Most teams are losing series against the Orioles these days except for Atlanta, but everyone else they've played since April 10. Over a month into the season, the Orioles have won nine of their last 10 series after their latest win last night. 

They blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 for the team’s fourth shutout of 2023. Tyler Wells gave up just one hit – a second-inning single – in seven scoreless on 96 pitches. He improved to 3-1 with a 2.68 ERA and Pirates batters went 1-for-22 against him. Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista – the twin towers – finished off the shutout.

At 26-13, the Orioles are 13 games over .500 for the first time since the last day of the 2016 season. They also moved within three games of first-place Tampa Bay, the closest to the top spot in the American League East they have been since April 7.

Wells provided the staff its third game this year of seven innings and the 11^th quality start. When the O’s get one, they are 10-1. Today they go for their third series sweep of the year after winning two of two games at Washington and three of three at home versus Detroit.

The team ERA is 4.07, which ranks ninth-best in the AL, but the staff is surely trending up.

On a night when they twice trailed by a run and didn't score over their first five innings, the Orioles used late offense to beat Pittsburgh 6-3 last night. Tonight they look for a second straight win over the Pirates, which would provide them with yet another series win.

The Orioles (25-13) sit at 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay and could pull to within three games of the Rays with a win tonight. Tampa Bay let a 6-0 lead get away at New York today and lost 9-8 to the Yankees to fall to 30-11.

The Orioles have not been as close as three games to first place since April 7.

Center fielder Cedric Mullins provided the headlines on Friday night, producing the seventh cycle in Baltimore Orioles history. He singled in the third, tripled in the fifth, hit a double in the seventh and provided a huge three-run homer in the last of the eighth. That turned a 3-2 lead into a more comfortable 6-2 advantage and, ultimately, a three-run win.

Mullins joins Austin Hays (6/22/22 vs. WSH), Jonathan Villar (8/5/19 vs. NYY), Félix Pié (8/14/09 vs. LAA), Aubrey Huff (6/29/07 vs. LAA), Cal Ripken Jr. (5/6/84 at TEX), and Brooks Robinson (7/15/60 at CWS) as Orioles to hit for the cycle.

His stay here this time could be potentially very short and he is not on the active roster, but infielder Joey Ortiz, one of the Orioles' top 100 prospects, is in the clubhouse today. He is on the taxi squad for tonight’s game with Pittsburgh.

Acting manager Fredi González - working as skipper of the Orioles tonight while Brandon Hyde attends the graduation of his daughter Aria from Syracuse University - explained the situation.

González said reserve outfielder Ryan McKenna is dealing with a back issue. The Orioles are hoping he will not need to go on in the injured list, but if that changes, and with a day game on Sunday, Ortiz is here just in case. It's essentially a 24-hour taxi squad role while the O's gather more info on McKenna.

Earlier today, Ortiz said it’s a thrill to be back in the O’s clubhouse in any role.

“Yeah, it’s great," he said. "Everyone is playing well. They’re winning, and it’s definitely something I want to be part of.”

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.

In going 3-3 in the last two series against the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles won their series-opening game at Atlanta, but lost that series. They lost their series-opening game at home versus Tampa Bay, but won the last two games to take that series.

Baltimore enters a weekend series with Pittsburgh at 24-13 and playing .649 baseball. It is a pace that over a full season would produce 105 wins.

The Orioles are 2-1 this homestand, and over longer stretches have won 16 of 22, 18 of 25 and 20 of their past 28 games. With Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Tampa Bay they improved to 6-6 in games versus American League East teams and to 2-2 in four AL East series. The Orioles are 9-3 in series for the year, winning eight of their past nine. Their 24-13 record is third-best in the major leagues.

They are 11-1 in series-opening games and play one tonight to begin a three-game set with the Pirates, who are 8-4 in such games.

The Orioles are 11-5 at home and are 8-2 in their past 10 home games. They lost their first home series of the year against the New York Yankees, but have since won four in a row over Oakland, Detroit, Boston and Tampa Bay.

Lefty reliever Nick Vespi spent time on the Norfolk-Baltimore shuttle last year and makes his first trip to Baltimore this year for the Pittsburgh series that begins tonight. He was recalled from Triple-A today and takes the roster spot of lefty Drew Rom, sent back to the Tides.

Vespi’s chances to make the Orioles out of spring training were hindered when he had hernia surgery in early January. It would limit him to three games and three innings in spring training, where he didn’t get into his first game until March 13. But with a 1-0 record and 2.84 ERA in 12 Triple-A games, and with four scoreless appearances his last four games, he’s back in the bigs today.

