CHICAGO – The Orioles have not been swept in a three-game series this season, and they must win today at Wrigley Field to keep that stat intact.

The Chicago Cubs (33-37) have won the first two in this series by scores of 10-3 and 3-2. Both games were one-run games going into the later innings, but Chicago scored six runs in the sixth inning to blow it open Friday and they held on Saturday for the narrow win.

The Orioles are 43-27 (.614) at the 70-game mark. A team playing .614 ball over the full year would win 99.5 games. So we could round up and say they are still playing at a 100-win pace.

The Orioles were shut out into the fifth inning yesterday when Adley Rutschman mashed a game-tying two-run homer off lefty Justin Steele. Rutschman hit a 406-foot blast to left-center for his 10^th homer. He and Kansas City’s Salvador Perez are the only catchers in the major leagues with 10 or more homers.

Over his past 18 games since May 26, Rutschman is batting .329 (24-for-73) with three doubles, three homers and six RBIs, and with an .881 OPS.

CHICAGO – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde is hopeful that backup catcher James McCann, who went on the injured list today, will be back when his 10 days on the IL are up.

“We are hoping it is just going to be the 10 days,” Hyde said today about an hour before game time. “It’s an ankle sprain. He stayed in the game yesterday with that (left) ankle sprain, because he knew that I would have to put (Kyle) Gibson in the pitcher’s spot. Or in his spot to hit. So when his spot came around, that is when I hit for him (in the sixth inning). Went back there and caught a couple of innings with the sprain, so hats off to him. Shows the kind of competitor and teammate he is.”

The Orioles' second catcher today is a player who has only been in the organization a few weeks as they selected the contract of José Godoy, who was already here on the taxi squad. Reliever Reed Garrett was designated for assignment to make 40-man roster room for Godoy. The Orioles purchased Godoy’s contract from the New York Yankees on June 2.

Godoy, 28, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, is a lefty hitter and has played in 26 major league games in 2021 and 2022 with Seattle, Minnesota and Pittsburgh, batting .123/.194/.140/.334 with one double and four RBIs, going 7-for-57. He went a combined 1-for-20 last year for Pittsburgh and Minnesota.

Godoy, who was 6-for-21 this season for Triple-A Norfolk, is wearing No. 77.

CHICAGO – To say the least, since they added him to their roster for the first time this year on April 13, Ryan O’Hearn has had an impact for the Orioles – both on the field and in the clubhouse, where the 29-year-old veteran fits in beautifully.

Few Orioles are swinging a hotter bat right now. Over 28 games, O’Hearn is batting .342/.384/.620/1.004 with seven doubles, five homers and 19 RBIs.

This after he hit .219 with a .683 OPS in 342 games since the 2018 season with Kansas City.

“Total pro. Gamer, loves to play, takes really good at-bats,” manager Brandon Hyde said before Saturday’s game at Wrigley Field. “Great in the clubhouse and dugout. Just doing a little bit of everything for us right now, and just the quality of his at-bats are really good.

“I think the experience he had in Kansas City, good and bad (helps now), and (he is) somebody that has always mashed in Triple-A. Kind of had some weird roles in Kansas City, and now (he's) in more of a defined role where he knows he’s got a good chance to be in there versus right-handed pitching. Or be a pinch-hit option. He’s really loving it here.”

CHICAGO – The Orioles came to Chicago riding a bit of a high. A series win over Toronto at home concluding a 5-1 homestand and they scored 42 runs in winning six of their previous seven games.

But their offense has been slowed by the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of this series at Wrigley Field, and the Orioles lost 3-2 today in front of 40,605 at the Friendly Confines to fall to 43-27.

O’s starter Kyle Gibson, an eight-game winner who was 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA his previous five starts, got his outing today started well. He fanned the first two hitters he faced in a 1-2-3 first inning on 15 pitches. He got two more strikeouts and retired the side in order in the home second.

But then the Cubs scored twice off him in the third to lead 2-0.

