At Triple-A Norfolk, recently, Stowers' power got some help as he and the Tides had some pretty solid reinforcements. The club added and promoted infield prospects Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg up from Double-A Bowie.

Before he joined the Orioles his for his MLB debut in Toronto, Stowers was in the lineup for five Norfolk games with Henderson and Westburg. Stowers has now returned from Baltimore to rejoin Norfolk after the game on Thursday. But during his time with the big club at Rogers Centre, I asked Stowers about the additions in Norfolk of Henderson and Westburg.

“Man those guys are dynamic players,” he said before Wednesday’s game. “Super talented, great people to be around too and two of my good friends. I really enjoyed having them there and they had it going from the get. Gunnar hit a homer his first at-bat, Westy hit one his first or second game. They both looked really good.”

“There is a lot of talent up here and down in the minor leagues. Everyone is trying to do the best they can and continue to get better and hopefully put themselves in position to help this team compete for the World Series.”

Norfolk may have lost 14-5 to Syracuse last night. But it was not the fault of dynamic duo as they combined for five hits, four runs and two RBIs.

Could it be that the Orioles are catching the Tampa Bay Rays at the right time? We rarely have had even a chance to say that the last few seasons about this Tampa Bay team that has made the playoffs three straight year and has won the American League East the last two seasons. The Rays won 100 games in 2021.

But they come to town after losing 2-1 last night at New York, and they were swept three straight in that series at Yankee Stadium and have lost five of six games on a trip to Minnesota and New York. Now it's on to Baltimore. The Rays lost the first two games to the Yankees by scores of 2-0 and 4-3.

Tampa Bay is 35-28 for the year and has dropped to third place in the AL East, 12 games back of New York, but is just 4-7 over the last 11 games. Since the Rays started the year going 18-10 in early May, they are 17-18. The Rays are 10-9 in AL East games, but have lost seven of their last 10 within the division. The Rays are just 2-4-2 their past eight series and are 2-7 in road series-opening games.

So yeah, maybe it is a good time to play the Rays. We’ll see about that starting tonight.

The Orioles (28-37) got swept in a season-opening series at Tropicana Field. But they won a series against Tampa Bay May 20-22 in Baltimore, winning twice in extra-inning walk-offs. In the first game of that series, the Orioles won 8-6 in the 13^th inning when Rougned Odor hit a two-run homer. In the last game, they won 7-6 in 11 innings on Odor’s fielder’s choice grounder that was misplayed at first base.

TORONTO – Don’t look now but the Orioles may slowly be making some gains on their American League East opponents. Not in the standings yet – as they're still in last place – but they're making gains in head-to-head competition.

Through the season’s first 65 games, the Orioles have already won or tied series with every AL East club – the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays.

The Orioles have won one series against New York, two against Boston and one against Tampa Bay. And Thursday’s 10-2 win at Rogers Centre, once a house of horrors for the Orioles, gave them a four-game split with Toronto.

In fact the Orioles are 9-7 in their last 16 AL East games. They are 13-18 (.419) overall for the year versus the AL East after going 20-56 (.263) last year. The Orioles are 4-9 versus the Yankees, but are 9-9 combined against the rest of division. They are 5-3 against Boston, 2-2 versus Toronto and 2-4 against Tampa Bay. They are 1-3 in series versus New York, but 3-1-1 in their other five AL East series.

Before the game Thursday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde talked about the club’s more competitive play within the division.

TORONTO – In their first matchup against former Oriole right-hander Kevin Gausman today, the O's scored a third-round knockout. Well, a third-inning departure anyway. They treated their 2012 top draft pick (No. 4 overall) rudely today as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-2 to split the four-game series.

The Orioles went 4-4 on this road trip and return home at 28-37 to host the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. This was the first series of three or more games where the O’s won or split versus Toronto since Aug. 1-4, 2019.

The Orioles will head home with some momentum, having won four of the last six games and they are 6-5 over the last 11. They are 14-13 the past 27 games and 9-7 in their past 16 AL East games. They are 7-7 this month.  

Gausman began the outing at 5-5 and his 2.67 ERA ranked ninth-best in the American League. Signed by the Blue Jays in December to a five-year deal worth $110 million, he allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his 12 starts this season. Gausman also recorded seven quality starts.

But it was quality at-bats that did him in during the top of the third inning. They scored six runs on seven hits to open a 7-0 lead at Rogers Centre. The O’s scored six runs in an inning three times at Camden Yards in early May. But they had never done it on the road until today.

