birds' Triple-A skipper, has a lot to offer the talented youngsters he works with daily.

“He’s a great manager,” said outfielder Kyle Stowers. “He has a good gauge of what is going on in the clubhouse and what guys need. How to get guys ready to go. He is willing to work with guys. I see him all the time getting in work with the infielders.

“His door is always open for anyone that needs to talk with him. I’ve spent quite some time with him now and really enjoy playing for him.”

The surging Orioles can complete a four-game sweep of the Rays tonight at Tropicana Field. If they get the sweep, it will be their fifth sweep of the year of at least three games. They are also looking for their second four-game sweep in the last five series.

The Orioles (42-22) begin play tonight 2.5 games back of the Yankees (46-21). New York begins a seven-game road trip tonight with the start of a four-game series at Kansas City.

The Orioles have wins by 6-3, 5-0 and 9-2 this series, outscoring Tampa Bay 20-5. The team has won three in a row, eight of 11 and 13 of its past 17 games.

They previously had three games sweeps at Boston April 9-11, versus Minnesota April 15-17 and at Cincinnati May 3-5. They took four in a row in Chicago against the White Sox from May 23-26.

The Orioles are 20-10 in road games. With a series victory secured this series, they are now 14-4-3 in series play for the season and are 6-2-2 in road series.

The Orioles began play Sunday leading the majors in runs per game at 5.11 and they also led the majors in team slugging at .448 and in home runs with 100 even.

Then they went out and showed off that offense again in their latest win by 9-2 over the Tampa Bay Rays.

It was the first game in team history, which dates of course to 1954, where they produced three triples and a grand slam.

Against a team and organization where they once had a 2-27 run, the Orioles tonight can sweep their first-ever four-game series at Tropicana Field.

The Orioles (42-22) are 5-1 this year versus the Rays and 13-6 since the beginning of last year. They have won 13 of the past 18 meetings between the teams and are 22-13 the last 35 games against Tampa Bay. The Rays last series win against the Orioles came at home in August of 2022.

When the Orioles just played in Toronto, they won the first two games of a four-game series, but lost the third and fourth games at Rogers Centre. With that memory, the O's take the field in St. Petersburg today against the Rays after wins in the first two games of another series.

The Orioles have now gone 21 straight series versus American League East teams without losing one. They have won 14 and tied six in this span. This series will end no worse than a tie, but one more victory and the O's will win another AL East series.

At 15-6 (.714), the Orioles are the only team in the division with a winning record against the division. The Yankees are 8-8, the Blue Jays are 9-10, the Red Sox are 5-8 and the Rays are 10-15.

This year, the Birds are 3-3 against Toronto, 4-1 versus Tampa Bay, 5-1 against Boston and 3-1 against New York.

The Orioles have won seven of their last 10 games, eight of 12, and 12 of 16. At 41-22 (.651), the Birds are tied with the Guardians for the third-best record in the major leagues behind the Yankees (.682, 45-21) and Phillies (.703, 45-19). Since the start of 2023, Baltimore is 142-83 (.631), the best winning percentage and most wins in the majors.

From the 2017 through the 2022 seasons, the Orioles had just one player represent them at the All-Star Game. There was no game in 2020.

But last year, the club broke through in getting four players on the American League team in outfielder Austin Hays, catcher Adley Rutschman and relievers Félix Baustista and Yennier Cano.

The club could get four again, maybe even more. They should have three near-locks in Gunnar Henderson, Rutschman and pitcher Corbin Burnes to make the team, whether they get voted in or added later.

All-Star voting began Wednesday and phase one of the balloting runs through June 27. Click here to vote.

During the Toronto series, manager Brandon Hyde was asked if there is one player in particular he wants to push to make the game this summer, which will be played July 16 in Arlington, Texas.

The Orioles are 6-4 in a stretch of four straight series and 14 consecutive games versus American League East opponents. The Birds in this span went 2-1 at home versus Boston and Tampa Bay and then went 2-2 at Toronto. 

Tonight the Orioles (39-22) and Tampa Bay (31-31) open a four-game series at the Trop.