“Feel good. Felt strong,” he said today of his time with Norfolk. “Coming off the injury and everything, feel back to normal now. Super excited and hopefully I can keep doing what they’ve been doing (out of the bullpen).

“It took a couple of times out on the mound to feel back to normal, but just got my feet wet, started pitching again and feel great,” said Vespi, who has walked five and fanned 17 this year with Norfolk.

He leaves a team with a 26-9 record in the minors to join one that is 24-13 in the majors.

When the Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday night 2-1 in a series-deciding game, righty reliever Yennier Cano was remarkable again. He got a drama-free save, getting three quick outs in the ninth on just eight pitches. He sure earned a save.

But sometimes an unofficial save can come before the ninth inning, and for me, Wednesday was one of those nights.

Lefty reliever Danny Coulombe, who had given up some runs in the Kansas City and Atlanta series, came on in the top of the eighth, just after Tampa Bay had cut a 2-0 deficit to 2-1. Coulombe got two huge, huge outs to keep the O’s ahead and set up Cano to do his thing in the ninth.

Coulombe, acquired by the club in late March from Minnesota for cash considerations, has done a real nice job this year for the Orioles. And he's doing that throwing his fastball, which averages only 91.3 mph, just 13 percent of the time.

He told me earlier this year how he is very confident in his ability to “spin” the ball, meaning that he can throw quality breaking pitches. And he sure can. Per Statcast, he uses his slider 54 percent of the time and his sweeper 17 percent. That's a very high percentage of breaking balls for Coulombe, who is 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 16 games over 12 2/3 innings. He has walked three and fanned 18 with a 1.03 WHIP to go with a .208 batting average against and .575 OPS.

The best news was, yes, the Orioles won a series against a Tampa Bay Rays team that brought a record of 28-7 (.800) into Baltimore on Monday night. The next best news was how they did it: with stunning pitching.

When the O’s began a series in Atlanta Friday, their rotation ERA was 5.65 for the season. But in the six games versus Atlanta and Tampa Bay, the rotation ERA was 2.41, and five times O’s starters allowed two earned runs or fewer.

Right-hander Dean Kremer pitched the first game of the Atlanta series and the last game of the Tampa Bay series and the O’s picked up huge wins in both games. His ERA was 6.67 when he took the mound at Truist Park. It is now 4.97 after he threw six scoreless innings, allowing just four singles in the 2-1 win over the Rays last night.

Just about at the time that some were speculating that his hold on a rotation spot could be shaky, he stepped up with two outstanding performances. He allowed a run in the first inning at Atlanta. Then he put up five scoreless innings after that. And tacked on six more last night.

“Two of the better offensive teams, and right at the right time," manager Brandon Hyde said after last night’s win. "We talked about how well he pitched in Atlanta, and then tonight, even better. He's figuring it out a little bit and learning how to pitch. Got a double play ball when he needed it, used the sinker effectively, he can step on a four-seamer from 96-97 and he does that well. He's got other pitches, as well. That's a tough lineup to navigate through and he did an outstanding job.”

The Orioles (23-13) tonight have a chance for another series victory – it would be their eighth series win in the last nine tries – and a chance to become just the third team in 2023 to take a series from the Tampa Bay Rays (29-8).

The Rays are 9-2 in 11 series for the season, going 1-2 to lose series against both Toronto and Houston. They have won their past three series against the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh and the New York Yankees. Tampa Bay is 10-5 on the road and 8-4 versus AL East teams.

The Rays record is now 23-2 in games where they score first after they took a 1-0 lead in the first inning last night but lost 4-2 at Oriole Park.

The Rays began the year 13-0 and are 16-8 since then and they are now 12-6 versus teams with a better than .500 record.

The Orioles can almost match the Rays with an 8-3 series record and they are 3-3 in rubber match games, losing their most recent one at Atlanta on Sunday.  The Orioles have series losses against the Red Sox, Yankees and Braves.

Shortstop Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick by the Orioles in the 2022 MLB Draft, is not even a year removed from draft day yet and his goal for the 2023 season is looking very reachable.

And that is to end the year playing for Double-A Bowie.

The 19-year-old lefty swinger, who moved up to No. 7 in a new Baseball America top 100 list this week, continues to be a star on the rise – both for the Orioles and among national prospects analysts who love his skills, talent and maturity.

It was on display in major league spring training when the kid fit in so well with much older players and then took the field and went 6-for-14 hitting .429 in spring games. He handled himself like a 10-year vet.

Then he began this season with Low Single-A Delmarva, batting .392 with an OPS of 1.190 in 13 games. That led to a quick promotion to High-A Aberdeen where he played his 11^th game for the IronBirds last night, but his first game at home.

