The Aaron Hicks’ era in Baltimore, however long it lasts, began yesterday with reports that the Orioles were close to reaching an agreement on a major league contract. An obvious counterpunch to losing Cedric Mullins to a groin injury. One that statistically doesn’t seem to pack much of a wallop.

Hicks was seen at Camden Yards, walking with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias on the service level. Not long after that, the team announced the roster move.

The immediate reaction, a reflex assumption, was that Mullins would be lost for a considerable amount of time. Otherwise, just stick with Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna in center field, with a few infielders capable of handling the corners. Jorge Mateo can play center, too.

Bring up Joey Ortiz for infield depth. Select Daz Cameron’s contract and add a true center fielder.

Or, Aaron Hicks, who’s also a center fielder with 619 starts in the majors, along with 104 in left and 69 in right.

Adam Frazier lined an 0-2 changeup from Cal Quantrill into center field tonight, and the Orioles had their new leadoff hitter.

For one game, at least.

Frazier could stay atop the order or move down. Austin Hays might bat first Wednesday or in the next series. The lineup will be fluid with Cedric Mullins idle.

It takes a village to replace Mullins, and the Orioles carried that attitude to an 8-5 victory over the Guardians before an announced crowd of 11,709 at Camden Yards.

A five-run second was highlighted by Anthony Santander’s bases-loaded triple, and the Orioles improved to 35-20.

The Orioles are hopeful that Cedric Mullins’ absence from the team will be measured in weeks instead of months. They’ll grip that optimism with both hands and also keep their fingers crossed.

Mullins was placed on the 10-day injured list after he slowed before reaching first base yesterday in the eighth inning and limped off the field with assistant athletic trainer Mark Shires. He’s been diagnosed with a strained right groin muscle.

Manager Brandon Hyde was relieved to learn that Mullins could return ahead of a lengthy absence.

“It’s what I was hoping for, honestly, in that, you never know how bad those can be and it sounds like we’re getting some positive news in it being weeks and not months,” Hyde said.

“When you see a guy pull up like that, your first instinct is, not good, but because he pulled up, it seems like he helped himself. He didn’t get a hit out of it. He sacrificed maybe a hit for some weeks. We’re going to do everything we can to get him back as soon as possible. We’ll see how it goes, but I think the news was positive, at least for how bad it looked.”

The Orioles didn’t need to change back into their regular uniforms. Hall of Famer Jim Palmer didn’t need to order a pancake for breakfast this morning in the press dining room before joining the MASN broadcast.

One was scheduled, the other spontaneous.

Purely coincidence that Kyle Bradish struck out the side in the top of the first inning and the Orioles scored twice in the bottom half, taking a lead they would protect throughout the game. And how Bradish escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the second, retired 11 batters in a row and held the Rangers to one run in 6 2/3.

Yennier Cano surrendered a two-out, game-tying double to Corey Seager in the eighth, but the Orioles offered an immediate response with the first two batters reaching against Cole Ragans and Austin Hays delivering an RBI single in a 3-2 victory over the Rangers before an announced crowd of 25,124 at Camden Yards.

Félix Bautista struck out the side and recorded his 13^th save, and the Orioles improved to 34-19, recapturing the second-best record in baseball. They still haven't been swept.

NEW YORK – The Orioles will try to improve on their 13-2 record in series-opening games tonight when they visit the Yankees in the Bronx. They trail the first-place Rays by three games.

Terrin Vavra gets another start in right field, with Anthony Santander serving as designated hitter.

Adam Frazier is batting fifth again and starting at second base, followed by left fielder Austin Hays.

Pretty standard lineup.

Kyle Bradish’s final start in 2022 came at Yankee Stadium, where he held New York to an unearned run and three hits in five innings but also walked five batters.

A scout who includes the Orioles among the teams he tracks regards Kyle Bradish as a starter capable of winning on a consistent basis in the majors. He grades Bradish highly and agrees to disagree with others in the profession who aren’t quite as sold. They’ve debated it. No two reports are exactly alike.

