The Orioles moved past their off-day and are resuming their three-city road trip tonight in Kansas City. The last stop is in Atlanta.

They haven’t moved past the “soft” part of their schedule. The Royals are 7-22, the second-worst record in the majors. They’re in last place in the American League Central, with a minus-64 run differential in 29 games and a 1-12 record at home.

Can’t let down against anyone, but the Royals are scuffling with 13 losses in their last 16 games.

The teams met seven times last summer, with the Orioles going 4-3. They split a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

The Orioles are 128-128 all-time against the Royals in Kansas City, with their last three-game sweep in 2007.

DETROIT – The Orioles played their 28^th game yesterday and completed the first full month of the season. The 17^th win on Saturday was a franchise record for April. They have 19 total.

A lot of season is left on the schedule. At last check, they still play 162.

Too early for analysis, predictions, trends and numbers consumption? Of course not. That can commence after Opening Day.

Gentlemen, start your search engines.

Here are just a few of the many:

DETROIT – Kyle Bradish is tearing into a variety pack of starts in 2023.

A line drive smacks into his right foot in Texas and puts him on the injured list. He returns with six scoreless innings in D.C. The Red Sox rock him for seven runs and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings in his home debut.

Bradish hadn’t faced the Tigers until today. Hard to know what they had in store for him.

Four scoreless innings were followed by catcher Jake Rogers’ two-run homer, Javier Báez’s run-scoring double, a hit batter and a couple of long and loud outs in the fifth. Bradish couldn’t finish the frame.

A lead shrank but didn’t disappear.

DETROIT – Kyle Stowers was removed for a pinch-hitter last night in Charlotte and had no idea why.

Stowers found out later that the Orioles were promoting him.

“Just really excited,” he said this morning. “Obviously, happy to be back up here. It’s obviously a great group in Norfolk and a great group up here, so it’s just fun that there’s a lot of winning going around. Definitely excited to be back up here.”

The Orioles optioned Stowers on April 9 to get more regular at-bats. He responded by batting .293/.427/.569 (17-for-58) with a double, five home runs, 17 RBIs, 13 walks and 17 strikeouts in 17 games.

“I think obviously reps are key, and so it’s good to get back to playing every day and just kind of get in a rhythm,” he said. “Hopefully, I can continue to build off what was going on down there.”

DETROIT – The string of opposing left-handed starters ended at three today, and so did Joey Ortiz’s time in the majors.

Ortiz was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, with outfielder Kyle Stowers rejoining the Orioles for their series finale in Detroit. Ortiz went 2-for-8 with four RBIs while making three starts at second base.

The Orioles optioned Stowers on April 9 to give him more consistent at-bats. He was 0-for-4 with two walks in three games.

Stowers was batting .293/.427/.569 (17-for-58) with a double, five home runs, 17 RBIs, 13 walks and 17 strikeouts in 17 games with the Tides.

Manager Brandon Hyde is batting Stowers fourth today and playing him in right field. Ryan O'Hearn is the designated hitter.

DETROIT – The win-now and develop-now attitude of the 2023 Orioles was on display again yesterday at Comerica Park.

DL Hall had a locker inside the visiting clubhouse and a relief role in Game 1 of the doubleheader. One of their top prospects removed from Triple-A Norfolk’s rotation and plopped into a major league bullpen, where he isn’t supposed to belong.

The Orioles are developing Hall as a starter. Didn’t want to switch his role again breaking camp. Couldn’t stretch him out any other way than by optioning him.

But there he was, replacing Dean Kremer yesterday in the bottom of the sixth inning and covering the last three in a 7-4 loss. He allowed two runs but struck out seven batters.

“We’re trying to win games,” said manager Brandon Hyde, repeating a line that might be worthy of the next T-shirt giveaway.

DETROIT – Grayson Rodriguez got on an impressive roll today in Game 2, the kind he hasn’t experienced in his limited exposure to the majors, and he knows who provided a nudge.

Shortstop Jorge Mateo demonstrated his range and athleticism after Rodriguez allowed the leadoff batter to reach for the fifth time in five starts. An important early out was recorded, Rodriguez flummoxed the Tigers with his changeup while tossing five scoreless innings with a career-high nine strikeouts, and the Orioles earned a split of the doubleheader with a 6-4 victory over the Tigers.

The final game of the series is 1:40 p.m. Sunday, with the Orioles carrying an 18-9 record and trying again to move 10 above .500 for the first time since 2022.

Former Orioles infielder Tyler Nevin hit a three-run homer off Mike Baumann in the sixth after the right-hander inherited two runners from Keegan Akin, and after Mateo committed an error, a reminder of baseball’s fickle nature. But Bryan Baker, Danny Coulombe, Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista covered the last three innings.

The game ball goes to Rodriguez, who earned his first major league win after holding the Tigers to two hits and a walk. Six of the nine strikeouts came on his changeup, but the whiffs raised his pitch count to 91.

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.

DETROIT – Heavy rain yesterday rearranged the four-game series between the Orioles and Tigers, with the teams forced into a split doubleheader today.

The first game begins at 12:10 p.m., with the second game at 5:10 p.m.

The Orioles have won nine of their last 10 games, 11 of 13 and 13 of 16. They improved Friday night to 9-0 in series openers.

A victory today in Game 1 would put them 10 above .500 to match their high in 2022.

Adley Rutschman is out of the Game 1 lineup for the first time this season. Joey Ortiz starts again at second base.

DETROIT – What is the exact date and time when it begins to even out?

Rough estimates are accepted and appreciated.

Isn’t that the reminder preached to frustrated hitters who don’t think they’ll ever catch another break? The latest tough out, so cruel at times that it physically hurts, is balanced by soft singles and streaks built on kinder fortune.