As the Orioles continue a stretch of games against some of MLB’s best teams tonight, hosting Tampa Bay in game two of a three-game series, they look for continued strong starting pitching.

O’s starting pitchers have an ERA of 5.31 for the year, ranking 11^th in the American League. And their eight quality starts also ranks 11^th in the AL, well behind the league leaders Toronto (18) and Seattle (17). 

But since facing Atlanta in a series that began on Friday night, O’s starters have pitched to an ERA of 2.86 over the last four games, allowing two earned runs or less in three of four games and throwing two of their eight quality starts. And most of that was against Atlanta, which has a team OPS of .804 – second in the majors only to Tampa Bay at .865. 

But the O’s starters have stepped up in this stretch, even as the Baltimore offense has scored just six runs in the last three games while going 2-for-29 with runners in scoring position. The O’s have been outscored 11-6 during the three-game losing streak.

Now 22-13 on the year, the Orioles remain in second place in the AL East, but are 6.5 games back of Tampa Bay, which sits at 29-7. Toronto is in third place, 7.5 out, with Boston 8.0 back and New York 10.0 games out. The Rays have been so good that the other four AL East teams are all closer to the cellar than to first place at this point.

We are going to need to see much more over the next few weeks of this grueling stretch for the Orioles in their May schedule. Much more to know how they truly stack up against good teams.

We do know that since scoring nine runs on Friday night – and seven came in one inning – they have scored just six runs in the last three games and the Orioles have their first three-game losing streak of 2023.

For the first time they lost a series opener, and they are now 11-1 in those games.

But they have played the two best teams via win-loss record currently in MLB to get the three losses. Keep in mind they have seen four pretty good starters here. The worst ERA from a starter they have seen since Friday is the 2.57 from Spencer Strider of Atlanta on Saturday night. That was the worst from four pitchers that entered their game against the Orioles with a combined record of 15-0.

Shane McClanahan finished sixth in the AL Cy Young vote last year, seventh for the 2021 ROY and looked like it last night. The Rays are now 8-0 in his starts this year. And, after allowing four hits in six scoreless last night, he is now 7-0 with a 1.76 ERA.

After a 10-game road trip to Detroit, Kansas City and Atlanta where the Orioles went 6-4, the club returns home tonight to take on American League East leading Tampa Bay. The Rays (28-7) have the best record in the majors, playing .800 ball and lead the Orioles by 5.5 games atop the division.

The Orioles (22-12), after losing two of three in Atlanta, have a .647 win percentage that would have them in first place in four of the other five divisions in MLB. Tonight they open a 10-game homestand with three against Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh followed by a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels.

The Orioles have played 62 percent of their games so far on the road, going 9-4 at home and 13-8 away from Oriole Park. The Orioles are 3-1 in home series, losing one to the Yankees and winning the others versus Oakland, Detroit and Boston. The Orioles are 6-1 in their last seven games at Camden Yards.

The best overall records in MLB right now:

.800 – Tampa Bay (28-7)

For the Orioles, I guess we could say they didn’t gain as many wins as they hoped, but they did gain respect. Respect in that they may in fact be a contending team that is ready to play with the big boys in big league baseball.

We can’t say that with certainty after just those three games in Atlanta but in five series this year versus clubs with current winning records they are 2-3 and a dropped fly ball from being 3-2. They are 7-8 in those games against Boston, New York, Texas and Atlanta.

But maybe the hard-fought series between the teams over the weekend at Truist Park does kind of validate the Orioles' 15-4 mark this year against their other opponents in Oakland, Chicago, Washington, Detroit and Kansas City. They took care of business big time against the second division clubs, perhaps hammering home the point that they are no longer one of them.

The Orioles lost two of three games in Atlanta, but it was probably as positive a weekend as it could be for a club going 1-2. The last two days they went 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position, which led to the 5-4 and 3-2 losses. They didn’t need an avalanche of clutch hits to pull out one or more of those games – just a couple would do – but they didn’t come.

In the last week such hits were the difference for the Orioles in scoring big or not. In producing games with 11 and 13 runs in Kansas City and nine in Atlanta on Friday, they were a combined 18-for-45 (.400) with RISP. But in scoring zero, four and two runs the other three games in those series they were a combined 2-for-25 (.080) with RISP.

What has been a winning road trip will come to an end this afternoon when the Orioles (22-11) play at Atlanta (23-11) to wrap up this three-game series. 

The Orioles won 9-4 Friday night but lost 5-4 last night at Truist Park to fall to 7-3 in one-run games, 13-7 in road games and 3-1 in games versus National League teams.