“He has something,” the scout said this week.

Bradish had more than the Angels could handle tonight.

Facing the team for the first time that drafted and traded him, Bradish allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings in a 3-1 victory over the Angels before an announced crowd of 15,702 at Camden Yards.

Austin Hays homered in the fifth to expand a lead, and the Orioles improved to 28-15 with a chance to win the series Thursday afternoon.

Anthony Santander gets his second consecutive start at first base tonight against the Angels at Camden Yards.

Santander hadn't played the position in the majors until last night, his experience confined to nine games in A-ball in 2016. He handled every chance flawlessly against the Angels.

Terrin Vavra stays in right field. Ryan O’Hearn bats ninth as the designated hitter.

Austin Hays is in left field and batting cleanup. Jorge Mateo is eighth.

Dean Kremer will try to stay on a roll after allowing one run over 12 combined innings against the Braves and Rays.

The only other time right-hander Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels has pitched against the Orioles was on Aug. 25, 2021, also at Camden Yards. He would not get a decision but he would allow four runs on five hits, including three homers, over five innings in a game the Orioles won 10-6.

The Orioles were on their way to 110 losses and that night ended a 19-game losing streak. Yep, times have changed around here.

But Cedric Mullins was the leadoff hitter in that game as he will be tonight. In 2021, he hit Ohtani’s first pitch of the game for a home run and went 2-for-3. Anthony Santander went 2-for-2 with a homer and DJ Stewart also homered on the first pitch that night.

“On our side, it was being aggressive,” Mullins remembered of the earlier game against Ohtani. “Being aggressive on the first pitch. Put a great swing on it and sent one out, got the guys on the board early. After that it’s about staying in your zone. He’s a great pitcher and it is one of those days where you are in for a battle and will try to come out on top.”

So yeah, Mullins said the Orioles, who this year are doing a good job working counts and taking pitches with solid plate discipline, may choose to be more aggressive against Ohtani, who is 4-1 with a 2.74 ERA and 12.9 strikeout rate. His .143 opponent average against ranks first in the major leagues. He is fifth in strikeouts and WHIP.

The Orioles have optioned outfielder Kyle Stowers for the second time this season.

They announced the latest move this morning, though Stowers was informed after yesterday’s 4-0 loss to the Pirates at Camden Yards.

Reliever Logan Gillaspie is joining the club from Triple-A Norfolk, where Stowers is headed after striking out four times yesterday to raise his season total to 12.

Stowers accounted for four of the team’s 17 strikeouts. He’s 2-for-30 in 14 games, with three walks and one run scored.

The Orioles broke camp with Stowers and sent him down April 9 while reinstating backup catcher James McCann from the injured list. Stowers barely had played, going hitless in four at-bats.

The Orioles trailed by a run twice last night – in the third and seventh innings against Pittsburgh – but as they have done many times this year, they found ways to win a game late. They did it this time by scoring two runs in the seventh, and three on a huge swing in the eighth.

The 6-3 win over Pittsburgh moved the Orioles to 12 games over .500 at 25-13 and to within four games of first-place Tampa Bay, which lost to the Yankees. The Orioles improved to 12-1 in series-opening games and to 5-1 when the opener was a home game.

But center fielder Cedric Mullins entertained us and grabbed the headlines with his three-run homer in the eighth. It came at such a big time and turned a 3-2 lead into a 6-2 edge. And it meant that Mullins had hit for the cycle. He flied out in the first inning, but then singled in the third, tripled in the fifth, doubled in the seventh and homered in the eighth.

Mullins is now batting .268/.365/.478/.843 with eight doubles, three triples, five homers and 31 RBIs. He has scored 19 runs and is 12-for-12 on stolen bases. He is on a pace to finish with 21 homers, 51 steals and 132 RBIs.