With one out, catcher Yan Gomes struck out on a sweeper, but he reached first on what was scored a wild pitch. When Mike Tauchman walked with two outs, second baseman Nico Hoerner came up and drilled an 0-1 two-seamer in the gap in left-center field. It went for a two-run double to break the 0-0 tie on a ball he hit 96.4 mph off the bat. Seiya Suzuki followed with a deep drive to center, but Aaron Hicks ran it down to retire the side.

CHICAGO – In May the Orioles had impressive series wins against the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees in which they lost the first game of the series but won the next two. They will try to pull this off now in a series not involving an AL East club. 

They lost 10-3 at Wrigley Field to the Chicago Cubs (32-37) on Friday, and the clubs meet this afternoon in the second game of this series.

The Orioles had won six of their last seven games by a combined 42-20 score before they got thumped here in the series opener, falling to 16-7 in series-opening games and to 9-3 when the series opener is on the road. The Orioles are now 22-12 in road games.

The Cubs are playing better ball lately and have now won four in a row and six of their past seven games. Their four-game win streak ties their season high from April 16-19. The Cubs have scored 38 runs in those wins. It’s the first time they have scored 38 in a four-game span since April 21-24, 2021.

The Cubs had a six-run inning in Friday’s win. They now have an inning scoring four runs or more in four straight games for the first time since June 28-July 1, 2018.

CHICAGO – The Orioles have played without first baseman Ryan Mountcastle in the lineup since June 8. That was when the Orioles were in Milwaukee. He went on the injured list on June 13, retroactive to June 10, dealing with vertigo.

Mountcastle is here with the team in Chicago, took part in some pregame work yesterday and is doing the same today. On the 10-day IL, he could return as soon as Tuesday, when the Orioles play the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Orioles don’t yet know if Mountcastle will make it back for that series. But manager Brandon Hyde was encouraged by his pregame fielding and hitting work on Friday at Wrigley Field.

“Yep, he’s going to do that again today,” Hyde said earlier. “We’re kind of just re-evaluating every day and see what we’re going to do. But he’s going to hit again today and move around the field a little bit.

“Really just taking it day-to-day with him right now. He swung the bat extremely well yesterday in batting practice, with a bunch of balls onto Waveland. Hopefully he does that again today and feels good, and we’ll reassess every day.”

CHICAGO – Another O’s series at Wrigley Field means another baseball homecoming for Orioles manger Brandon Hyde. He was with the Cubs from 2011 through 2018, first in their minor leagues and later as bench coach and first base coach for the Cubs.

When the Cubs won the 2016 World Series – their first WS win since 1908 – Hyde was manager Joe Maddon’s first base coach.

Now he is in his fifth year as manager of the Orioles, a team that, like those Cubs teams, went from bad to good with a lot of young talent.

“Always fun to come back here,” he said in the visiting dugout before Friday’s series-opening game. “Got to experience it last year. We played two good games here. Come back in a stadium with so many memories, such a special place. Spent ’12 to ’18 here and there are a lot really good memories I have of great teams and the good people I was around. Got to see a few of them today. Lot of them are gone. But this place is always going to be special.”

He learned a lot on the Cubs' watch and uses some of what he learned then now with the Orioles.

CHICAGO – The Orioles had been good this year both on the road and in series-opening games, but that combination did not lead to a win today at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Playing better baseball after a three-game sweep this week of National League Central-leading Pittsburgh, the Cubs hit three homers this afternoon in one inning off Baltimore lefty Cole Irvin and then had one big inning later versus the O’s bullpen in a 10-3 win over the Orioles.

The Cubs (32-37) won for sixth time in seven games as a big crowd of 37,515 cheered them on in the opener of the weekend series. Chicago is 10-7 the last 17 games.

The Birds had scored 42 runs in winning six of their past seven games, but did not score big today in the opening game of their five-game road trip.

