After his latest bullpen session – which came Saturday at Camden Yards – Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish is ready to begin what is essentially his spring training.

He'll pitch his first minor league rehab game this week, perhaps just an inning or two as he continues his comeback and rehab from a UCL sprain which required a plasma-rich platelet injection in January.

“Yeah I’m excited. It will be nice to face some other jerseys,” Bradish said this morning in the Baltimore clubhouse.

With lefty John Means three outings into his rehab assignment and now Bradish ready to start his, the O’s have some real quality pitching reinforcements on the way.  

“It will be nice. Kind of treating this as my spring training," Bradish said. "Just working out some different mechanical things, but it will be nice to get in a game setting." 

After playing in 10 games this season for Triple-A Norfolk and in his first three games after his call-up Wednesday in Boston, Jackson Holliday got a day off Saturday. But he returns to the lineup today, batting ninth versus Milwaukee in the series finale.

Holliday is 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts, two runs scored and an RBI thus far. He went 0-for-8 in two games at Boston and was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts on Friday night.

Holliday played in 15 games at spring training for the Orioles, batting .311/.354/.600/.954 with three doubles, two triples, two homers and six RBIs.

The Orioles have lost by scores of 11-1 and 11-5 in this series. Before this series began their first four losses of the season had come by eight total runs.

The Orioles lost 1 1/2 games in the standings to the first-place New York Yankees yesterday as New York swept a doubleheader at Cleveland.

Well, the Milwaukee Brewers are really swinging it right now. They were playing well before they got to Baltimore and have put up 22 runs over the first two games of this series.

Milwaukee has not lost a series this year and can sweep this one today after wins by 11-1 and 11-5 at Oriole Park.

The Brewers are now 10-3 after going 92-70 last year. They have been in the playoffs five times in the last six seasons, winning division championships in 2018, 2021 and 2023.

They have now scored seven runs or more in six consecutive games, tying a club mark first set in 1982 and matched in 1989. They have scored 58 runs in those six games and are now 7-1 on the road.

Heading into this series, O's pitchers had allowed as many as five runs in one game just twice this year. In this series their team ERA increased from 2.86 to 3.87.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias seems unconcerned that top prospect Jackson Holliday is still looking for his first big league hit after his first three games.

Baseball’s No. 1 ranked prospect is 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts after going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts Friday night. Holliday did not start today against Brewers' lefty and former Oriole DL Hall.

Milwaukee won this afternoon 11-5 and the Orioles (8-6) need a win Sunday to avoid being swept. 

Elias, in an interview with reporters today in the Orioles dugout before the game, said Holliday’s first couple of series in Triple-A this year were “reassuring is the word I would use, those of us that were leaning toward adding him Opening Day with the thought he was ready.”

He was not on the Opening Day roster, but Holliday, 20, is here now and searching for hit No. 1.

Different venue, same hot bat for Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser. On a night when the Orioles lost 11-1 to the Brewers, the rookie with the sweet lefty swing produced more offense for the Orioles.

Cowser is taking a one-day-at-a-time approach to put up big numbers so far this year.

“Looking forward to every day, having a fresh start, whether the night before was good or bad,” he said before the series opener.

Then he smoked a double at 103.5 mph in the first inning and hit a solo homer off winning pitcher Freddy Peralta that was 105.1 off the bat in the third.

Over the last four games, Cowser is 8-for-16 with seven extra-base hits (four doubles and three homers) and 11 RBIs. He has driven in a run in four consecutive games.

After a three-game series sweep at Boston, the Orioles (8-4) begin a two-team, six-game homestand tonight versus the Milwaukee Brewers (8-3).

The Orioles begin play tonight 1.5 games behind New York for the AL East lead. Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are tied for first atop the NL Central, but the Brewers lead by percentage points.

Milwaukee was rained out Thursday at Cincinnati. They began the year going 3-0 at the New York Mets and have gone 1-1 versus Minnesota, and 2-1 each versus Seattle and Cincinnati.

Milwaukee has made the playoffs five times the last six years and went 92-70 last year. They won NL Central titles in 2018, 2021 and 2023. The Brewers have won three of their last four games and are 5-1 in road games.

Former Brewer right-hander Corbin Burnes, traded to the Orioles on Feb. 1 for DL Hall, Joey Ortiz and a draft pick, will pitch Sunday against his former team. Hall and Ortiz return this weekend with the Brewers. Hall is 0-1 with a 4.82 ERA in two starts and is scheduled to pitch tomorrow. In 10 games, Ortiz is 6-for-20 with a double, one RBI and a .767 OPS. He hit .212 (7-for-33) last year in 15 games with the Orioles.

