The Orioles have recorded four series sweeps of three or more games this season and can record a fifth today if they beat the Rays at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (37-19) have posted weekend wins by 3-1 and 9-5 over the Rays to get to a season-best 18 games over the .500 mark.

The Orioles have won three in a row by a combined 18-7 score and are 8-1 over their last nine games by a 55-32 score.

A look at their four series sweeps:

* April 9-11, went 3-0 at Red Sox

Considering how well he has pitched before it and after it, it's fair to ask if Craig Kimbrel's six-game slump was mostly about a back issue?

Kimbrel's start to his season included one run allowed over 10 innings. Then came his struggles which lasted about two weeks. And now over his past eight games, he has not allowed a run.

For the year, over 24 games, he is 4-1 with 13 saves in 16 chances with a 3.00 ERA, a 13.29 strikeout rate and 0.95 WHIP. Those numbers are not bad, even with his brief struggles.

Kimbrel's 13 saves rank third-best in the American League and seventh-best in the majors. A season-long question the Orioles have to answer is: How well can they replace injured closer Félix Bautista?

In his first 10 games, Kimbrel was 3-0 with an 0.90 ERA and six saves in seven chances. Over 10 innings, he gave up one run with one walk to 16 strikeouts. His OPS against was a miniscule .288.

Having gone 18 straight series against American League East opponents without losing one - winning 13 with five ties in this span - the Orioles can extend that streak with one more win this weekend.

They beat the Rays 3-1 Friday to take the opener of a three-game series. The Orioles are 36-19 for the season, 3-1 on this homestand, 20-11 at home 10-3 against division teams and 13-6 in series-opening games.

The Orioles, winners of seven of their last eight games, begin play today in second place, two games behind the New York Yankees. 

Friday was another well-pitched game by Baltimore pitchers. They have allowed one run in back-to-back games and three times the past five games. Over their last 28 games since April 29, they have a team ERA of 2.73 and have allowed two runs or less 13 times. Only the Yankees (2.43) have a better mark in baseball during this span.

O's starters have a 3.01 ERA for the year, the third-best rotation ERA in MLB behind the Phillies (2.69) and Yankees (2.72). In 28 games since April 29, the rotation's ERA is 2.26, second-best in MLB during that time behind the Yankees (2.19).

As play began on Friday night in the majors, Gunnar Henderson was once again tied for the MLB homer lead with 18 with Aaron Judge and Kyle Tucker. His OPS of .938 was fourth-best in the AL and seventh in MLB.

He’s scoring runs, stealing bases, bashing baseballs and fielding them very, very well at shortstop. Cal Ripken Jr. once won the American League Rookie of the Year one year and AL MVP the next, in 1982 and 1983.

There is talk of Gunnar being in the MVP race or near the top of such for this season after being ROY last season.

“I just try to go out there and continue to play my game each and every day. The numbers will take care of themselves at the end of the day. Just trying to help the team win and make another postseason run,” Henderson said of the MVP talk.

He led the O’s to a series-clinching win Wednesday over Boston when he hit a grand slam that was his 50^th career homer. Another successful AL East series.

Things have not gone perfectly for the Baltimore Orioles in the 2024 season. I just got an in person look in St. Louis at the Orioles being swept three straight amid all the rain delays and they looked bad in doing so. 

But in looking at this team this year, that series was an outlier.

Mostly they play well and win a lot. As of Thursday morning, they are 35-19 (.648) and on a pace to win 105 games at a point 33.3 percent into the season. That would be four more wins than last year.

As of Thursday morning, they have the second-best record in their division, the third-best in their league and the fourth-best of 30 teams in the majors.

Let’s look at the offense: The Orioles are scoring 5.04 runs per game to rank second in the AL and third-best in MLB. So one-third into the long season they rank third. This is pretty good no matter how you slice it. Sure, there will be poor nights and even poor series, like scoring eight runs in three games versus the Cardinals. But it won’t last too long.

Orioles outfielder Austin Hays got off to a terrible start to his 2024 season, there is no denying that. However, as some around Birdland see a player in decline, others might see a player that has produced an OPS that is above the American League average since the 2021 season.

