Heading into the All-Star break, right-hander Tyler Wells was an O’s pitcher on a roll. His ERA for the year was 3.18 and it was 2.83 in his most recent eight starts. He had pitched 18 times for the Orioles, going five innings or more every time and going six or more 10 times.

But he has been a different pitcher coming out of the break with three outings now and none over 4 1/3 innings.

He had another poor one tonight as the New York Yankees took an early lead and later added on to beat the Orioles 8-3. The crowd was 42,829 and the second sellout of the year in addition to the April 7 home opener.

The best news of the night for the Birds was Tampa Bay's 17-4 loss at Houston. That means the O's AL East lead remains 1.5 games. 

The second batter of the game against Wells tonight, Aaron Judge bashed a fly ball deep to center field. He hit that ball 108.2 mph and it went 367 feet but it stayed in the park. But three pitches later Giancarlo Stanton lined one to left that didn’t stay in the yard and it didn’t get much better after that for the right-hander.

After recording their fifth walk-off win of the year last night and their second 1-0 victory of the 2023 season, the Orioles (63-40) host the New York Yankees (54-49) again tonight at Oriole Park. One more win in this series will give the O’s their 20^th series win of the season.

Anthony Santander’s solo homer in the last of the ninth with one out ended the game early this morning. A game that started two hours and 32 minutes late due to rain. It was Santander’s third career walk-off plate appearance and second homer to end and win a game. He hit his first also versus the Yankees, a three-run shot on May 19, 2022.

Last night he blasted a Tommy Kahnle 2-0 changeup for the game winner. He hit the ball 108 mph off the bat and it went 425 feet to break the scoreless tie.

The Orioles went 3-1 in one-run games on their recent road trip and are now 20-10 on the year in those games.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez pitched a career high 6 1/3 innings allowing three hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches and gave the Orioles their 41^st quality start. They are 31-10 in those games.

He is in the top five of the American League in walks and ranks top 10 in on-base percentage. And those are two big reasons O’s catcher Adley Rutschman will bat leadoff for the first time in his career tonight.

In 98 games this season he is batting .268/.368/.426/.794 and he ranks tied for third in the AL with 60 walks and is tied for eighth in OBP.

“Something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon. “It’s just because he is such a high on-base guy and just have him hit in front of Gunnar (Henderson) and (Anthony) Santander and (Ryan) O’Hearn. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and playing with it a little bit. Just give it a try.”

Could it become more permanent?

“Maybe. Not really sure. Against righties right now, but I could switch it in a couple of days too. We’ll see when Ced (Cedric Mullins) gets back also, what I’m going to do there. But we’re just giving it a try right now. Feel like with Adley’s on base numbers, he’s on base all the time. I like the idea of him hitting in front of Gunnar,” said Hyde.

The Orioles' Ryan Mountcastle played on a team that lost 110 games in 2021 and finished 48 games out of first place with just 52 wins. As the series with the New York Yankees began last night, this 2023 O's club already had 62 wins, the second most in the majors.

The turnaround from last place team to winning club happened pretty fast and 2022 Orioles won 31 more games than that 2021 club.

Now the Orioles sit atop the AL East, a division they trailed by 6.5 games on July 1 and by six games on July Fourth.

“It’s crazy. I mean, you look back and just two years ago, we were nowhere close to where we are at today. The turnaround is pretty crazy and we’ve had a lot of fun doing it,” Mountcastle said Friday before the series opener in the Baltimore clubhouse.

“I think all the teams in this division are really good teams. Day in and day out when we face each other it is a big battle. This weekend is a good test for us,” he said.

It was a matchup of two right-handers who can bring 100 mph heat. One with a big career resume and one with big hopes for a brilliant MLB career.

On this night, the Orioles’ Grayson Rodriguez, once ranked the top pitching prospect in baseball, was matching Gerrit Cole, a six-time All-Star and six-time top 10 finisher in the Cy Young vote.

This classic old school pitchers' duel was turned over late to the bullpens and both kept the zeroes going well into the night and early Saturday morning. 

Then suddenly with one swing of Anthony Santander's bat, it was over.

He drilled a Tommy Kahnle 2-0 changeup over the right field wall with one out in the ninth for a 1-0 walk-off win over New York. It was Santander's second career walk-off homer and the 425-foot blast was his 18th on the year.

The Orioles are back at Camden Yards tonight after going 4-3 on the road trip to Tampa and Philadelphia. They host the New York Yankees for three games before they head to Toronto for a four-game set.

The Orioles (62-40) head into the weekend leading Tampa Bay by 1.5 games for first place. The Yankees (54-48) are in last place in the AL East and are eight games behind the Orioles.