The Orioles fall to 43-26 overall, to 21-13 in road games, to 16-7 in series openers, to 9-3 in road series openers and to 6-11 all-time against the Cubs.

CHICAGO – The Orioles enjoyed a successful homestand, going 5-1 against Kansas City and Toronto. They swept the Royals and took two of three from Toronto, winning a fifth straight American League East series.

The Orioles lost their first two AL East series of this year, but have now gone 11-4 in winning their last five. They beat Toronto 4-2 Thursday to win the rubber-match game and improve to 43-25.

The Orioles are 5-1 this season versus Toronto by a combined 36-21 score. They are 14-11 against the Blue Jays since the start of the 2022 season.

The Orioles are now 8-4 in June and they are 9-5 in 14 games since Cedric Mullins got injured.

In winning six of their past seven games overall, the Orioles have scored 42 runs, producing hits in double digits five times in that span.

CHICAGO - As the Orioles play the Chicago Cubs today to start a three-game series at Wrigley Field, manager Brandon Hyde expects to see a good number of Orioles fans in the stands.

That was the case last July 12-13 when the O's swept a two-game series at Wrigley.

"We are traveling well," Hyde said pregame in the visitors' dugout. "I'm loving the way our fans are traveling. It's been a lot of fun on the road to see and to hear during the anthem. That's when you notice it the most, honestly, during the anthem. I've been pleasantly surprised. The way they are showing up for us on the road has been awesome."

Hyde provided a brief update on first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who went on the 10-day injured list Tuesday due to vertigo.

"He is starting to feel a little bit better," Hyde said. "But he's still a little bit under the weather."

CHICAGO – The Orioles lost their first two American League East series of the 2023 season with series losses to Boston and the New York. They have not lost a series in the division since then.

Their 4-2 win over Toronto on Thursday afternoon in Baltimore gave the Orioles another rubber match game win, another series win and another AL East series win.

They are now 11-4 in five straight AL East series wins against in order Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto, New York and Toronto. They have at least one series win against every other team in the division during the AL East series win streak.

As the latest Orioles road trip begins this afternoon at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field and the Orioles play the Chicago Cubs, the team will again this weekend call on its depth to help win games.

Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver called it “deep depth” and the 2023 Orioles are showing some of that.

The Orioles (42-25) host the Blue Jays (38-31) today to wrap up a three-game series and a six-game homestand. The homestand began with the Orioles sweeping Kansas City and now they have split the first two games of this series.

Baltimore scored 11 runs each on Sunday and Tuesday, but where held to just six hits - all singles - last night in a 3-1 loss to Toronto. That result ended the Orioles' win streak at five in a row, two short of their season high. They fall to 4-1 this year against Toronto and to 13-11 versus the Blue Jays since the beginning of the 2022 season.

Toronto, which has won nine of 13 of and is 12-6 its past 18 games, is now 18-8 in its past 26 games at Oriole Park.

The Orioles are 6-4 in rubber match games and 3-2 when that game is against an AL East opponent. They have won three in a row within the division with rubber match wins over Boston, Tampa Bay and New York.

In their first four games this season against Toronto, Baltimore batters had produced 31 runs. But last night the Orioles were held without an extra-base hit for the third time this season. That also happened April 8 against the Yankees and June 7 against the Brewers.

O's second baseman Adam Frazier’s career high for home runs is 10. He has eight already in 2023 and at his current pace would finish with 19 or 20. He hit three last year with Seattle in 156 games. Now he has eight in 67 team games of which he has played in 65.

What gives? Why has Frazier hit this many homers already?

“Really just using my body the right way,” he said yesterday in the Baltimore clubhouse. “I have always tried to keep it simple but been a little more handsy in the past. Flicked the ball all over the field. Now I’m (staying) on my backside more and using the big muscles to hit the ball maybe more so than arms and hands. So, that is where I’m at right now using the bigger muscles and the hips are able to work better.”

