The Orioles went 9-5 at Minnesota from 2011-14, but they have lost the first two games of this series. A loss today and they would be swept three straight in Minnesota for the first time since April 2-4, 2007.
The Orioles are still looking for some clutch hits. They went 0-5 with runners in scoring position in the first two innings last night in an 8-3 loss at Target Field.
The O's are 5-for-50 with RISP the last seven games:
* Went 0-for-7 scoring four runs on 7/1 against Texas. * Went...
With a roster that features 14 players from the Orioles' 2015 draft class, short-season Single-A Aberdeen is playing good baseball after a slow start.
The IronBirds started the new season 2-7, but now have won three in a row and seven of nine to get to 9-9 for the season.
Aberdeen manager Luis Pujols - with help from coaches Calvin Pickering and Shawn McGill and pitching coach Justin Lord - is trying to teach the young players how to play the game at the pro level.
For the players coming out...
Maybe we should have known it might not be the Orioles' night when they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the first two innings. If that didn't clue us in, an ugly four-run last of the fourth, which put Minnesota ahead 8-0, surely was convincing.
Kevin Gausman allowed a career-high eight runs while pitching just 3 2/3 innings as Minnesota hammered the Orioles 8-3. It was the shortest outing of Gausman's 28 career major league starts.
The Orioles fall to 43-41 and have lost...
After losing four of five and six of their last eight games, the Orioles look to get back in the win column tonight at Minnesota. The Twins won 4-2 last night on Brian Dozier's walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning. Minnesota is 44-39 and 26-15 at home.
The Orioles have lost their last four games decided by one or two runs and have scored four runs total in their last four losses.
O's starting pitching, though, has been very good lately with an ERA of 1.85 and five quality starts over the...
Sometimes you get the clutch hits and sometimes you don't. Recently for the Orioles, they don't.
They went hitless with runners in scoring position in last night's loss at Minnesota. But heading in to the night, the Orioles topped major league baseball in batting average with RISP:
.306 - Orioles .301 - Toronto and Colorado
But last night, the Orioles went 0-for-8 in RISP situations, and they are 4-for-42 over the last six games. Their four hits all came in one game, Sunday's 9-1 win at the...
It was a high fastball and Minnesota's Brian Dozier didn't miss it. Dozier's two-run blast in the last of the 10th gave Minnesota a 4-2 walk-off win over the Orioles tonight in the opener of a three-game series.
Working his second inning, Tommy Hunter allowed a one-out single to Danny Santana. He fell behind Dozier 2-0, who smoked a 96 mph fastball for his 17th homer to win the game. This was the Orioles' third walk-off loss of the year. The other two were April 18 at Boston and May 23 at...
The Orioles and Twins begin a three-game series tonight in Minnesota; the teams begin the series with identical 43-39 records, and both are in second place.
The Orioles and Twins are tied for the second American League wild card spot right now, one game behind the Angels and one game ahead of the Rays and Blue Jays.
Minnesota, which just split a four-game series against Kansas City, has the best record in its league against American League East opponents at 9-4. The Twins are 5-2 against Boston...
Taking a look at a few notes around the Orioles minor leagues:
* The Orioles' top two farm clubs are in first place with identical 47-34 records. Triple-A Norfolk is leading its division by 1 1/2 games and Double-A Bowie leads its division by 3 1/2 games. Here are notes on those clubs plus a few from Single-A Frederick, Single-A Delmarva, short-season Single-A Aberdeen and the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League.
Norfolk notes: The Tides are now a season-high 13 games over .500 after winning 10 of...
The Orioles are one game past the season's halfway point with a 43-39 record 82 games into the 2015 season. Time to take a look back and pass out some grades on the team.
Some statistics are through Saturday's games.
Starting pitching: C
This is one area that needs to get better over the second half of the season. On their way to 96 wins, the 2014 O's starting rotation had an ERA of 3.61 to rank fifth in the American League. Right now, that number is 4.18 and the Orioles are ninth in AL...
The Orioles got another solid starting pitching outing - and this time, they backed it with some runs. Caleb Joseph drove in three and Jonathan Schoop returned from the disabled list with a homer as the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 9-1.
The Orioles had been held to just six runs over the previous four games.
The White Sox were trying for their first home three-game sweep of the Orioles since May 2003. But the Orioles got the win to improve to 43-39 and move within a game of the...