The Orioles have gone 20 straight series since early April of 2023, without losing one against a division opponent. In that time they have won 14 of those series and tied six. They are 43-22 (.662) in the games in this stretch.

The Orioles went 32-20 (.615) last season in the division and are now 13-6 (.684).

The Orioles hosted the Rays last weekend in Baltimore and won the first two games of the series. Going for a sweep last Sunday, they led 3-0 after four innings but lost that game 4-3.

TORONTO – For an Orioles team that hit seven homers and scored 17 runs in the first two games of the Toronto series, it was disappointing when the team then went a stretch of 12 innings without a run until the sixth inning yesterday.

Four late runs – two in the eighth and ninth innings – turned a 6-1 loss into one where the score was 6-5, Toronto. So the Birds lost a pair of one-run games to split the four-game series.

After the game they flew back to the United States, destination Tampa-St. Pete, for four games with the Rays beginning tonight.

The Orioles are now 39-22 overall. They are 13-6 versus AL East opponents and they are now 6-4 during a 14-game stretch against division opponents that ends with the series in Tampa.

The postgame comments yesterday showed the Orioles heaping plenty of praise on lefty Cade Povich after his MLB debut. The box score showed he gave up six runs over 5 1/3 innings. But the club knows that a three-run homer just made it out, a couple of bloops led to another run and two runs scored charged to his record after he left the game.

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 O's came into Wednesday night looking for their third straight win in Toronto, and a series-clinching win. The script was set just for that, as they took an early 2-0 lead, but the offense fell flat after the second inning and the Blue Jays walked off the O's to win 3-2 in front of 27,929 at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles fall to 39-21 with their third walkoff defeat of the year after two very early on April 6 and 7 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tonight's walk-off was aided by a miscue in the field.

Justin Turner led off the ninth against O's closer Craig Kimbrel with his third hit of the night, a single on an 0-2 pitch and was replaced by pinch-runner Cavan Biggio.  

The miscue followed shortly after. Kimbrel tried to pick off Biggio, but his throw went off his body and into right field, allowing Biggio to get into scoring position. Then he moved to third, advancing on an Alejandro Kirk fly-out. 

Runner on third, one out, and now the winning run was 90 feet away as the infield came in. Kimbrel then faced the contact-oriented Isiah Kiner-Falefa. 

TORONTO – After two good nights for Orioles’ bats at Rogers Centre, producing 7-2 and 10-1 wins, the Birds look for three in a row against the Blue Jays tonight as this series continues.

Last night’s win improved the Orioles to 13-4 (.765) in American League East games and they are 3-1 versus the Blue Jays. The O’s also hold a 13-4 mark against the Blue Jays since the start of last season. And the Orioles are 9-1 in their past 10 games at Rogers Centre with a plus-39 run differential, outscoring the Blue Jays 66-27 in those games.

The Orioles are 6-2 in the first eight of 14 straight games within the division, playing in order, the Red Sox, Rays, Jays and Rays again.

The Orioles' plus-88 run differential for the year ranks third-best in the majors and second in the AL. The New York Yankees are first at plus-111. And New York (43-19) continues to lead the division by 2.5 games over the Orioles. The red-hot Yankees have won six in a row, 10 of 12 and 17 of their past 21 games.

Toronto had won five of its last six and nine of the past 14 heading into this series. But with Tuesday’s loss the Blue Jays are 28-32 and fall to 7-10 in division games. They have scored two runs or less 23 times this season including twice in this series.

TORONTO – Moments after confirming that O’s pitching prospect Cade Povich is in fact in Toronto and on the taxi squad for the Orioles, manager Brandon Hyde was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to provide the next date for a Kyle Bradish (1-0, 3.18 ERA) start.

“I don’t know yet, no,” Hyde said when asked if he has a day for Bradish’s next outing.

Bradish last pitched on Saturday at home versus the Rays. He presumably will not be on the mound tomorrow, which would have marked his spot in the rotation.

On May 26 versus the White Sox in Chicago, Bradish pitched seven no-hit innings on 103 pitches and lowered his ERA to 1.75. But pitching with an extra day of rest in that game with Tampa Bay he allowed five runs over 2 2/3 on 76 pitches.