Jackson Holliday has been at Camden Yards before, but not as a player in the starting lineup. Tonight the 20-year-old No. 1 ranked prospect in baseball will play his third MLB game and first in front of the hometown Baltimore fans.

“It’s a pretty awesome place to be able to play,” he said this afternoon to a crowd of reporters, adding that he remembered being here before.

“I think it was when my dad (Matt) was with the Cardinals. Me and my brother came out here and shagged (BP fly balls). I remember thinking this is a really great place to hit.

"I remember being able to almost rob a home run because the wall was shorter before they moved it back and raised it about 100 feet. I do remember it and it’s very special be here,” the kid said showing he retains a sense of humor amid a flurry of interviews he has been doing.

“To be able to come to the ballpark and have a locker here, it’s definitely a little bit different. When I was with Aberdeen and Bowie, I came down to eat every now and then. But it’s definitely a different experience knowing this is home for now.”

The Boston Red Sox began this series with the Orioles riding high at 7-3 after a season-opening West Coast road trip. Their team ERA was 1.49 at first pitch Tuesday night, the club’s lowest mark through 10 games since the Live Ball era which began in 1920.

But in this series, in which the Orioles swept them three in a row, Baltimore produced 23 runs on 31 hits, hit five homers – four last night – and went 15-for-37 (.405) batting with runners in scoring position.

Last night was their sixth comeback win of the 2024 season and they outscored Boston in the series 19-2 from the sixth inning on.

The Orioles have put up big numbers later in games this year. In fact, through the fifth innings of their games so far, they have been outscored 28-23. But from the sixth inning on, they have outscored their opponents 47-14. So they are -5 in runs in the first five innings and +33 from the sixth inning on.

That is a remarkable stat.

After taking the first two games at Fenway Park by scores of 7-1 and a comeback win by 7-5 last night, the Orioles can sweep this series with a win tonight over the Boston Red Sox.

It's a matchup of the second- and third-place teams in the American League East. The Orioles (7-4) are in second, two games behind the New York Yankees (10-3), while Boston (7-5) is in third place, 2 1/2 games behind the division leaders.

The Orioles are the first team this year to take a series from Boston, which went 2-0-1 in three series on the West Coast to start the year. The Red Sox were 6-1 their previous seven games heading into this series.

The Orioles have not lost a series against an AL East opponent since losing two of three to the Yankees April 7-9, 2023. Baltimore has not dropped a series in the division in 15 straight sets, improving to 11-0-4 during that time. That is the longest such run in team history, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

Five of the Orioles' seven wins this season have been in comeback fashion. Last night they trailed 5-0 after five innings. Baltimore's 53 comeback wins since the start of last season are the most in the major leagues. Their 89 come-from-behind victories since the start of 2022 are second-most, behind the Dodgers (90).

During my postgame show on WBAL Radio last night, a caller said the Orioles win showed they are resilient and can overcome adversity. Well, they indeed did do that in a 7-5 win over the Boston Red Sox.

They are now 7-4 overall, 3-2 on this road trip and won another series, and can sweep it tonight behind Grayson Rodriguez (2-0, 2.19 ERA) at Fenway Park.

Jordan Westburg has hit two homers this year - one was a walk-off at Camden Yards and last night it was a go-ahead homer in the top of the seventh. With his club down 5-4 and two men on, he blasted a two-out shot out to the left of center. It was a ball he hit 111.2 mph and drove it 432 feet. It turned a one-run deficit into a 7-5 lead which the Orioles would hold.

Westburg said he was just trying to keep the line moving when he got into one. 

“I just viewed all those situations as ways of our guys passing the bat back to the next guy, trying to string together innings, string together some runs, get back in the game,” he said. “It got up to me and I was kind of doing the same thing. I wasn’t trying to do too much. I was just trying to get the bat to the next guy in the lineup. And it just so happened that it went out."

It's the Orioles' 11th game of the 2024 season, but for 20-year-old Jackson Holliday, it's his big league debut. Less than two years since the O's selected him No. 1 overall in July 2022, Holliday is in the majors.

He will bat ninth and play second base tonight in Game 2 of this three-game series at Boston.

In 10 Triple-A games for Norfolk, Holliday, baseball's No. 1 ranked prospect, hit .333/.482/.595/1.077 with five doubles, two homers, nine RBIs, 18 runs, 12 walks and eight strikeouts. He went 4-for-10 versus lefty pitching with two doubles and a homer for an OPS of 1.264.