The Orioles have not been swept in a three-game series on the road by the Chicago White Sox since May 13-15, 2003. From 2011-14, the Orioles went 10-4 at U.S. Cellular Field.
But they lost there this weekend by scores of 1-0 and 3-2, coming up with just nine hits. They went 26 consecutive innings without scoring until Manny Machado's two-run homer in eighth inning yesterday. They have scored in just one of their last 28 innings.
They were four outs away from a third straight shutout when...
The Orioles' inconsistent offense is in another down cycle. The Orioles had not scored - or even had an extra-base hit - in 26 consecutive innings until Manny Machado's two-run home run in the eighth inning on Saturday.
Machado's 50th career homer produced a 2-2 tie, but the O's quickly fell behind and lost 3-2 to Chicago.
So they've lost their last three games by scores of 2-0, 1-0 and 3-2. They've allowed six runs and lost all three games. Over their last four games, O's starters have...
The Orioles scoreless streak came to an end today, but their losing streak did not. Moments after a game-tying homer in the eighth by Manny Machado, Chicago got the lead back in their half of the inning to beat the Orioles 3-2 this afternoon.
The Orioles have lost three in a row and five of six, and reach the season's midpoint at 42-39.
The Orioles went to the top of the eighth down 2-0 and had not scored a run over their last 26 innings since Wednesday night. But Sox starter Jeff Samardzija...
Single-A Delmarva shortstop Jared Breen was hospitalized after he ran into a wall near the stands chasing a foul ball in the first inning Friday night.
Observors say Breen hit the wall very hard on the game's fourth pitch and was down for a long time before he was transported to a Salisbury, Md. hospital, and he has since been moved to Baltimore.
The 24-year-old Breen suffered a fractured right knee cap, broken orbital bone and a concussion in addition to other lesser injuries.
A 24th-round...
Before the 2015 First-Year Player Draft, some scouting reports expressed concerns about the very low batting crouch of Orioles top draft pick DJ Stewart.
Here is an excerpt from Baseball America's scouting report on Stewart:
"He has managed to make his unorthodox stance work in college, but scouts aren't sold that it will work at the next level. He crouches very low at the plate, which can make it tougher for him to unleash his raw power. Many scouts believe that if he just stands up a...
Chicago White Sox left-hander John Danks had a terrible June. But tonight, he got his July off to a good start against an Orioles team that is suddenly struggling on offense.
Danks pitched seven scoreless innings as the Chicago White Sox beat the Orioles 1-0 at U.S. Cellular Field in the opener of a three-game series.
The Orioles have been shut out in back-to-back games, losing both even though their pitchers allowed just three runs. The Orioles have not scored in their last 19 innings. They...
The Orioles begin a six-game road trip to Chicago and Minnesota tonight by facing the White Sox to open a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Orioles went 5-1 against the Sox last year and swept a three-game series in Chicago. The Orioles are 2-1 versus Chicago this year, and have held the White Sox to 19 hits and a .198 batting average in the three games.
The Orioles are 5-0-1 in the last six season series since 2009, going 30-18 in that time.
The Orioles begin play tonight tied for...
Jonanthan Schoop doesn't hit a homer in every rehab game he plays in. It just seems like it.
After homering in three of his last four games while with Double-A Bowie, Schoop played at Single-A Frederick last night. He went 2-for-4 and hit a solo homer over all three levels of billboards in the eighth inning at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium.
"I am always going up there looking for a pitch to drive. If I get it, I hope to put a good swing on it and it can go out of the ballpark," Schoop...
After pitching 6 1/3 scoreless innings tonight against a Texas team that had hit 10 homers the last three nights, O's right-hander Kevin Gausman is - for now at least - staying on the team.
He will fly with the Orioles to Chicago tonight and await word on what the next move for him will be. Will he stay in the rotation? For now, he remains an Oriole and said that is encouraging.
"Yeah, it is. Packed a bag just in case. Didn't know. You know it's all about keeping those (bullpen) guys fresh....
Two starting pitchers dueled to keep the game scoreless into the late innings, and it stayed that way until a leadoff walk hurt the Orioles in the top of the ninth.
Leonys Martin's RBI single in the top of the ninth produced the game's first run and Rougned Odor added a second run-scoring base hit in the frame as Texas beat the Orioles 2-0 at Camden Yards to take three of four in this series.
After he pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, Chaz Roe started the ninth with a walk of...