In Aberdeen, Grayson Rodriguez is ready for return to game action

ABERDEEN, Md. – The Orioles' top pitching prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, headed north this week to continue his rehab. In two days Rodriguez will pitch in a game for the first time since his appearance June 1 for Triple-A Norfolk.

Rodriguez, ranked as the No. 4 prospect in baseball by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com, will take the mound Thursday for high Single-A Aberdeen at Ripken Stadium against Hickory.

It will be three months to the day that Rodriguez walked off the mound after throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings for Norfolk against Jacksonville. Rodriguez had suffered a Grade 2 right lat strain and has been in rehab mode since. Just recently, that escalated when he added live bullpen sessions and a simulated game. The next step comes Thursday.

“I feel good,” he said today at Ripken Stadium. “Obviously, it’s great to just be back here in Maryland, where full-season ball is. So getting out of Florida was pretty nice.

“It really happened the inning before I came out," Rodriguez said, recalling his injury. "I just thought it was a cramp or a muscle spasm. Went back out and, obviously, the velo was down. So being precautionary, took myself out of the game. Then them saying I could miss the rest of the season, thought it was pretty crazy. But been able to rehab in Florida and everything went pretty smoothly.”

Spenser Watkins worked with O's pitching coaches to step up his game

During a year where the Orioles have made dramatic improvement as a team, so have several individuals, especially on the pitching staff. And as those players got better, so did the team. One led to two.

As it relates to Orioles pitchers, pitching coaches Chris Holt and Darren Holmes have worked with guys to tweak pitches, add pitches, work on their deliveries and learn what their real strengths are and go to them often. Anything they can do to help one pitcher helps the team.

And an underrated part of this, said manager Brandon Hyde, is finding willing pupils. Coaches can suggest all they want but if the pitchers are not willing to make needed changes and then able to perfect them enough to get outs at seven o’clock, this process won’t work.

“To be able to get player buy in, one of those things not talked about enough, is what makes good coaches,” said Hyde in Houston. “Trust. And after trust becomes buy in. And you get buy in from players from sometimes having tough conversations. By being able to prove things. That the player knows you have their best interest.

“That’s one thing I feel like we’ve done a good job here the last few years of being able to get players to make adjustments or talk about adjustments. And you’ve seen that with the pitchers this year. Our guys have gotten better.”

Starting pitching stepped it up in Houston, good sign for stretch run

HOUSTON – After a weekend in Houston where O’s pitching gave up just four runs, leading the team to a series win over the club with the best record in the American League, the O’s take some momentum to Cleveland where they open a big series Tuesday night.

They’re all big now, when the club is 1.5 games out of a playoff berth with 35 games remaining.

The Orioles continue to surprise some people around MLB and who could have expected them to head into Houston, win the series with a chance to sweep Sunday? Houston began this weekend with the best AL record at 81-45 which included a seven-game home win streak and home record for the year of 42-18.

But terrific starting pitching led the Orioles to wins by 2-0 Friday and 3-1 Saturday before they lost 3-1 Sunday to end a five-game win streak at Minute Maid Park.

The Orioles continue to show they can play with the AL big boys – both in the AL East and beyond – and outfielder Austin Hays likes their positioning for the stretch run.

No sweep: Houston offense breaks through late to beat Orioles (updated)

HOUSTON – It seemed improbable that the Orioles' run of great starting pitching could last against one of the best hitting teams in the majors on the road.

But it did.

The Orioles were not scoring runs on their end, however, and the game went into the late innings with a 0-0 score at Houston's Minute Maid Park. This after the Orioles had beaten Houston by 2-0 and 3-1 to take the series' first two games. But the Houston bullpen was doing the job after a surprise early exit by Justin Verlander due to injury.

And then the Astros finally broke through and got the big hit they had been waiting for.

Against a drawn-in infield with runners on second and third and one out in the seventh, first baseman Yuli Gurriel poked a two-run single to right field. That put Houston ahead, and they went on to a 3-1 win to avoid getting swept in the three-game series.