TORONTO – The Orioles and Blue Jays have played 22 innings since the seventh inning on Monday night at Rogers Centre and the cumulative score is Orioles 13, Blue Jays 13.

After splitting consecutive one-run decisions, these teams play the fourth and final game of the series this afternoon. On Monday, before the seventh inning, Toronto built a big lead on its way to an 11-1 win. Tuesday night saw Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homer in Baltimore’s 6-5 win. Last night, that same duo combined to drive in three runs in the eighth to forge a 6-6 tie before Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s walk-off hit in the tenth provided Toronto the 7-6 win.

The Orioles (27-37) have now played 64 games with 98 still to play. With a .422 win percentage they are on a pace for a final record of 68-94.

Even with Wednesday’s loss, the Orioles have won three of their past five games and are 5-5 over the last 10 and 13-13 in the past 26 games. They are 12-22 in road games, but 3-4 on this trip.

The O’s continue to mash home runs. Adley Rutschman’s first major league homer was a two-run shot in the fourth last night that went 411 feet to right-center off Toronto starter José Berríos. Ryan Mountcastle homered twice – a solo shot in the seventh that cut the O’s deficit to 6-3 and a game-tying, two-run homer to center in the eighth. Mountcastle’s 11^th and 12^th homers of the year traveled 424 and 413 feet, respectively, and gave him the team lead by one over Anthony Santander, who is on the restricted list for this series.

TORONTO – Bruce Zimmermann was one of the Orioles best rotation pitchers through mid-May with a 2.72 ERA. But when his ERA when up to 9.79 over his last six starts, the Orioles felt they need to make a change.

And today the local Baltimore pitcher was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk and right-hander Mike Baumann was added to the Orioles roster for the series finale with Toronto.

Zimmermann allowed three long homers and six runs on 11 hits in 4 2/3 in last night’s loss in 10 innings at Rogers Centre. His changeup looked solid early in the outing but that didn’t hold up and he has now allowed 33 earned runs over 30 2/3 innings and 15 homers in his last six games since May 19. Opponents have an OPS against him of 1.176 in that span.

“Zimm’s had a handful of tough starts and we just feel like he needs to go down, kind of do a reset a little bit,” manager Brandon Hyde said today about the move. “Work on some things mechanically, work on some things from a command standpoint with some of his pitches. He got off to a really good start this year. It just hasn’t translated to some of these last starts. The best thing for him is to go down and kind of pitch in some lower pressure situations facing Triple-A lineups and hopefully we see him back here soon.

“He’s getting hurt on a lot of offspeed pitches that are catching too much plate in the thigh area where he is giving up homers. For me he’s got to be able to command his fastball a little bit better, especially with these right-handed dominanted lineups. … Be able to pitch both sides of the plate with his fastball and get the depth back with his changeup. That is something he is going to be working on.”

TORONTO – It was the night when Adley Rutschman hit his first career homer and Ryan Mountcastle hit two longballs. The Orioles rallied from five runs down to tie the game. It was set up to be a huge comeback win. But the Orioles instead absorbed a 7-6 walk-off loss at Toronto.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continued to torment O’s pitching with a 116 mph single into left field in the 10th inning to end the game. It was his fourth hit of the night, his first career walk-off RBI and third career four-hit game.

Some notes and quotes on the third game of this series, which Toronto now leads 2-1.

He got to wear the chain: Starting to swing the bat better and with a 5-for-18 mark over his last five games with three doubles coming into the night, Rutschman went deep for the first time in the majors.

Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos gave up just one hit over the first six innings, and it was Rutschman’s drive to right-center in the fourth that went the distance. It was a two-run shot that cut the O’s deficit to 5-2. Rutschman would later double for his fourth multi-hit game of the year and his second game with two extra-base hits.

TORONTO – There were potentially some positive signs early on tonight for O's struggling lefty Bruce Zimmermann, who had an ERA of 9.47 his last five starts when he took the mound tonight at Rogers Centre.

Through the first two innings, while he was behind 1-0, Blue Jays batters had swung and whiffed on four of seven changeups – a bread and butter pitch for Zimmermann. A slider strikeout of George Springer ended the second. Maybe his secondary pitches would be there for him tonight.

It turned out they were not.

While Zimmermann struggled again, the Orioles offense came to life late as they rallied to tie the Blue Jays. But Toronto produced a walk-off win 7-6 in the last of the 10th on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s RBI single to left. It scored placed runner Bo Bichette as Toronto won on Guerrero's fourth hit of the night. He hit a 100 mph fastball from Felix Bautista and sent it into left field at 116 mph and the game was over.