Frazier averaged one homer every 180 at-bats last year and one every 140 at-bats over the last two years. When he hit a career-high 10 homers in 2018, he hit one every 31.8 at-bats and he hit 10 the following year with one every 55.4 at-bats. Now he is hitting one every 26.5 at-bats.

He said the subtle changes he made were a collaboration of thoughts from the O’s hitting coaches and some of his own.

After scoring 11 runs in back-to-back games, the Orioles now have a five-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents 37-15 in that span. They are now 42-24 for the year and four games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the American League East.

The Rays (48-22, .686) have the best record in the majors and the Orioles are now No. 2. Their .636 win percentage would produce 103 wins over a full year of 162 games.

Their longest win streak of the season is seven in a row from April 16-24. The Orioles are 21-12 at both home and on the road. They are now 16-6 in series-opening games.

The Orioles have gone 4-0 against Toronto this season by a combined 31-15 score, and are 13-10 against them since the start of 2022.

Gunnar Henderson went 3-for-5 in Tuesday’s 11-6 win over Toronto and is now batting .246/.355/.475/.830 with an OPS+ of 130, which is 30 percent above league average.

He was a man of just a few words today upon his return to the Orioles. But 24-year-old infielder Joey Ortiz is a top 100 prospect with loud tools, a lively bat and big arm on the left side of the infield, playing mostly at shortstop.

He was with the Orioles the first time from April 27-30 and went 1-for-3 with three RBIs in his MLB debut April 27 at Detroit. He was back with the club from May 14-26 and returned to the active roster today.

“Just happy to be here and be able to contribute. I feel good. Feel like I’m getting back into a rhythm after being out for a little bit. Getting back into the baseball rhythm,” said Ortiz.

After he was optioned out in late May, he went through an illness and didn’t play for several days on the farm before getting back on the field with Triple-A Norfolk June 8. Since then he is 9-for-25, batting .360 with an OPS of 1.145 for the Tides with two homers and four RBIs, hitting safely in all six games. He homered last night before getting to Baltimore today.

He seems to have knocked off the rust of not playing between May 25 and June 7.

Well he doesn't have a four-hit game yet - that is still to come for Orioles rookie Gunnar Henderson. But he can cross grand slam off the list now.

He connected on his first career slam to center field in the third inning last night as the Orioles rocked Toronto starter Chris Bassitt for eight runs and beat the Blue Jays 11-6. 

The Orioles, now 42-24 and four games behind Tampa Bay which lost at Oakland, are 4-0 this year against Toronto scoring six, six, eight and 11 runs in those games. Since losing their first two AL East series of the year the Orioles have won their past four, now can get a fifth and are 10-3 in their past 13 AL East games.

Toronto (37-31) had won eight of 11 heading into this series. But the Blue Jays are now just 2-14 in their last 16 division games. 

As Henderson has seen his bat heat up in recent weeks, he believes that being more aggressive early in counts has been a plus for him. He is not waiting for the perfect pitch if he gets one he feels he can drive. He also said getting more opposite-field hits is big for him. His huge homer in the recent Milwaukee series was hit down the left-field line.

Coming off a three-game series sweep of Kansas City – their first over the Royals since the 2017 season – the Orioles host the only club they have swept three from on the road tonight. The Toronto Blue Jays are in Baltimore to begin a three-game series.

The Orioles beat Kansas City by a larger score margin each day, winning 3-2 Friday, 6-1 Saturday and 11-3 on Sunday to improve to 41-24. They are 17 games over the .500 mark for the first time since July 26, 2016.

The Orioles have won four in a row by a combined 26-9 score. After going through a stretch where they lost three of four series, they are now 7-4 over the past 11 games.

Toronto (37-30) is in fourth place in the American League East, 10 games behind first place Tampa Bay. The Orioles remain in second place and are five games out. Baltimore’s .631 win percentage is tied with Texas for the second-best in both the AL and MLB.