O's game blog: Trying to complete the three-game sweep in Houston

HOUSTON – After allowing just one run on eight hits, and despite scoring just five runs themselves, the Orioles can complete a three-game sweep of the Houston Astros today at Minute Maid Park.

This would be quite the achievement for the improved Orioles. Consider this:

* Houston began the series with the best record in the American League at 81-45.

* Houston is still the top team in the AL.

* The Astros had a seven-game home win streak and four-game overall win streak snapped Friday.

O's pregame notes on Mountcastle, Wells, facing Verlander and more

Tyler Wells clapping gray

HOUSTON – The Orioles' pitching has carried them to two wins at Minute Maid Park. As they go for the three-game sweep today they’d like to generate more offense.

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle, struggling in the second half, showed some signs of breaking out last night, when he hit one ball 102 mph and another 105 mph on line outs. It was a good sign for the Orioles, said manager Brandon Hyde.

“You know the way the three guys ahead of him in the lineup are getting on base, the at-bats they’re taking, you know with Ryan, I was happy with his at-bats last night,” Hyde said. “Had better at-bats, was a little more under control, stayed on the ball better. Hit a couple of balls pretty hard. When he stays with himself, good things happen. Being able to lay off sliders out of the zone and elevated fastballs, you know when he puts swings on strikes, good things happen. So we’re getting on base ahead of him and hopefully he can turn it around here pretty soon.”

In the second half, Mountcastle, who is 0-for-8 this series, is batting .177/.282/.298/.550 after he posted a .786 OPS in the first half.

“Yesterday felt a little better. Hit two balls hard,” Mountcastle said. “Thought I got the second one, but I guess it didn’t want to go out. It is what it is. I’m trying and working hard at it.”

The Elias Houston-Baltimore connection and other notes

HOUSTON – Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias is with the team, at least to start, on this road trip. He's back in Houston, where he helped turn the Astros into big winners before he got hired by the Orioles.

He’s been very visible on the field the last two days pregame, catching up with old friends from here and he remains, of course, proud of his time here and what was built here, producing lasting success.

“There was just so much good work going on in the Astros organization for the last 10 years, and it’s still rolling with no end in sight. And I’m very proud and fortunate to have been a part of it,” he said during an interview Friday that was well attended by the Houston media.

Now’s he proud of what his staff and players are getting done in Baltimore, contending for a playoff spot a year after losing 110 games.

And he noted that even after the trades of Trey Mancini and Jorge López, the Orioles kept winning and have had a strong month in August.

Bradish's gem, Urías' homer carry O's to series-opening win (updated)

HOUSTON – For an Orioles team searching many nights for offense recently, one swing can make a big difference. It did on Thursday night and Kyle Stowers was the hitter then. It did Friday night in the series opener at Houston and Ramón Urías had the huge swing.

The Orioles third baseman broke up a 0-0 tie and ended a night of mostly frustration on offense for his squad when he blasted a two-run homer to left. The sixth-inning blast helped lead the Orioles to 2-0 win over Houston behind a gem from right-hander Kyle Bradish.

Making his 16th big league start, Bradish had one spectacular night on the mound for the Orioles.

The rookie had a 4.21 ERA in five starts since coming off the injured list. His strong outing tonight came against the team that ranks third in the league in runs, second in homers, third in slugging and OPS and with the second fewest strikeouts at bat.

Bradish spun eight scoreless innings at the Astros, allowing just two hits: a single in the fourth by Kyle Tucker and another in the seventh by Alex Bregman.

O's game blog: The road trip begins at first-place Houston

HOUSTON – The Orioles begin a tough two-city road trip tonight when they play the Houston Astros in the first of three games at Minute Maid Park. Houston holds the best record in the American League, and after three games there the Orioles play three at Cleveland against the American League Central leading Guardians.

The Orioles return home a week from tonight for a long homestand against Oakland, Toronto and Boston.

But after their remarkable win last night by 4-3 over the Chicago White Sox, the Orioles take a series victory and some momentum into this series. Kyle Stowers homered with two outs on an 0-2 pitch to tie the game in the ninth, and Anthony Santander’s single to deep center field produced the walk-off win in the 11th.