The cycle produced a special kind of curtain call for Mullins last night. Not one where he comes to the top step of the dugout and tips his cap, but a moment when he is the only one running out of the dugout. The Orioles stayed back, and Mullins ran by himself to center field to start the top of the ninth, soaking in every cheer from a crowd providing a standing ovation.

The Orioles are back home, finally, after a three-city road trip and back-to-back, one-run losses in Atlanta.

Now they get red-hot Tampa Bay, which has the best record in baseball at 28-7 and a plus-115 run differential.

The Rays’ record is tied for the second-best through 35 games since 1903. The 1984 Tigers were 30-5 and won the World Series.

Per STATS, this is only the fifth time in 134 series that the Orioles and Rays have been first and second in the standings. Most recently was in April 2019, but the second-place Orioles were 7-10.

The teams have never finished one-two in the division.

ATLANTA – Austin Hays is out of the Orioles’ lineup again tonight while waiting for the gash to heal on his right middle finger. He’s wearing a soft splint on it.

“It’s improved a little bit more,” he said. “We’re still just trying to be careful with it so we don’t turn it into something worse. But the same, day-to-day. Just trying to give it that little bit of extra time and make sure it’s fully ready to go. But still available off the bench if opportunity shows up where I need to be there.”

Hays was hit on the finger by Corey Kluber’s 88 mph sinker, and a cut opened on the inside knuckle beneath the bruise. The Orioles had it cleaned out Wednesday.

A blood blister formed when the ball caused the finger to get pinched against the bat, and the cut was discovered.

“There was just no way to know that it was there before,” Hays said. “At that point, we couldn’t put stitches in it. It’s not something that needs to be stitched. It just needs to heal and close up a little bit. But it’s right there.”

KANSAS CITY – Outfielder Austin Hays is out of the Orioles lineup for the second day in a row and he did not play at all in the game last night. But Hays said he was available then and is today as well as he continues to deal with a bruised right middle finger. He initially injured the finger on a bunt attempt in the recent home series versus Boston.

“We’re just letting the finger have a day or two to heal a little better," Hays said this morning in the Baltimore clubhouse. "Some lingering things going on there from when it got hit. Just making sure I’m going to be healthy for this next stretch coming up. Our training staff has done a great job of keeping me in there and taking care of it. We’re just giving it a day or two, but I’m available for the game and was available to hit last night. Took some swings in the cage to be ready if I needed to swing in a pinch-hit situation. I’m available but we’re just trying to manage this right now.”

Does the finger still bother him when hitting?

“We have been wrapping it. Just have some tape on there. Once the training staff gets it covered and wrapped up, it’s not too painful," he said. 

Hays said he is very positive about this issue moving forward.

The Orioles are sending Grayson Rodriguez to the mound this afternoon in Kansas City while trying to claim their seventh series.

Rodriguez is working on regular rest after starting Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader in Detroit and earning his first major league win with a career-high nine strikeouts. He hasn’t allowed a run in 14 straight innings going back to Chicago.

Austin Hays is out of the lineup again today. He also didn’t pinch-hit last night, with manager Brandon Hyde choosing Ryan McKenna to bat for Kyle Stowers.

Hays recently returned after bruising his right middle finger on an attempted bunt.

Stowers is in left field again today. Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

KANSAS CITY – As the Orioles face the Kansas City Royals tonight to start a three-game series, left fielder Austin Hays is batting leadoff again versus a left-hander.

This will be the ninth time Hays will bat leadoff, and he is batting there for the sixth time in the last 10 games. Former Tampa Bay lefty Ryan Yarbrough (0-3, 6.35 ERA) starts for the Royals. 

Hays' numbers batting leadoff show a .313 batting average and .858 OPS at 10-for-32. They are close to his overall numbers for the year at .312/.900.