The O's stranded the potential go-ahead run on third with one out in their half of the tenth. And on a night they came from 5-0 down after three innings and 6-2 behind after six and rallied to tie it, they still came up short. By one run as they suffered their second walkoff loss of the season.

TORONTO – As a team trying to build some momentum, the Orioles have won three of four after taking last night’s game 6-5 at Rogers Centre. Right-hander Jorge López recorded a five-out save as the Orioles improved to 27-36 for the year, 3-3 on this road trip and 8-10 in one-run games.

The Orioles are now 12-17 versus AL East teams, but are 8-6 in their last 14 division games. For the year they are 4-9 against the Yankees, 5-3 versus the Red Sox, 1-1 against the Blue Jays and 2-4 versus the Rays.

The Orioles are improving within the division after playing .263 ball (20-56) in 76 AL East games a year ago. This season the Orioles would finish 31-45 in division games at their current win percentage.

The Orioles hit two homers in Tuesday’s win with Ryan Mountcastle’s 396-foot shot to right field providing a 2-0 lead in the third on his 10^th of the year. Later, Austin Hays led off the fifth inning hitting his eighth of the season to give the O's a 4-3 lead.

For his career, Mountcastle is batting .340/.397/.660 for a 1.057 OPS with 10 homers and 18 RBIs in 27 games against Toronto. Mountcastle’s 10 home runs versus the Jays are his most against any MLB club.

TORONTO – The Orioles are pretty excited about both the present and future for some of their young hitters like Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays. But now, in addition to giving the team quality production, they are coming up with big hits at big times.

Last night's 6-5 win at Toronto was the latest example. Mountcastle got them started with a two-run shot to right field in the third inning for a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, after the Orioles had been tied 3-3 and saw a two-run lead disappear, Hays hit a leadoff homer for the 4-3 edge.

“They are just starting to pile up major league at-bats,” manager Brandon Hyde said today discussing the pair after they combined for four hits, three runs and three RBIs on Tuesday night. “Kind of like these guys over here (with Toronto). They’ve got some special, special young players that are now in their third, fourth, fifth years and the improvement that they’ve shown is remarkable. They have some superstar-type players.

“Our guys over here, like Hays, (Cedric) Mullins, Mountcastle, now that they are in their third, fourth, fifth years you are seeing improvement every year with the at-bats that they take that are really good. Mountcastle hit that ball to right-center, that ball is down and he hits it 400 plus feet. Haysie takes a sinker and hits it out to center field. Both of them have elite bat speed and power to all fields. That doesn’t come around all the time.”

Hyde said Mountcastle is rounding into form with his bat after a three extra-base hit night. Over his past 14 games he’s batting .296 with an OPS of 1.054 and 12 of his 16 hits have gone for extra bases with seven doubles and five homers.

TORONTO – After the Orioles had secured a 6-5 win over Toronto last night, manager Brandon Hyde had several players and their contributions he could cite.

There was Jorge López and a five-out save against that lineup. There was Jordan Lyles providing some zeroes and making progress after a tough stretch. There were big homers by Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays. There was an entire team that played without Trey Mancini and had lost by 10 a night earlier, but still beat a good Toronto team that has been playing very well.

And there was shortstop Jorge Mateo making an outstanding, charging barehanded defensive gem of a play to get a key out to start the last of the ninth.

“The play that Mateo made, which potentially was game-changing, was just an unbelievable barehand play with a fast runner," Hyde said. "We played really good defense tonight.

“Just shows you his athleticism. I mean the closing speed to get to the ball and then to be able to bare hand that and get rid of it the way he did with something on it from that angle and get (Bo) Bichette there is really tough. That was an enormous play in the game.”

TORONTO – He may not have put up stats as he did earlier in the year, but right-hander Jordan Lyles got his team off to a good pitching start tonight. And then his offense scored in four straight at-bats to back him. Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homered as the Orioles beat Toronto 6-5 to even this four-game series at a victory for each club.

The Orioles (27-36) improved to 3-3 on this road trip and to 6-5 in their last 11 road games. They are 12-17 on the year versus American League East clubs, but are 8-6 in their past 14 division games.

Lyles allowed four runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA. He has an ERA of 5.08 in eight starts within the division this season.

Jorge López got the last five outs and did some big-time heavy lifting again. It was his fourth save of the year of more than one inning. He got Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández in order in the last of the ninth. 