The win marked their ninth walk-off win of the year and the Orioles are now 8-4 in extra innings, 18-21 in one-run games, and 3-51 when trailing after eight innings. They earned their 29th comeback win of the season, the most by the O’s since 2017 (34). Entering yesterday, their 29 comeback wins ranked tied for third in the AL. And the Orioles finished 5-2 (.714) against the White Sox this year, their best winning percentage in a single season against Chicago-AL since going 5-1 (.833) in 2014.

Houston beat Minnesota 6-3 Thursday to complete a three-game sweep, and Houston (81-45) has won four games in a row by a combined eight runs. Houston is leading the AL West by 12.5 games over Seattle and holds the best record in the AL by 3.5 games over the New York Yankees.

Mike Elias in Houston: No decision yet on Gunnar Henderson

HOUSTON – Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias is on this road trip with the Orioles and told reporters today in the Orioles dugout that no decision has been made yet as to whether Gunnar Henderson, ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the sport by Baseball America, will be called up to the Orioles.

“We are watching everything he is doing carefully,” Elias said. “And having ongoing conversations about when and how he might factor into that in 2022, but no decisions have been made. But it’s obviously something we are monitoring and very pleased where he is at as a 21-year-old that started the year in Double-A.

“We do (see rosters) expand on Sept. 1. We are, obviously, going to be adding one position player and one pitcher. I don’t know who those are. Everything changes day to day in baseball. Somebody could get hurt. We’re just going to have to see. He’s put himself in a spot to be considered but he’s still having ups and downs in Triple-A on a nightly basis, and we’re watching that too.”

Henderson, in 108 games between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, has batted .292/.415/.531/.946 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs.

Elias was asked what Henderson still needs to show to get his shot with the Orioles.

With fourth organization, Jorge Mateo finally got his shot and ran with it

The transaction date was Aug. 5, 2021 and it probably didn’t register big around Birdland at that time. But the Orioles had claimed a one-time top 100 prospect, infielder Jorge Mateo on waivers from San Diego. He had a lot of speed but the promise he once showed had not materialized yet at the big-league level.

Of course, he had never gotten an extended chance really to show what he can do, getting just 121 plate appearances in 79 games with San Diego. He was already 25 when he broke in there during the 2020 season.

But now the player that once was ranked as high as No. 26 by Baseball America in its 2016 top 100 is thriving finally on the Orioles watch. He made a good first impression late last season, batting .280 with a .748 OPS in 32 games and that meant he might get a real chance this year.

He has and he’s run with it.

In the first half it was solid and steady defense at short that he showed along with that blinding speed. But in the second half, his bat has come to life. And while his overall numbers heading into last night’s game with a .233 average and .690 OPS, are below big-league average, it’s his recent hitting that now has him ranked among the top shortstops in the American League per FanGraphs.com Wins Above Replacement.

Chirinos works to be great teammate, saying "It's not about you; it's about the team"

At 38, catcher Robinson Chirinos is the oldest Oriole and the third oldest catcher in Major League Baseball. He brings experience to his job but also a real enthusiasm about being part of a larger group of players that truly make up a team. There are times in baseball when a veteran impacts a team even without playing a lot.

Chirinos is doing that now for the 2022 Orioles.

Manager Brandon Hyde has praised him often this year: early in the season for his play on the field before Adley Rutschman arrived and bumped him to the No. 2 catcher job, and lately for his leadership and ability to root on and support teammates in a role that he has come to completely embrace.

Chirinos remains a big part of the O’s winning ways, even though the kid sent him to the bench when he arrived in May.

“I thought at some point during the season it was going to happen and knew that when I signed here in the offseason. Knew Adley was coming up and it was a matter of time,” Chirinos said before Wednesday’s game. “I was trying to do everything I could to help the team when I was playing every day. But now in my role, do the same thing, just different. I’m not in the field every day but I know I can impact this ballclub every single day.

O's game blog: Closing in on another winning month

After winning three of their last four games and now with a 13-7 record in August, the O's need just one more win to clinch a third straight winning month. That is something the Orioles have not done in six years.