“Kind of early in the year and we had trouble with left-handed starters last year. Trying to give us a spark in that way. Tried (Ramón) Urías there in Boston, that didn’t go very well. Think he’s been swinging the bat really well against left-handed pitching, so just rolling with it,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Hays batting No. 1.

He said when he puts a hitter in a spot in the lineup that is different (such as Hays batting at the top), he doesn’t want that hitter to change anything, such as take more pitches or have a different hitting approach.

DETROIT – Austin Hays wasn’t fooling around with a perfect game bid. Not today. Nip it in the bud.

Hays lined a double down the left field line on the first pitch from Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who didn’t allow an Orioles baserunner for 6 2/3 innings Sunday in Baltimore. Hays was stranded but also successful in his return from a bruised right finger.

James McCann homered off Rodriguez in the second, another shot at his former team. Rodriguez obviously was more vulnerable this afternoon in Game 1 of a doubleheader.

He just wasn’t beatable, and the Orioles couldn’t manufacture a 10^th comeback win.

Rodriguez was removed after 5 2/3 innings and only one run allowed. Meanwhile, Dean Kremer surrendered a career-high 11 hits through the fifth, and the Orioles lost to the Tigers 7-4 at Comerica Park.

DETROIT – Orioles outfielder Austin Hays swung the bat yesterday and said he would have been a game-time decision if rain hadn’t forced a postponement.

“I don’t think I would have been able to be in there,” he said.

He’s in there today, leading off in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Tigers.

The right middle finger is badly bruised after Hays was hit on the hand by Corey Kluber’s sinker Tuesday night while trying to bunt.

“We’ll just make sure we wrap it up good and make sure it’s protected and be good to go,” he said.

When Boston lefty Chris Sale, one of MLB’s all-time best strikeout pitchers, failed to strike out even one Oriole earlier this week, maybe he was indeed tipping some pitches. But maybe something else was at work. Maybe a team and organization that for years lagged in plate discipline skills was just showing everyone, including Sale, their big improvement in this area.

Improvement that for some Orioles really was enhanced and escalated in their time on the O’s farm and they now put those skills to use in the big league lineup.

Outfielder Austin Hays preferred to credit the Baltimore hitters for gains they have made in this area after that win over Boston on Monday.

“That was a prime example of us showing up, building a plan, training, and then one through nine executing the plan all the way through. And I felt like he was in a groove early and we got to that fourth inning and just continued to battle. Fouled off tough pitches. A one through nine relentless mindset of just all buying in," said Hays.

On the stat sheet, the Orioles have gone from a team not good in plate discipline stats, to one of baseball’s best. In pitches per plate appearance they ranked 24^th last year. But as their latest road trip was set to begin Thursday, they were second in MLB at 4.05. The Orioles’ 97 walks was tied for first in the American League. Their team OBP of .336 ranked fourth.

Orioles outfielder Austin Hays has avoided the injured list after bruising his right hand last night while attempting a bunt in the third inning.

Hays came out of the game after flying out to deep left field, and X-rays didn’t reveal any fractures.

“Feels good, a lot better than last night,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Pretty sore, a lot of bruising, so hopefully it’s just a few days.”

Shortstop Jorge Mateo is out of the lineup but available to play. Mateo recovered from the right hip soreness that forced him out of Wednesday’s game in D.C., and he scored from first base Sunday on Anthony Santander’s double to left field and homered last night into the home bullpen.

“He’s just coming off that hip and day game after a night game,” Hyde said. “A lot of games still coming up.”

Austin Hays is out of today's lineup, as the Orioles try to win their sixth series of the year.

Hays left last night’s game with a bruised right hand and is day-to-day.

Terrin Vavra is in left field again after replacing Hays last night and collecting two singles. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter, with Ryan O’Hearn at first base.

Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop. Jorge Mateo goes to the bench.

Mateo is batting .406/.432/.750 (13-for-32) with five doubles and two home runs in his last 11 games (10 starts). Last night’s homer into the Orioles bullpen was 108.2 mph off the bat.