The Orioles broke the early scoreless tie when Mountcastle went opposite field with his 10^th homer of the year in the Baltimore third. That provided a 2-0 lead, scoring Richie Martin, who had walked. Mountcastle hit a 1-0 fastball 396 feet with an exit velocity of 106. And Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who had given up seven runs over 5 1/3 his past two starts, was behind in the third tonight.

TORONTO – After a blowout loss on Monday night, the Orioles look to even their series against the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at Rogers Centre. It’s the second of a four-game series.

Toronto (36-24) outhit the Orioles 19-5 in the series opener and bashed six extra-base hits in the win. The Blue Jays went 14-5 against Baltimore in 2021, including an 8-2 mark at home, and last night was the first meeting this season between the clubs. Toronto has beaten the Orioles seven straight games dating to last year.

The Orioles' up-and-down nature shows an 8-1 loss on Friday at Kansas City and an 11-1 loss last night. But they won back-to-back games versus the Royals in between those defeats, scoring 16 runs.

Toronto right-hander Alek Manoah, the American League ERA leader, shut out Baltimore on one hit through six innings. But in the seventh, against reliever Julian Merryweather, Adley Rutschman produced an infield hit with one out and then scored on Kyle Stowers’ double to left-center, which was his first major league hit and RBI. Stowers went 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch in the last inning.

The Orioles (26-36) are 4-4 over the last eight games and 12-12 over their past 24. They are 11-21 on the road, but 5-6 over the last 11 and 2-3 on this eight-game trip. The Orioles went 7-14 in April and 14-16 in May, and are 5-6 this month.

TORONTO - The Orioles lineup tonight is missing Trey Mancini. He was hit in the right hand by a pitch last night and had his hand wrapped today in the clubhouse earlier. X-rays showed there is no fracture and Mancini is hopeful that he may only have to miss a day or two, or a few at most.

“Trey’s hand is pretty swollen today,” manager Brandon Hyde said during his pregame media briefing. “It’s going to be a few days. We don’t think it’s going to be an IL stint. We got lucky with no fractures last night. But hopefully it’s going to (only) be a few days.”

Any time without Mancini will be challenging for an Orioles team trying to match up on offense with this Toronto club. Mancini is 0-for-5 the last two games but his .797 OPS for the year is 30 percent above league average. And since May 1, he is batting .326/.424/.482/.907 in 38 games.

Kyle Stowers will join Mancini on the bench as tonight’s game starts. With lefty Yusei Kikuchi (2-2, 4.44 ERA) starting for Toronto, Ryan McKenna is in left field tonight, with Cedric Mullins in center and Austin Hays in right. Ryan Mountcastle starts at first base and Adley Rutschman is the DH.

Stowers, the Orioles' No. 8 ranked prospect, per MLBPipeline.com, made his major league debut last night, going 1-for-3 with a seventh-inning RBI double.

TORONTO – During the long grind of a 162-game season where even after they feel they're making some progress and starting to play overall better baseball, building day-to-day momentum has been a real challenge for these 2022 Orioles.

They have one three-game win streak this year, and given a chance for a second one last night, they got hammered 11-1 by Toronto. It matches their biggest losing margin all year – 10 runs for the third time.

The up-and-down Orioles were held to 10 runs in three games versus Cleveland and then scored nine against the Cubs. They produced just six runs in two losses at Kansas City before scoring 16 and winning twice. Then the Toronto series started with a dud. 

And rookie right-hander Kyle Bradish, a young pitcher trying to find his way and make improvements in the rugged American League East, had another subpar night, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings – his third straight outing where he failed to pitch five innings. He threw 90 pitches but his ERA increased from 6.45 to 6.86.

Bradish felt he was making some progress the second time through the Toronto lineup. Maybe it’s something to build on, but he was still missing a key pitch again.

TORONTO – In winning the last two games of their series in Kansas City, the Orioles scored 16 runs on 25 hits and hit four homers. The sledding was much tougher tonight in their first meeting of the year with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto sent right-hander Alek Manoah to the mound, a pitcher who had allowed just 14 earned runs in 69 2/3 innings this year and had thrown 10 quality starts in his first 11 outings of the season.

He would not need a lot of runs tonight, but the Blue Jays got him a lot anyway.

They scored seven times in the last of the fifth to knock O’s starter Kyle Bradish from the game, and they routed the Orioles 11-1 at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles had been 7-5 in their last 12 games against American League East opponents, but now they have lost seven in a row versus Toronto dating to last season as they fall to 26-36 for the year and to 2-3 on this road trip.

TORONTO – After building some momentum with back-to-back wins at Kansas City in a four-game series split, the Orioles' road trip has now arrived in Toronto. The Blue Jays host the Orioles tonight to start a four-game series in the first meeting this year between the clubs.