The Orioles started the road trip going 3-1 at Detroit and then went 2-1 at Kansas City and are now 1-1 this weekend for a 6-3 mark on the 10-game trip.

Even with Saturday's loss, the Orioles have been winners in 14 of their last 18 games, 16 of their last 21, and 18 of their last 24. That .783 winning percentage (18-5) since April 10 heading into last night was the best in the big leagues over that stretch.

The Orioles have not lost successive games since April 8-9 at home against the New York Yankees, which was the last time they lost a series.

The Orioles offense, while the team has gone 1-1 this weekend in Atlanta, has proven to be a real challenge for one of the best starting rotations in baseball.

Lefty Max Fried took the mound Friday night with a 2-0 record and 0.45 ERA, allowing one run in 20 innings for the season. Right-hander Spencer Strider faced the Orioles last night, entering at 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA.

The Orioles pinned a loss on Fried Friday night but could not quite do it with Strider in last night’s 5-4 loss, a game that turned in Atlanta’s favor on Kevin Pillar’s two-run, pinch-hit homer off Danny Coulombe in the last of the eighth. Pillar, who has a career .704 OPS, is a career .321 hitter with an OPS of .867 against the Orioles. His homer in Saturday's game was his 15^th in 92 games against the club.

But earlier, even while they fanned 10 times against Strider, one of the best strikeout pitchers in the game, the Orioles battled him pretty hard. He was at 95 pitches and out of the game after five innings.

In two games this weekend, Fried and Strider have a combined 5.73 ERA versus the Orioles.

The Orioles can win their 23^rd game, their 14^th road game and extend their win streak in series to eight if they beat the Atlanta Braves tonight in game two of this series at Truist Park.

Anthony Santander’s 11^th multi-homer game last night included his first grand slam in a 9-4 win. When the Orioles scored seven runs in the seventh inning, they opened a 9-1 lead. And while Atlanta got closer, the O's would not lose the lead and need to pull it out late as they had the previous day in Kansas City.

Here are the best 32-game starts in Orioles history:

.719 – 23-9 in 1970

.688 – 22-10 in 2023, 2017 and 1997

Friday was, to say the least, an impressive night for the Orioles.

They hit well, pitched well and defended well against an Atlanta team that won the World Series in 2021, won 101 games in 2022 and has won five straight National League East titles.

Atlanta sent out pitcher Max Fried and his 0.45 ERA, and the Orioles had him and the Braves down 9-1 in the seventh. They have scored 34 runs the last four games and that includes one game where they were shutout. They are 6-2 on this road trip, and 13-6 in road games after Friday's resounding 9-4 win.

What a way to start a 22-game stretch against clubs with winning records. And what a way to start a nine-game stretch versus first place teams in Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

Anthony Santander hitting two homers, including a grand slam, and Cedric Mullins hitting a big left-on-left homer were huge moments. But for me, seeing right-hander Dean Kremer pitch so well was the biggest development.

The Orioles schedule gets much tougher beginning tonight and, after a strong 21-10 start, we will get a good look at how they do against some top teams that are straight ahead on that schedule.

In April and counting the three games at Kansas City, the Orioles played 19 of 31 games versus clubs with current losing records. They played 12 games against winning record clubs, going 6-6 against Texas, Boston and the New York Yankees.

But the Orioles’ next three series will all be against first-place clubs and clubs that join Baltimore with the four current best records in MLB.

.813 – Tampa Bay
.688 – Atlanta
.677 – Orioles
.625 – Pittsburgh

The Orioles are keeping good company in this group but now their next nine games are against Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The play four after that with the second-place Los Angeles Angels, a club that is currently only one game out of first place. After that series, they play nine in a row against Toronto, the Yankees and Texas.

KANSAS CITY – As the Orioles road trip moves on to Atlanta tonight, it’s going to be a special weekend for 21-year-old rookie Gunnar Henderson. He is very proud of his hometown of Selma, Ala. and the feeling is very, very mutual.

And that small town, where Henderson was raised and grew to love the game of baseball playing on a field his dad built at their house, is going to show out big time this weekend to watch the hometown kid that made good.

A town of 17,971 according to the 2020 U.S. census, many from Selma will be at Atlanta's Truist Park for the games. They’ll drive over three hours and just over 200 miles to see the kid they've known for years.

The hometown kid who grew up to become the No. 1 ranked prospect in all of baseball. That hometown kid.

Of course his family will be there, supportive as always. His dad Allen, mom Kerry, older brother Jackson who is 24 and younger brother Cade, a lifelong O’s fan who is about to turn 16.