Bradish’s season got a late start after he had a platelet-rich plasma injection in January to promote the healing of a right elbow UCL sprain.

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.

TORONTO – Ryan Mountcastle likes hitting against Toronto and in Toronto. That point was reinforced again tonight as he hit a three-run homer to left in the Orioles' four-run third and later added another homer as they were on their way to their latest victory.

Mountcastle hit Nos. 9 and 10 as the Orioles beat the Blue Jays 10-1 to improve to 39-20. They have won five of six and 10 of their past 12 games. They are now 18-8 on the road.

Since being swept three straight in St. Louis, they are 10-2, scoring 75 runs. 

The Orioles have now gone 20 straight American League East series without losing one as they will at least split this four-game set after winning the last two nights. Their outstanding record in the division is now 13-4.

This game also featured the first major league hit and homer of Connor Norby's career. Playing his second big league game and having gone 0-for-6 in the bigs to that point, he hit a two-run shot to left in the eighth off right-hander Nate Pearson for a 10-1 lead. 

TORONTO – In going 6-1 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre last year, the Orioles batted .293 as a team and had an OPS of .808 against the Blue Jays.

But over those seven games, they hit just eight homers. Last night, in beating Toronto again at Rogers Centre by a 7-2 score, they mashed four home runs.

That tied an O’s season high and they did it for the second time in three games after also hitting four on April 11 at Boston.

The Orioles are now 12-4 this year versus American League East teams, going 5-1 versus the Red Sox, 3-1 against the Yankees, 2-1 versus the Blue Jays and 2-1 against the Rays.

The Orioles have gone 4-0-1 in five AL East series and they are 5-1 in the series-opening games against the division after Monday’s win.

TORONTO – For a team that has sent five starting pitchers to the injured list already this year and just recently lost both John Means and Tyler Wells for the season, seeing TBA listed as the Orioles' starters Wednesday and Thursday in this series presented some intrigue.

But today, O’s manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that right-hander Albert Suárez (2-0, 1.57 ERA) will start tomorrow against the Blue Jays and righty Kyle Bradish (1-0, 3.18 ERA) could go on Thursday.

“We are still TBA for Thursday. Probably announce that sometime tomorrow. But Suárez for tomorrow,” said Hyde.

Hyde was asked if there are any health concerns with Bradish.

“No, we’re considering giving him an extra day (of rest) or two," he said. "Just kind of from how he is feeling. But we are just monitoring it daily. So we are keeping that TBA right now."

TORONTO – Maybe this had nothing to do with the Orioles getting swept three straight in St. Louis and is just about the ups and downs of the season. And the Orioles offense is having an up for a stretch right now.

But since losing those three games and scoring eight total runs at Busch Stadium, the Orioles are 9-2 and scoring 5.9 runs per game.

The team in the last 11 games has scored five or more runs seven times, with 21 doubles, 19 homers, a .282 batting average and .833 OPS.

Last night they tied a season high with four homers in beating Toronto 7-2. They are 25-3 this year when hitting two or more homers.

For the Orioles, homers lead to runs and runs lead to wins.

It has not reached triple digits, like the Orioles' sweepless streak in the regular season that finally ended at 106 straight in St. Louis. But it’s impressive in a different kind of way.

In an American League East division where the Orioles finished 48 games behind in 2021, 49 back in 2019 and were 61 games out at the end of the 2018 season, the Orioles suddenly don’t lose series.

Actually, it is not that sudden. But when the Orioles won the first two games of their series with the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend at Oriole Park, it marked another division series that they had either won or tied (even though they lost to the Rays on Sunday).

When the 2023 season started, the O’s lost two of three games to both Boston and New York in their first two AL East series. They didn’t lose another one the rest of the year.

This season they are 4-0-1 in AL East series, so the streak of not losing one has reached 19 in a row with the Tampa Bay series. The Orioles have won 14 series and tied five. It is the longest streak in team history since division play began in 1969, per Elias Sports Bureau.