The Birds have lost back-to-back games losing by 4-3 on Tuesday and by 6-4 on Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park.

The Orioles have gone 6-0-2 in their past eight AL East series, not losing one since the second division series of the year in early April. They are 19-12 in division games, going 5-5 against New York. And they are 17-8 in those last eight series within the AL East.

The last time before this the Orioles went eight straight AL East series without losing one was from April 14 to June 22, 2014 (8), per the Elias Sports Bureau. The last longer such streak was from Aug.1 to Sept. 30, 2012 as they went without losing one for 11 consecutive division series.

It is only 11 at-bats, but in that small sample, the Orioles’ Ramón Urías is batting .455 with a slugging percentage of .909 against Yankees’ right-hander Gerrit Cole.

Cole (9-2, 2.78 ERA) will face the Orioles tonight for the second time this year and for the 12^th time in his career. On May 23 of this season he had one of his worst starts of the year against the Orioles, allowing five runs and six hits over five innings. Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson hit solo homers that night.

But over 11 career games, Cole is 5-3 with a 2.80 ERA, a .600 OPS and a WHIP of 0.991 against the Orioles.

Urías is 5-for-11 against the six-time All-Star, who has twice finished second for the Cy Young Award. He has two doubles and a homer against Cole.

“I think for me it is about looking for something up in the zone,” he said this afternoon. “I know he is good at throwing his slider down in the zone and he can get chases with that. For me, looking up in the zone is important and look for mistakes. Every time I see the ball down, you try to lay off. And that is how I have had some success against him.”

With the trade deadline set for next Tuesday, the Orioles are no doubt checking in on the pitching market. For what it is worth, the pitching staff may be in better shape than some think and yet as they say, you can never have enough pitching.

But for a team that plays .750 ball this year when it gets a quality start, it has been happening with much greater frequency since early June for the Orioles.

In the team’s first 62 games this year, the Orioles got a quality start just 29.0 percent of the time, going 18-for-62 with a rotation ERA of 4.86 in the 62 games.

In the last 40 games, even after Kyle Bradish allowed five runs Wednesday, the Orioles have gotten a QS 55.0 percent, going 22-for-40 with a rotation ERA of 4.02.

It is a nice trend up and again the Orioles are 30-10 this year in their 40 quality starts. Where once the O’s were in the bottom third of the AL in quality starts, now just five teams have more.

During a road trip where six of the seven games were decided by one or two runs, the Orioles went 4-2 in those six games, which is quite respectable. But they lost the last two, which stings a bit. 

They come home with a series loss at Philadelphia (went 1-2) after their big series win (went 3-1) against Tampa Bay. 

But we should also keep in mind they were tied for first with Tampa Bay when that series began and now, they lead the AL East by 1.5 games. They are 5.5 games ahead of Toronto which currently holds the third AL wild card spot.

But the Orioles have had some problems this year against National League teams. While they have played .644 ball (47-26) against American League teams they have played just .517 ball (15-14) versus the NL.

They have gone 1-2 in series against Atlanta. the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philaelphia.

The Orioles have a winning road trip secured as they take the field in Philadelphia tonight, but they need a victory in the game to pick up another series victory. They’d love to win to erase the memory of their sixth walk-off loss of the year last night. The Phillies scored twice in the ninth to pull it out.

The Orioles (62-39) had a three-game win streak snapped and lost for just the second time in seven games and fourth time in the last 17. They had won nine of their previous 10 road games until this loss.

Tonight, they can extend their AL East lead back to 2.5 games after Miami beat Tampa Bay 7-1 this afternoon.

The road trip started with the Orioles going 3-1 at Tampa Bay and now are 1-1 this series for a 4-2 trip so far with one game left. The Orioles are 8-5 in rubber match games on the season, having not played one since they lost 11-7 in 10 innings to Cincinnati on June 28.

The Orioles are 19-10-3 in series play and are 10-4-2 in road series and 32-19 in road games.

The Orioles had played four games on this road trip decided by two runs or less and won them all. Three outs from doing it again, the game got away from them. They lost 4-3 in the last of the ninth at Philadelphia last night.

It was a rare one-run loss, rare road loss lately for this team and a rare disappointing night in Birdland.

Now at 62-39, the Orioles lost Game No. 101 and now their first place lead over Tampa Bay is 1.5 games.

They had been 54-2 this year when leading after eight innings. But this time the club chose not to use busy reliever Félix Bautista and Yennier Cano could not hold the one-run edge. Jorge Mateo doubled clutched on a two-out grounder to short that turned into an infield hit. If he makes that play, the game rolls to the tenth inning.