His 2021 OPS+ was 107 or seven percent above the league, the next year it was 105 and last year it was 114 – his best mark in a full year in the big leagues.

He produced a .769 OPS in the 2023 season and the American League average was .729. In four of six months last season, his OPS was .800 or better.

But that OPS number has plummeted this year, a year when he was batting .073 after his first 17 games. Now, back off the injured list, Hays is trying to improve his personal stats while the team continues to win mostly. He has an uphill climb and he knows it with a batting line right now of .164/.225/.205/.430 through 30 games with just three extra-base hits, all doubles.

But before he went on the injured list on April 22 with a strained left calf, he was feeling better at the plate and taking more productive swings. He felt his bat was slowly trending up.

The Orioles' Gunnar Henderson has been piling up some walks lately. In the season’s first 31 games, he drew only eight walks. But in the last 22 games he has 19 walks.

He got walked nine times in seven games on the recent road trip and then drew one walk in Monday’s series opener with Boston.

So what is at work here? Is Gunnar looking to walk more? Are teams pitching around him or pitching him more carefully recently?

“I mean I am getting a little more comfortable taking pitches,” Henderson said Tuesday afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Probably earlier in the season I was chasing maybe a touch, but, yeah, just kind of really trying to pick out certain pitches and doing well at taking the ones that are kind of close. Ones that I feel I can do damage with, I usually get off a swing. That’s the biggest thing.”

Taking the close pitches that are balls should be a good thing, right?

It might have been a tired team that took the field at Oriole Park Monday to face the Boston Red Sox after a challenging road trip filled with rain delays.

But they looked well rested when hitting.

The O’s posted an 11-3 win in the series-opener with Boston. They are now 4-0 versus the Red Sox on the season, scoring 34 runs and they have won nine of their past 12 against Boston.

The Orioles have won each of their first four versus Boston for the first time in any season since 1967. The best-ever start was an 8-0 in 1960.

Since the O’s got swept in St. Louis they have won a season-high five in a row scoring 34 runs to average 6.8 per game in this streak with 23 extra-base hits and an .838 OPS.

CHICAGO - There were rain delays and even more rain delays. And then there was the threat of more rain. And that will likely continue even today as the Orioles return home this afternoon to face the Boston Red Sox.

Are the raindrops stalking this team?

Enough already.

But a road trip that began with the sweepless streak ending and three straight losses in wet St. Louis moved on to produce four straight wins in sometimes wet Chicago. 

It was an impressive sweep despite Chicago's poor record as the White Sox played hard and gave the Orioles fits for most of the four days. But the O's won all four and produced their first four-game road sweep since Aug. 22-25, 2011 at Minnesota. It was their first four-game sweep of the White Sox since July 6-9, 1995.

After the Orioles had been swept three straight and lost their sweepless streak in St. Louis, they were hoping things would turn for the better in Chicago. They have but the Orioles have had to work hard to get three wins, each by two runs, against a team with a poor record. 

But by posting wins by 8-6, 6-4 and then 5-3 yesterday, the Orioles (32-18) can complete a four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox (15-38) today at Guaranteed Rate Field.

After scoring just eight runs in the losses at St. Louis, the Orioles have scored 19 runs on 29 hits and hit six homers against the White Sox.

The O's were behind 3-0 going to the top of the eighth Saturday when they hit three homers in a span of five batters. The homer explosion put them in front and they won the game. 

Ryan O'Hearn's two-run shot was his seventh and allowed the O's to avoid the shutout. But the next two home run balls allowed them to avoid a loss. Anthony Santander's two-run shot gave them a 4-3 lead and Jordan Westburg's eighth homer, a solo blast, gave them an insurance run.

CHICAGO – In some ways, Orioles outfielder Kyle Stowers will always be linked with catcher Adley Rutschman and shortstop Gunnar Henderson.

That is because while Rutschman was taken with the first overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft and Henderson was the O’s next pick, at No. 42 overall. The third selection that year was Stowers, taken No. 71 overall out of Stanford.