While tonight he will bat ninth, he could eventually move into the leadoff spot for the Orioles. He batted leadoff for the Tides. When the lineup turns over tonight, Holliday, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman will bat back-to-back-to-back.

Holliday will wear No. 7, not worn by any Oriole since the passing of Cal Ripken Sr. Bill Ripken and Mark Belander also wore No. 7. On MLB Network today, Bill Ripken said the Holliday family asked "very respectfully" if the Ripken family would be fine with Jackson wearing No. 7, as their dad once did and Holliday's dad, Matt, did in the majors. Ripken said they loved the idea.

As it turned out, No. 1 ranked prospect Jackson Holliday starting in the minors was not about service time. As he arrives today in the big leagues, he can still get a full year of service this season and can still get the O's a draft pick if he wins the Rookie of the Year award.

And while he was briefly on the farm, he got rolling as a hitter, got more experience playing second base and went 4-for-10 with two doubles and a homer against left-handed pitching. And without him the O's went 6-4.

All worked out pretty good, right?

In ten games with the Tides, the 20-year-old Holliday hit .333/.482/.595/1.077 with five doubles, two homers, nine RBIs, 12 walks and eight strikeouts. He was controlling the zone, playing top-notch defense and now after just 32 Triple-A games (counting the playoffs), here he comes.

I imagine we will not see it at the outset, maybe he bats low in the lineup initially, but wouldn't it be something if Holliday hits leadoff followed by Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. That would feature two 1/1 draft picks at the top and the last three No. 1 prospects in baseball.

The Orioles (5-4) road trip continues this afternoon as they play the first of a three-game series against the Red Sox (7-3) at Fenway Park. The Orioles return home Friday night. 

Baltimore lost via walk-off losses in their last two games at Pittsburgh and they lost their first series of the year. They begin play today in third in the American League East and are three games back of division-leading New York and 1.5 games back of second-place Boston. 

Boston is playing its home opener after beginning the year with a West Coast road trip. The Red Sox went 2-2 at Seattle, 3-0 at Oakland and 2-1 in Anaheim versus the Los Angeles Angels. Boston begins a nine-game homestand today.

Boston began the year 1-2 and is 6-1 since then. And they are 2-0-1 in series. The last time they won or split each of their first three series was in 2018, when they started 3-0-0. The last times the Red Sox won as many as seven of their first 10 games were 2021 (7-3), 2018 (9-1), 2015 (7-3), and 2006 (7-3).

The Red Sox have gotten off to an incredible pitching start, leading the majors with a 1.49 ERA. The Orioles are fifth at 2.85. Boston and Baltimore rank 1-2 in MLB in WHIP with Boston at 0.96 and the Orioles at 1.02. Boston’s .186 batting average against leads the majors while the Orioles are fifth at .214.

BOWIE, Md. - For Orioles minor league pitcher Trace Bright, his move from High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie went well late last year. And again, in his first outing versus Reading over the weekend.

With that big curveball, Bright has swing and miss stuff and now the results are showing up to prove that.

Ranked as the O’s No. 16 prospect per MLBPipeline.com and No. 21 via Baseball America, Bright went 3-6 with a 3.97 ERA and 13.3 K rate last season pitching in 22 games with Aberdeen and four at Bowie where his ERA was 2.12 in 17 innings.

Then he pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings on two hits in Bowie’s win Sunday with two walks and six strikeouts. The strikeouts may have elevated his pitch count and he was removed at 71 pitches.

But now, in five career Double-A outings, Bright has a 1.74 ERA over 20 2/3 innings with 10 walks and 26 strikeouts.

The Orioles can use today’s off day to regroup a bit after two straight walk-off losses at Pittsburgh. They lose their first series of the year but were so close to a sweep and a 7-2 record. 

As they wake up today, they are 5-4 and looking up in the standings at the New York Yankees (8-2) and Boston Red Sox (7-3).

That makes the series that starts Tuesday at Fenway Park even more important. The O’s want to show they can get past the disappointment in Pittsburgh and that they are still Boston’s superior.

They went 7-6 versus the Red Sox in winning the AL East in 2023 and went 3-3 at Fenway Park. They were 23 games better in the final standings.