The Orioles (26-35) lost the first two games in Kansas City before posting 6-4 and 10-7 wins on Saturday and Sunday. They scored 16 runs on 25 hits in those games with four doubles, two triples and four homers. They went 8-for-25 with runners in scoring position in those games.

The Orioles are 11-20 on the road for the season and 2-2 on this trip. But they are 5-4 in the last nine road games.

Their offense has now scored 31 runs the last five games, 124 in the past 23 and 222 runs in their last 49 games. They have hit 14 homers the last seven games and 21 in their past 12 games.

Toronto (35-24) beat Detroit 6-0 Sunday to take two of three in that series as right-hander Ross Stripling pitched six scoreless innings and three relievers completed the two-hit shutout. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer, his 14^th. The Blue Jays have won four of six and 13 of their past 17 games. They are 17-7 since May 15.

ABERDEEN, Md. - High Single-A Aberdeen pitcher Carlos Tavera was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month for May, a period where he allowed just one run over four starts. But when I interviewed him recently, it was the outing after that month was over that was gnawing at him and bothering him big time. He was a ticked off pitcher and one that was not dealing well with giving up seven runs in 2 1/3 innings on June 1 versus Hudson Valley.

And when he was back on the mound last Wednesday at Brooklyn, he took it out on that night’s opponent. Tavera got back on the horse in a big way, throwing six scoreless on one hit with two walks and eight strikeouts.

That lingering bad taste was washed away in his latest night of strong pitching.

During our interview I asked Tavera why he was so dominant in May, allowing the one run on just six hits over 18 1/3 innings? He fanned 26 and walked just five with an 0.60 WHIP. But his thoughts then were more on that start that would follow those others.

“It was good, unfortunately that roll ended my last outing,” he said at Ripken Stadium. “I felt like I was in a good spot and how my pitches were. Had everything working and was really getting ahead and going after guys. It was a nice month. But I had a bad taste after this last outing and plan on getting rolling again here. When something like that happens, I’m not happy for quite a few days.”

The Orioles have a chance to split their four-game series at Kansas City with a win today at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won the first two games of the series before the O’s picked up the 6-4 victory Saturday as Adley Rutschman produced his first career three-hit game and Tyler Nevin hit a go-ahead, three-run homer.

Rutschman hit three balls at 100 mph or more in going 3-for-4 with two doubles. And he is 4-for-7 with three doubles the past two games. Rutschman had a pair of two-hit games, but none of three hits until Saturday. He had gone 2-for-24 his previous seven games.

Right-hander Tyler Wells produced a quality start for the Orioles, allowing five hits and three runs over six innings. He is now 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA after his 84-pitch outing. The O’s bullpen allowed one run over the final three innings, and Jorge López closed it out to record his eighth save.

The Baltimore bullpen has allowed just two earned runs in 9 1/3 innings this series. On the year, the Baltimore bullpen ERA of 3.07 ranks sixth in the majors, behind only Houston (2.65), Detroit (2.80), the New York Yankees (2.89), Cleveland (2.93) and Atlanta (3.06).

Wells produced his third career quality start and the Orioles' 12th of this year. They are 8-4 when getting one in 2022.

He is still looking for his first big league homer and RBI. But Adley Rutschman now has his first three-hit game, and it came during Saturday’s 6-4 win over Kansas City. It helped to give the Orioles a much-needed victory and a chance to split the four-game series with a win this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

Rutschman began the game batting .153/.231/.220/.451. Despite that, the Orioles were simply not worried yet about baseball’s top-rated prospect. They knew how common it has always been for big-name prospects to struggle at the outset of their big league careers. Some O’s fans can remember how Earl Weaver once stuck with Cal Ripken Jr. when he was batting .117 in early May of 1982. Ripken ended that year as the American League Rookie of the Year and ended the next catching the final out of a World Series win.

But more than that, the Orioles knew the player and his makeup. It is off-the-charts good, always has been, and they simply knew Rutschman could handle some struggles. It would not beat him or overwhelm him. When Rutschman smoked a double at 100 mph in the eighth inning on Friday night, maybe that well-struck ball would be a turning point for him, some in the clubhouse and dugout might have thought.

That could prove to be exactly right.

On Saturday, Rutschman lined out in the second inning, and that ball was struck at 106.2 mph. His double in the fourth was hit at 95.3 mph, a sixth-inning single at 110.0 and a double in the eighth at 108.0. Not a bloop or flare among them.