They need one win in the next seven games to clinch another winning month, after going 16-9 in July and 14-12 in June. The Orioles have not had three straight winning months since April (14-9), May (14-13), and June (19-9) of 2016.

The Orioles took a 3-2 lead last night on Ryan Mountcastle’s 18th homer in the last of the first inning. They never trailed in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox, which was wrapped up when right-hander Félix Bautista recorded a five-out save. Tonight the Orioles host Chicago in the second game of this three-game series.

The Orioles (64-58) moved six games over the .500 mark last night for the fourth time this season. They are 3-2 on this seven-game homestand, with both losses coming by one run and with their past two wins coming by the same 5-3 score. The Orioles are 36-23 at home for the year and are 18-6 in their past 24 home games.

The Orioles are 18-12 in the second half, and their 40-23 record since June 11 is one of the best in the majors in that span. They are winning at a .635 clip in that time frame, which would produce 103 wins over a full year.

The O's Jorge Mateo takes a spot among the best shortstops in the AL

By at least one measure, the Orioles' Jorge Mateo is among the best shortstops right now in the American League. When it comes to FanGraphs.com Wins Above Replacement (fWAR), he ranks third right now ahead of players like Carlos Correa, Bo Bichette, Amed Rosario and Bobby Witt Jr.

Boston’s Xander Bogaerts leads all AL shortstops in fWAR at 4.2, and next is Corey Seager of Texas at 3.9 and then Mateo at 2.8.

“I think it’s always really good to hear that you are in those types of conversations. That is something I want to be a part of," Mateo said today with the help of team translator Brandon Quinones. "To hear your name come up like that and to hear you are doing a good job and you are up there among the best is something I am really proud of and take a lot of pride in.”

In 44 games since July 1, Mateo is batting .294/.342/.538 (42-for-143) with nine doubles, four triples, six home runs, 27 runs scored, 25 RBIs, nine walks and nine stolen bases. On Sunday night his three-run double in the eighth broke a 2-2 tie with Boston. Last night his RBI single in the seventh extended the O’s lead over the Chicago White Sox to 5-3.

Since the All-Star break, he is batting .317/.355/.574 (32-for-101) with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs, 20 runs scored, 20 RBIs, five walks and six stolen bases in 29 games. And his .929 OPS since the break ranks 11th in the AL.

Tough to scale this mountain: Bautista comes up big again for the Orioles

The latest save for rookie right-hander Félix Bautista was among his greatest saves of this year. He got save No. 9 last night as the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 in the series opener.

This one required heavy lifting and more blazing fastballs.

Bautista needed to get five big outs and pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth. He threw one fastball 103.1 mph, making him one of eight pitchers in the Statcast era (since 2015) to throw a pitch at least 103.0 mph.

Since the O's traded closer Jorge Lopez to Minnesota, Bautista is 6-for-6 in save chances with an ERA of 1.74 and 15 strikeouts in 10 1/3.

Before Tuesday's game, O’s manager Brandon Hyde said that since that trade, he’s been quite impressed with how the inexperienced Bautista has both done in the closer’s role and how he has handled the ninth inning challenge.

O's game blog: O's host Chicago White Sox in series opener

The Orioles have eight games left in August and 41 remaining in the regular season as they host the Chicago White Sox tonight to continue their homestand, which took a detour Sunday night to Williamsport, Pa.

The Orioles (63-58) won that game 5-2 over the Boston Red Sox to win another series. The Orioles are 19-17-4 in series play in 2022. They have lost five of nine games, but over longer stretches have won 12 of 19 and 28 of the last 42 games. They are 35-23 at home.

The Orioles begin play tonight 2.5 games behind for the final American League wild card playoff spot. Minnesota is three games back of that spot, and the White Sox (62-60) are four games behind.

Of the 41 games the O's have left, 26 are against current winning teams and 15 are against teams with losing records. Of the 26 games with the winning clubs, they will play Toronto 10 times, Houston seven times and three each against the White Sox, Guardians and Yankees. Of the games against opponents now under .500, they will play Boston seven times, meet Oakland and Detroit for three games each, and go to Washington for two.