Ryan Mountcastle tries to laugh about it. The trademark grin is the most he can muster at this point.

The lucky hits need to catch up.

DETROIT – The words have been uttered multiple times now by multiple people in the Orioles organization.

Manager Brandon Hyde floated them into the chilly Detroit air yesterday afternoon while seated in the visiting dugout, explaining why the Orioles optioned Terrin Vavra and brought up infield prospect Joey Ortiz. A promotion that wasn’t telegraphed. Whose purpose wasn’t immediately known.

“We’re trying to win games,” Hyde said.

Let’s make that perfectly clear.

Player development remains a priority and the Orioles get a kick out of being first in farm system rankings, but they don’t intend to punt the playoffs. They want a wild card berth, at the very least. The games in April matter as much as August and September.

DETROIT – Joey Ortiz watched a four-seam fastball go past him for a strike in his first major league at-bat, swung at a cutter and experienced his first moment of frustration and disbelief.

The Show can deliver low blows.

Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo sprinted into left-center and made a spectacular diving catch, crashing to the ground and shattering Ortiz’s hopes of a quick hit.

Ortiz made a right turn toward the visiting dugout, grabbed his glove and shifted his focus to playing second base. There would be other swings for the kid – on pitches thrown to him and in moods.

At the plate again with two runners in scoring position and two outs in the fifth, Ortiz sent a bouncer over first baseman Spencer Torkelson’s head for his first hit and RBIs.

DETROIT – Facing three left-handed starters in a four-game series against the Tigers prompted the Orioles to recall infield prospect Joey Ortiz from Triple-A Norfolk.

It wasn’t the only reason, but matchups were the primary motivation to add Ortiz’s right-handed bat and option Terrin Vavra.

“He’s off to a really nice start in Norfolk, and we wanted to get a little more right-handed, especially for this series,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon in the visiting dugout at Comerica Park.

“He can play multiple spots for us in the infield. We’re really comfortable with him defensively, and his first day here he’s in there. We’re excited to watch him make his debut.”

Ortiz is playing second base, with Jorge Mateo at shortstop. Gunnar Henderson is on the bench against left-hander Joey Wentz, and he’s able to play despite the scrapes on his right hand after diving for a line drive yesterday.

DETROIT – The Orioles take their 16-8 record, second-best in the American League, to Comerica Park for the start of a four-game series, and they have Joey Ortiz making his major league debut at second base.

Ortiz, 24, was recalled this morning from Triple-A Norfolk, with infielder Terrin Vavra optioned. The fourth-round pick in 2019 out of New Mexico State is batting .359/.389/.500/.889 in 16 games with Norfolk, with five doubles, two triples and eight RBIs. He’s a plus-defender who plays shortstop, second base and third base.

Vavra also can play the outfield, and his removal from the Orioles roster seems to indicate that Austin Hays’ bruised right hand is improving. Hays is on the bench again tonight but he’s avoided the injured list.

The Tigers are starting three consecutive left-handers in the series, if the weather permits it: Joey Wentz, Eduardo Rodriguez and Matthew Boyd. Ortiz is a right-handed hitter.

Bringing up Ortiz also gives the Orioles some infield insurance after Jorge Mateo recently sat with a sore right hip and Gunnar Henderson appeared to hurt his right hand yesterday after diving for a line drive, though he stayed in the game.

The regression that’s so common with major league bullpens from one year to the next, deserving of an attached warning label each spring, hasn’t impacted the Orioles. Relievers in the first month are immune to it. Can’t touch them.

Being an exception really defies logic when factoring the loss of veterans Dillon Tate and Mychal Givens to injuries. Zero appearances in 2023 beyond Tate’s one inning Wednesday with High-A Aberdeen.

Givens is expected to pitch Saturday at Double-A Bowie, where Tate is set to join him. Meanwhile, the Orioles have a 2.78 bullpen ERA that ranks third in the majors. They were ninth in 2022 at 3.49.

They’ve done some shuffling, with Yennier Cano recalled April 14 and Logan Gillaspie optioned five days later, but they haven’t folded.

Cano ran his streak of retired batters to begin the season to 24 yesterday, tying the club record, in a 6-2 win over the Red Sox. He nailed Justin Turner on the elbow but hasn’t allowed a run or hit or walked a batter.

Tyler Wells had the stuff today when a situation called for it. Not at his fingertips throughout his start. Just enough to hold down his opponent.

He just needed the support, both from his offense and the bullpen.

It eventually comes. Wait for it.

Wells matched his career high with seven strikeouts, and the Orioles broke a tie in the fourth by scoring three runs off Tanner Houck to defeat the Red Sox 6-2 and win their sixth series in 2023.

Anthony Santander had two sacrifice flies, Ramón Urías set a career high with four hits, the ‘pen went full beast mode again, and the Orioles improved to 16-8 with their 10^th win in 12 games and 12^th in 15.

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.

Dillon Tate made it back on a mound last night beyond the tedious bullpen sessions and simulated action. He was allowed to face hitters on an opposing team in a game that counted, beginning his injury rehab assignment with High-A Aberdeen and allowing one run and two hits with two strikeouts in the fifth inning.

The Orioles will give Tate four or five more appearances, having him pitch on back-to-back days, and decide whether he can be activated from the injured list.

That’s the easy part.

Making room for Tate and Mychal Givens, who is supposed to begin his own rehab assignment later this week, might become a hassle.

Other teams won’t feel sorry for them, but the bullpen’s ERA dropped to 2.88 last night, the third lowest in the majors. Manager Brandon Hyde is pushing many of the right buttons based on the results, and it’s easier to do when guys are getting outs and the rotation isn’t forcing early appearances and excess baton passing.