The three are close friends and they were the first three draft selections by Mike Elias as Orioles executive vice president and general manager.

“It’s really cool. Definitely was a special draft and just really cool to come up through the system with them,” Stowers said Saturday morning in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Those guys have already made their mark on the league and hopefully I am heading that way as well.”

Rutschman, Henderson and Stowers have pushed each other to be better both on the farm and in the big leagues.

CHICAGO – With Dean Kremer going on the injured list Friday with a right triceps strain, the Orioles, at least for today, are moving right-hander Albert Suarez back into their rotation.

In 10 games, three starts this year, he is 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA. Over 25 1/3 innings he has allowed 18 hits and just one home run with six walks and 21 strikeouts. He has given up a .198 batting average and .560 OPS.

The team is 2-1 in his three starts. In his first two against the Twins and Angels, he pitched a combined 11 1/3 scoreless on seven hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.

In his last five appearances, all out of the bullpen, he has thrown 5 2/3 scoreless giving up three hits.

Right-handed pitcher Erick Fedde (4-1, 3.10 ERA) will make his 11^th start and get the ball today for the home team.

CHICAGO - This time the Orioles endured yet another rain delay, except this one came without rain or even a tarp. The field was ready for play but with the chance of a storm coming, the start of the Oiroles-White Sox game last night was delayed by 41 minutes.

It just delayed another win and another unique ending. And this time there was no controversial umpire's call. Just a leaping catch at the center field wall by Colton Cowser as the Orioles beat a pesky White Sox team 6-4. 

It seems like they are slowly coming out of their slumping ways on offense, or at least what was an offense that put up just eight runs when they were swept at St. Louis. But now in the last two games here, the Orioles have scored 14 runs on 21 hits with six doubles, three homers and also in going 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

On Thursday night in Chicago, the O's saw Ryan Mountcastle get going with a four-hit game and the night also featured two hits by Cedric Mullins and homers by Anthony Santander and Jorge Mateo.

Friday night two players that were struggling a bit recently had solid games in Jordan Westburg and Ryan O'Hearn. Adley Rutschman had the clutch hit late and Gunnar Henderson homered again. 

After ending the season's first three-game losing skid with Thursday's 8-6 win over the Chicago White Sox, the O's look to take two in a row in this four-game series tonight at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Anthony Santander hit a solo homer and Jorge Mateo blasted a three-run shot in a four-run fourth inning as the Orioles opened a 5-2 lead and never trailed after that. The O's had 13 hits, two off their season-high and it was the sixth time this year they've had 13 or more. They scored eight runs or more in a game for the eighth time in the 2024 season.

Mateo hit his homer 434 feet, the longest blast of his career. When he hit seven homers last year he averaged a homer every 45.43 at-bats and had a slugging percentage of .340. This year that average is one every 29.67 at-bats and his slugging mark is now .483. Mateo also walked twice in the game, his first game of the season with more than one walk. He also had two steals and Mateo is the first Orioles player with a home run and two stolen bases in the same game since Cedric Mullins on Sept. 10, 2021 against the Blue Jays.

Ryan Mountcastle, who had been 2-for-25 his previous six games, went 4-for-5 with a double and scored twice. He raied his batting average from .256 to .272. His single in the fourth inning produced an exit velocity of 112.3 mph. This was Mountcastle's first four-hit game since Aug. 3, 2023.

There were 12 balls hit last night at 100 mph or more, eight by the Orioles.

CHICAGO – There was nothing easy about it although for a while it looked that it might be. But the Orioles' latest win featured another slog of a night and one that got dicey late in the game.

The Orioles won but other ways to say it are they held off, outlasted or survived their game with the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

The White Sox (15-36) had scored two runs or less 25 times this year, or in half of their games, as the Orioles arrived for the series opener.

The struggling O’s offense broke out for eight runs and 13 hits, including two huge homers in the top of the fourth. That seemed like it would be enough, and it was in the end. But barely.