Of those 41 games, they will play 23 at home and 18 on the road. They have 20 games remaining against AL East opponents and actually more (21) outside of the division. Their next 12 games are versus non-AL East opponents.

The O's talk about the challenge of facing Dylan Cease tonight

Coming off an uplifting win Sunday that provided the Orioles a series victory, for their next test tonight they open a series against the Chicago White Sox and face one of the best pitchers in the sport.

Sox righty Dylan Cease (12-5, 2.09 ERA), 26, ranks second in the American League and the major leagues in ERA to Houston’s Justin Verlander at 1.95. Cease ranks first in the AL in strikeouts per nine innings at 12.0, third in opponent average at .200 and 12th in WHIP at 1.167.

He faced the Orioles June 26 and was the winning pitcher, going seven innings while allowing one run and four hits and notching a season-high 13 strikeouts.

“It’s always exciting to face the best,” O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins said. “If you are able to come out on top it puts a chip on your shoulder for the next guy you face.”

As he's leading off, Mullins will get the first chance to see Cease tonight. And first chance to start a rally.

Stowers on Gunnar, plus other notes and another No. 1 farm ranking

If the Orioles decide soon to make the call to bring top prospect Gunnar Henderson to the major leagues for the first time, they’ll be getting a player who has impressed both prospects analysts and his own teammates.

Outfielder Kyle Stowers, who got his own call to rejoin the Orioles on Friday, has been a teammate of Henderson much of this year at Triple-A Norfolk.

He provided a ringing endorsement of the talents and more that Henderson would bring to the Orioles.

“He is a special individual,” Stowers said before Sunday’s game in Williamsport, Pa. “Obviously, his athletic ability is impressive. But also, how strong he is. You know he is a special talent. What I’ve been impressed with and I’ve been around him since 2019 is every time there is a gap when I see him, he comes back leaps and bounds better than he was before. The rate at which he has progressed has been incredible.

“The first time I was actually on a team with him in affiliate ball (was this year) but just so impressed with the talent and even more so how he handles things. Even though they are not as frequent, when he would have a tough game, he is the same guy. Consistently getting himself ready and his prep work is the same every day. He is always in good spirits, and I think it is things like that that make me believe the sky is the limit for him. He is just a guy you want to root for. Such a good kid and so mature for his age.”

O's game blog: Jordan Lyles faces Boston in series opener

The Orioles begin an important three-game weekend series with the Boston Red Sox tonight at Oriole Park. The Birds (61-57) lost 3-2 on Thursday to the Chicago Cubs and they begin play tonight 2.5 games behind Toronto and Tampa Bay for the third American League wild card spot.

The Orioles have lost the past two games, scoring just three runs, and they have scored just 10 runs in their past six losses. But they have scored 41 runs in the last six wins as their offense has been hot and cold lately.

The Orioles were held to six hits yesterday and didn't score until the eighth inning, when they got a Ryan Mountcastle RBI single and a sac fly from Anthony Santander.

After this series the O's end a stretch when they will have played 12 of the last 13 games versus AL East opponents. They are 5-4 in this span heading into the Boston series. 

The Orioles are 25-28 for the year against division opponents and are 15-10 at home versus AL East foes. The Orioles are 8-8-1 in series against the division after going just 3-19-2 last year.

Kyle Stowers "super excited" to rejoin the Orioles

For Orioles outfielder Kyle Stowers this almost feels more official this time. He’s been in the big leagues earlier, but this time is added to the 40-man roster and not as a replacement player, his title for the games where he was with the team in Toronto in mid-June.

Stowers, who shared O’s Minor League Player of the Year honors with Adley Rutschman in 2021, may now be in the big leagues for good. He’s batting fifth and starting in right field tonight, and manager Brandon Hyde said he expects to play Stowers a lot.

“I’d say the little stretch was like my debut and this feels more like the call-up. So I’m excited,” Stowers said this afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse.

“Super excited. I think it’s a really cool place this team is at, pushing for the playoffs. To get the opportunity to be a part of it and chase after something as special as that, I’m stoked for.

“Yeah, special to play at the home field of the team that drafted you. Although it’s not my debut, it’s my debut here and I’m excited.”