The Blue Jays went 3-1 against Houston and 1-2 versus Minnesota over the weekend, winning the last game of that series. Toronto has won eight of its past 11 games. And, since getting swept by the Orioles May 19-21 at Rogers Centre by a 20-10 score, Toronto is 12-8.

Orioles rookie Gunnar Henderson got alerted to the news the way likely many of his fans did as well. He saw it on his phone Monday afternoon that he had been named the American League Player of the Week. It was his first such honor and first for the Orioles since Ryan Mountcastle was POW in the AL in June of 2021.

Henderson hit .526/.550/1.053 (10-for-19) during the week with one double, three homers, five runs scored, six RBIs, one walk, and two stolen bases in five games, hitting safely in all of them.

For the period, he led the AL in batting and on-base percentage, ranked second in slugging and OPS (1.063), tied for second in home runs, third in total bases (20), tied for third in hits, and tied for fifth in RBIs.

“Feel like it’s a testament to the hard work,” he said of the honor today during batting practice in the Orioles dugout. “Just everything I had gone through at the beginning of the year. Just trusting the process and put in a lot of hard work and feel like that has been the biggest thing.”

His OPS was just .659 at the end of April and had dipped to .643 by early May. But as he started to make some louder contact and more often drive baseballs, he felt he was headed in the right direction.

None of the trio pitched for a big-time SEC school or were a high draft pick. One reaches the backend of a top 30 O's prospects list. But in an organization without a lot of touted, high-draft pick pitching, they are trying to make their way to Baltimore.

And with the starts that right-handers Alex Pham, Jean Pinto and Ryan Long have gotten off to for High-A Aberdeen (28-28), they might have that chance.

Pham, 23, selected in round 19 in 2021 out of the University of San Francisco, was recently named the Pitcher of the Month for May in the South Atlantic League. He went 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA over five starts allowing just 10 hits in 23 1/3 innings with 12 walks, 34 strikeouts, a .128 average against and 0.94 WHIP for the month.

“Everything has been working for him,” said Aberdeen manager Roberto Mercado of a pitcher with a fastball in the 92, 93 mph range that has touched 95.8 this season. “The velocity is up a little bit. His cutter has been excellent and so has his curveball. He’s really been getting ahead of hitters and letting his stuff play in the zone. Done a tremendous job for us and big props to our pitching coach Austin Meine who has done a great job creating pitching plans for each pitcher and working on goals that each pitcher has here.”

Pham over 11 games and nine starts for the year overall, is 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA that ranks fifth-best in the league. Over 45 1/3 innings he has allowed 28 hits with 23 walks, 67 strikeouts and a 1.13 WHIP. He’s just been solid and in his most recent outing pitched five hitless and scoreless with 11 strikeouts. 

Every year it seems like some of the biggest winning clubs in baseball have players succeed throughout their roster. Not only the roster of 26 players but many more that contribute in a myriad ways over the long season of 162 games.

The Orioles are getting that right now and it was on display in Sunday’s 11-3 victory that completed a three-game sweep of Kansas City by a 20-6 score. The Orioles earlier had three game sweeps at home April 21-23 versus Detroit and May 19-21 at Toronto. This was their first three-game sweep of Kansas City since the 2017 season.

At 41-24, the Orioles are playing .631 ball which translates to 102 wins for a full year. They are 17 games over the .500 mark for the first time since June 26, 2016.

But on a day Gunnar Henderson grabbed some headlines with his long home run in the eighth, Ryan O’Hearn reached base five times for the first time in his career. And he did it versus a Kansas City team he has played 342 games with. O’Hearn went 3-for-3 with two walks, four runs and he hit a changeup with a 107.9 mph exit velocity in the home eighth for his fourth O’s home run.

In 24 games with Baltimore, O’Hearn is batting .328 with a .989 OPS. Among all Orioles this year, that OPS is second on the team to outfielder Aaron Hicks, who is batting .345 with a 1.058 OPS, going 10-for-29 with eight runs and seven walks in 10 games.