Right-hander Jonathan Heasley, recalled from Triple-A to take the roster spot of injured lefty John Means, pitched a scoreless eighth inning as the O’s led 8-2.

CHICAGO – Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel’s season has once again taken a turn for the better. He got a save in the recent Seattle series – just his second save since late April.

After going thru a six-game slump where he dealt with upper back soreness and gave up seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, his last four outings looked a lot like his first 10.

In those first 10 innings, through April 22, he allowed one run with one walk and 16 strikeouts. Then he briefly was yanked from his closer’s role while staying on the active roster and dealing with the back issue.

Now, over his past four games he has not allowed a hit or run with no walks and six strikeouts.

It’s like he has had three different seasons. His last save was No. 426 of his career in his 800^th career appearance. He is No. 6 on the all-time saves list.

ST. LOUIS – The Orioles have had many nights this year where they have been an aggressive hitting team. And many nights where that works out well for them.

They began last night leading the American League in runs per game. But they also ranked 14^th and next to last in walk rate and they are 28^th in the majors with a walk rate of 7.0 percent. American League average is 8.2.

The O’s hitters, on average, see 3.80 pitches per plate appearance to rank 11^th-most in the league and league average is 3.88 per PA.

Yes, they rate low in walks, but high in runs scored and they rank first in the majors in slugging and sixth in MLB in team OPS where they are also third in the AL.

In an extended answer before last night’s game, manager Brandon Hyde explained why many nights the O’s are an aggressive hitting team that sometimes hunts pitches early in counts and why they like it that way.

ST. LOUIS – A storm producing heavy rain that rolled through Busch Stadium tonight just after 8 p.m local time has forced the suspension of tonight’s Orioles-Cardinals game.

The game will resume Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. local time (12:15 p.m ET) with the teams tied 1-1 and St. Louis coming to bat in the last of the sixth. When that game ends, and 30 minutes later, they will play Wednesday's regularly scheduled nine-inning game. 

Tonight, right-hander Kyle Bradish made his fourth start since coming off the injured list. Just like Dean Kremer last night, he had to pitch early on with no run support.

But he got the job done allowing one run over the first four innings on 61 pitches and twice stranding runners at second and third. He did that in the third and fourth innings by getting big outs.

The Orioles didn’t score until the sixth inning last night and not until the fifth tonight.

ST. LOUIS – By Orioles standards and based on their play so far this year, last night’s road trip opening game was just not good enough. And the Birds will look to get back in the win column tonight with improved play in the second of a three-game series at St. Louis. 

Being held to three hits was a season low for the Orioles, the sixth time that has happened. They lost at St. Louis 6-3. 

Gunnar Henderson’s three-run homer in the sixth inning got them back into the game, but they never could get even or move ahead after the Cardinals opened a 5-0 lead in the last of the fourth.

But Henderson gained the major league lead with his 16^th homer. He is the first Oriole since DJ Stewart in September 2020 to homer in four consecutive games. He has six in his past 10 games and 13 in the last 30. That is also the most in the majors in that span of games during which his OPS is 1.062.

But Monday night, the Cardinals' No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, Masyn Winn and Michael Siani, combined for four hits, two runs and all six RBIs as the home team won for the sixth time in the past eight games.

ST. LOUIS – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde could not have been thrilled to see the Cardinals steal four bases last night in their series-opening 6-3 win.

The four steals matched a St. Louis season best done one time before. The four allowed is an O's season high, now done three times, once each by Washington, Kansas City and now St. Louis.

Adley Rutschman caught 22 percent of the runners trying to steal last year and that number is 21 percent this year.

“I think the majority of the time, it’s usually on the pitcher,” said Hyde today in the visitor's dugout. “You know, look at those four against him last night, there is absolutely nothing you can do about those four. You’re going to have to balance it with: Did he have a chance or not? And the majority of the time he really hasn’t this year.”

Hyde and the Orioles are very aware, of course, of which of their pitchers are good at holding runners and which ones have challenges. Last night’s starter, Dean Kremer, had seen his opponents steal one base on him all year and St. Louis got two bags.