But during a game they lost, the Orioles may have gained a late-game relief weapon. Right-hander Shintaro Fujinami was excellent getting six outs over the seventh and eighth innings with three strikeouts on just 21 pitches. The fastball was humming and the split was moving. It was something to watch. I would have been tempted to send him out for the ninth.

For the Orioles, this has been a road trip marked by close wins. They are 4-1 on the trip, winning the four games by a combined five runs after Monday’s 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Orioles (62-38) are playing .620 ball at the 100-game mark they reached last night. They now lead the American League East by 2 1/2 games over Tampa Bay, 6 1/2 over Toronto and 9.0 over Boston and New York.

The Orioles have won three in a row, five of six and 13 of 16 games. They have outscored their opponents 93-57 over the 16 games. They are 8-3 in the second half and have now gone 72 consecutive series without being swept.

In Orioles club history, the six teams that played in the World Series all won 59 or more of their first 100 games. The 1969 team posted the best 100-game mark at 69-31, followed by the 1979 team (67-33) and the 1966 World Series champions (66-34). The teams in 1970, 1971, 1997 and 2023 all went 62-38. The 1983 World Series winners won 59 games. Every O’s team that won 62 or more advanced to the postseason.

Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle hit solo homers last night, and Colton Cowser notched his first career extra-base hit with an RBI double in the ninth that broke the 2-2 tie. Westburg hit his first career homer and Mountcastle hit No. 12 this year. He blasted a slider with a 112.3 mph exit velocity, and hit the ball 451 feet out over the center field fence. It is the fourth-longest homer by an Oriole this year.

The Double-A Bowie Baysox have a record that is under the .500 mark at 43-47. But they are just a ½ game out of first place in the second half. And since May 19, they have been playing .589 ball at 33-23.

Infielder Coby Mayo was a big reason for that. He had an OPS of 1.027 in 78 games with Bowie until his recent promotion to Triple-A Norfolk. On July 14, the Baysox added shortstop Jackson Holliday, now ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the sport by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com.

But as the Baysox have played better since a slow start, three somewhat unheralded position players with varying levels of success on the stat sheet, have been fixtures in the lineup. Billy Cook, who can play all over the diamond on defense and outfielders John Rhodes and Donta' Williams have all had some nice stretches of play for Bowie. All three are members of the Orioles’ 2021 draft class.

After a slow start – and he was hitting under .200 well into May, Cook’s bat has heated up big time. Baltimore’s 10^th-round pick out of Pepperdine in that 2021 draft, Cook posted an OPS of .885 in May, .909 in June and it’s 1.017 in July. So yeah, that bat is hot.

“He started out with some struggles and now he is one of our top offensive producers,” manager Kyle Moore said in a recent interview. “Made some good adjustments. I feel like this staff was doing some of our best coaching earlier when our team was struggling. John Rhodes has done tremendous making some adjustments, Donta Williams, OPS over .800 in June and earlier he scuffled badly.

The Orioles road trip continues tonight in Philadelphia, where they play the first of three games at Citizens Bank Park. The Orioles won three of four against the Tampa Bay Rays, winning the three games by four total runs to grab a two-game lead atop the American League East.

The Orioles (61-38), who play their 100^th game tonight, were 6.5 games back of Tampa Bay on July 1 and six games back on July 4. So far this month, the Orioles are 13-6 while the Rays are 4-14, and they have gained 8.5 games on the Rays in that span.

With Sunday’s 5-3 win at the Trop, the Orioles improved to 6-3 this season against Tampa Bay and to 6-0 in games decided by two or fewer runs. The Orioles are 15-10 their past 25 games versus the Rays after going 2-27 in the previous 29.

They also gained their first series win at Tropicana Field since June 23-25, 2017.

The Orioles have now won four of five, 12 of 15 and 13 of their past 18 games. They are 7-3 since the All-Star break, and a season-high 23 games over the .500 mark.

In some ways it was a familiar script for the Orioles. Big plays, big hits and another big win. In other ways it was different.

Different as in they won a big series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. In recent years they haven’t played very many big series there and certainly have won very many series of any kind.

Going into the 2023 season, the Orioles had lost 15 straight series at the Trop. A place where, from the 2020-2022 seasons, they went 3-18. They had last won a series there June 23-25, 2017. But they take three of four this series and leave there with a two-game lead atop the AL East.

With a 6-3 lead in the season series – and the Rays have won six straight season series from the O’s – they need just one win in four games when these clubs meet in September to win this year’s season series. That would be big for tiebreaker purposes. If these teams are tied for the division lead or any playoff spot when the regular season ends, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head play.

From Aug. 25, 2020, through April 10, 2022, the Orioles were 2-27 versus the Rays. The clubs have now played 25 games since that date and the Orioles are 15-10 in those games.

The Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays wrap up this four-game series today and the worst the Orioles can do is leave with a 2-2 split. This will be the third series against the Rays this year and Baltimore has not lost any of them, winning one 2-1, splitting one 1-1 and leading this series 2-1 heading into today.

Sandwiched around a 3-0 loss Friday where they were held to two hits, the Orioles have two victories this series by one run. In each game they held a lead, got tied late as they lost the lead but went on to win the game. They pulled out Thursday’s game in the tenth and Saturday’s in the ninth.

The Orioles (60-38) now again have the AL East lead by one game over the Rays (61-41).

The Orioles are 2-1 this series, 6-3 in the second half and 11-3 since winning July 5 at Yankee Stadium. The O’s have outscored their opponents 85-52 during this 11-3 run.

The Orioles are 5-3 against the Rays in 2023. They have lost the three games by scores of 0-3, 2-7 and 0-3. The five wins have all come by two runs or less and three of the games were decided by one run. So they are 5-0 against Tampa Bay in games decided by one or two runs and 3-0 in one-run contests.

Sometimes you have to win the game twice. Sometimes you have to do it twice within the same series.

Thursday the Orioles lost a two-run lead in the seventh but won the game. Yesterday they lost a five-run lead in the sixth and two-run lead in the eighth and yet won the game.

It is what good and tough teams can do. It is why the Orioles, who were 6.5 games back of the Rays on July 1, lead the AL East by one game today.

James McCann and Jorge Mateo drove in two runs each versus Shane McClanahan early on and late in the game McCann had an amazing sac bunt and Ryan O'Hearn had a clutch hit in the ninth. Once again there were several big plays on defense with Gunnar Henderson again in the middle of it. Cionel Pérez got a huge out and Félix Bautista was outstanding again. 

It's been said this O's team features a roster without a lot of playoff experience. But they are certainly gaining big game experience in front of our eyes. 

The Orioles beat Tampa Bay 4-3 in 10 innings Thursday night and were held to just two hits in a 3-0 loss last night. So the O’s and Rays are right back where they were and separated by just percentage points when this series started.

They are tied for first atop the American League East with the Orioles at 59-38 (.608) and Tampa Bay at 61-40 (.604) and two games to go this series.

Friday’s loss snapped the Orioles’ six-game road win streak, their longest away from Oriole Park since an eight-game streak from July 25 to Aug. 13, 2020.

With Thursday's win, the Orioles have now gone 71 consecutive series without being swept. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the most consecutive series of at least two decisions (no ties) without getting swept in Orioles history, ahead of 46 consecutive sweepless series from 1971-72. It is the ninth-longest such streak in MLB history, trailing the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals (124), 1906-09 Chicago Cubs (115), 1903-05 New York Giants (105), 1922-24 New York Yankees (83), 1904-1906 Philadelphia Athletics (74), and 1921-23 St. Louis Browns, 1997-99 San Diego Padres, and 2003-05 Atlanta Braves (72).

The Orioles have won 10 of their past 13 games and have scored 79 runs in those games.

The Orioles showed confidence in rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez when they gave him the ball on Monday in the series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. They brought the kid back from the farm knowing he would face one of MLB’s best offenses followed by a start against Tampa Bay, which comes this afternoon.

They knew his MLB stats this year showed a 2-2 record and 7.33 ERA. That his ERA when last seen in the majors was 11.14 over five starts in May.

They also knew he was pitching well on the farm, had made solid gains on his control and command and was also hitting 100 mph again when his heater topped out.

Rodriguez allowed four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings in that Monday game against the Dodgers, but the final line included two runs that scored after he left the game. He allowed just one run over the first five innings before he took the mound for the sixth.

It was sure an outing to build on and much better than when he was last seen on the O’s mound.

With a series-opening win against Tampa Bay under their belts, the Orioles look to make it two in a row tonight to open this four-game series. And they start tonight behind a pitcher on a real roll.

The Orioles (59-37) beat the Rays (60-40) 4-3 in 10 innings in the opener of the series. Colton Cowser’s sac fly to left on an 0-2 pitch scored the go-ahead run in the 10^th. And then right-hander Félix Bautista put up a zero to get the win in the last of the 10th. Bautista, pitching for the second day in a row, needed just 15 pitches to get six outs in the victory.

The Orioles are in first place for the first time after 95 games of a season since Aug. 15, 2016. Until last night, the Rays had been in first place (or tied for the lead) in the American League East for the entire season.

The win means the Orioles have now gone 71 straight series without being swept. Baltimore is now 29-17 on the road, 6-5 in extra-inning games, 11-5 in July, 21-11 in series-opening games and 17-9 in one-run games.

The Orioles have now won 10 of their past 12 games, outscoring opponents 79-44 in that span.