Right now, this club is also looking for consistent offense. The Orioles scored 24 runs on 24 hits their first two games, reminding some in Birdland of last year’s club that scored 807 runs. But now they have scored 23 runs in the last seven games.

kremer road gray

For the second straight series, the Orioles will play an opponent in a rubber match game after splitting the first two games of a series. They play in Pittsburgh to decide this series after winning 5-2 Friday and losing 5-4 yesterday in 11 innings.

The Orioles, 5-3 overall, are 1-1 on the road and 1-0 in rubber match games. They split two games with the Royals before Wednesday's 4-3 walk-off win gave them a series win.

A win today would make the Orioles 3-0 in series this season.

Pittsburgh is now 7-2 after a 5-0 start. They began the year 4-0 at Miami and went 2-1 at Washington. So whichever clubs win today will have three series wins to start its year.

With that 7-2 mark (.778), Pittsburgh is tied with the New York Yankees and Cleveland for the best record in baseball.

Rutschman orange

If the Orioles want to win their third straight series to begin the new season, they'll have to win this afternoon in Pittsburgh after a very tough loss there on Saturday.

The clubs have split the first two games and the Orioles lost 5-4 in 11 innings on Saturday. The Orioles were not doing much with Pirates' lefty Bailey Falter, who threw six scoreless on one hit but was pulled after throwing 78 pitches. The O's immediately got it going against the Pirates bullpen and when Jordan Westburg hustled home safely on a grounder to first base, the O's had tied it 3-3 in the ninth.

They went ahead 4-3 in the tenth on Adley Rutschman's sac fly. But Mike Baumann struggled to throw strikes as Pittsburgh tied it and the game went to the 11th. Oneil Cruz singled in the winning run to even up the series for the Bucs.

A tough, tough loss for the Orioles who got five innings with no earned runs allowed from their bullpen. 

But while the bullpen faltered late, the Baltimore offense produced just four hits in 37 at-bats and the hitters went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates play the second game of their three-game series this afternoon after the Orioles won 5-2 on Friday to begin the weekend.

The Orioles (5-2) won their first road game of the year and now are 3-0 in series-opening games.

As of this morning, they are in third place in the American League East, 1/2-game behind both New York and Boston at 6-2.

If the Orioles win one of the next two games, they will have three series wins to start the season. The last two O’s teams to do that were in 2009 and 2016.

Orioles pitchers are doing a solid job thus far. Their team ERA of 3.14 ranks seventh-best in the AL and eighth overall in the majors. Baltimore’s bullpen ERA is 2.38, which ranks sixth-best in the AL and seventh overall in the big leagues. Over the last five games, the O’s bullpen has allowed two earned runs over 16 2/3 innings.

BOWIE, Md. – After missing almost three of his first four seasons in pro baseball, Double-A Bowie pitcher Kyle Brnovich hopes for health this year just so he can be back on the mound consistently.

After the Los Angeles Angels drafted Brnovich out of Elon University in round eight of the 2019 draft, the organization shut him down. The following year, the pandemic hit baseball and the world, and there was no minor league season. So two seasons into his pro career, Brnovich had zero innings.

After that first year, he was one of four pitchers the O’s acquired for right-hander Dylan Bundy along with Zach Peek, Isaac Mattson and Kyle Bradish.

So yeah, this trade has worked out for Baltimore, and Peek and Brnovich begin this season with Bowie hoping to make that deal look even better.

Both pitchers are coming back from Tommy John surgery. Brnovich had his procedure on May 12, 2022 and returned June 26, 2023 to pitch in a Florida Complex League game. Peek had surgery in August 2022 and was back last August.

The Orioles begin a weekend series in Pittsburgh this afternoon. The Pirates (6-1) are playing their home opener at PNC Park.

The Orioles have gone 2-1 in each series at home against the Angels and Royals. They scored 25 runs in the first three games versus the Angels. They scored just 11 runs in the series with K.C, but produced walk-off wins in games one and three of that series.

The Orioles (4-2) have scored 34 runs in their four wins and just two runs over the two losses. After scoring 24 runs in the first two games of the year, they have scored just 12 runs on 21 hits in the last four games. In that span, they are 6-for-24 batting with runners in scoring position.

Through six games, their team batting line is .232/.298/.397/.695 as the Orioles rank tied for 17^th in the major leagues in team batting average, tied for 21^st in on-base percentage, and 16^th each in slugging and OPS.

Their team ERA is 3.33, which is 12^th-best in the majors. Baltimore pitching has allowed three, four, four, four, four and three runs. The O’s bullpen has allowed just two earned runs in 14 innings the past four games.