It’s a huge day in Birdland with the arrival of the No. 1 prospect in baseball to the Orioles. Adley Rutschman will catch and bat sixth tonight to make his major league debut as the Orioles host the Rays.

A veteran like Trey Mancini noted this takes the rebuilding phase to another level. The organization, for want of a better phrase, is getting on with it.

“Yeah, I think so,” Mancini said this afternoon in the clubhouse. “It’s not something that happens overnight, obviously. But it’s not a thing where you can circle like, ‘Oh in this year, we are going to start competing.’ It’s something that just happens over time and it starts by establishing the culture that we have here. And when you do that and do things the right way, sometimes you can compete a little earlier than you think. And we’re going to see more guys like Adley come up here over the next year or so. And that is really exciting, and for the fans, too. I know they have been waiting for this day for a long time.

“It’s a really exciting day for the franchise and most importantly for Adley. I’m expecting it to be a great atmosphere tonight. I think he’s going to be able to handle it all really well. It’s a lot of attention and a big day, but when it gets close to game time, it’s basically like any other game that you’ve played in your career. You have to treat it like that even though there will be a huge adrenaline rush for him. It’s a day you want to soak in no matter what. It’s one of the more special days of your life and it goes by quickly.”

The Orioles have posted back-to-back walk-off wins for the first time since June 6-7, 2017 against Pittsburgh and the first time with homers ending the game since Aug. 14-15, 2015 versus Oakland.

They feature five players ranked among the Orioles' top 30 prospects on MLBPipeline.com. It has been that group of five and several more key contributors that have led the Orioles' high Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds affiliate to the best record in all of minor league baseball through their first 35 games.

The IronBirds cooled off Friday night, losing 6-0 to Rome for their first shutout loss of the year. But their record of 26-9 is good enough to be playing .743 baseball and that is the best mark among 120 full-season clubs in the minors.

An MLB team winning at such a pace would go 120-42.

“The guys come to work every single day, man," Roberto Mercado, the Aberdeen manager and a first-year staff member in the O's organization said of his club on Friday afternoon. "They enjoy each other. There is a great team chemistry in the clubhouse. Guys enjoy being around each other. They will get here early and hang out before they start their workday. Lot of positive energy going around the club. And we have a great staff that has really helped prepare the guys. What a solid job they all have done so far."

The top 30 prospects include outfielder Colton Cowser (No. 4), infielder Coby Mayo (No. 7), infielder Connor Norby (No. 11), infielder César Prieto (No. 12) and outfielder John Rhodes (No. 23).

After producing the walk-off win Thursday afternoon against the New York Yankees, the Orioles host the Tampa Bay Rays today in the opener of a three-game series and continuation of a seven-game homestand.

After back-to-back one-run losses to New York, the Orioles (15-24) salvaged the series finale Thursday 9-6 on Anthony Santander’s three-run shot. It was his seventh homer of the season and first career walk-off hit.

The game marked the first walk-off home run by an Oriole since Rio Ruiz hit a game-ending longball off Roberto Osuna on Aug. 11, 2019, versus Houston. It was the Baltimore’s third walk-off victory of the season, with all three coming against American League East foes - two against the Yankees and one against the Red Sox.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Santander, with two doubles a homer in that game, is the third Oriole to record three extra-base hits, including a walk-off home run, in a single game, joining Randy Milligan (2-2B, HR) on June 12, 1990, against Milwaukee and Manny Machado (3 HRs) on Aug. 18, 2017, versus the Los Angeles Angels. And Santander is the first major league player to record such a game since Alex Verdugo (2-2B, HR) did so with the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 22, 2019, versus Colorado.

In the month of May, Trey Mancini has batted .377/.441/.492 (23-for-61) and ranks among AL leaders in OBP (2nd), batting average (4th), and hits (T-5th). For his career, Mancini owns a line of .282/.352/.462 with 40 extra-base hits, 60 runs scored and 65 RBIs in 118 May games. Mancini has hit safely in 14 of 16 games this month, including producing multiple hits in seven of them, and on the season, he leads the team and ranks tied for sixth in the AL with 12 multi-hit games.

For a while we wondered when the Trey Mancini would get some payoff for how hard he was hitting the ball with little to show for it. And this month the hits have started to come for him and his numbers are now getting more in line with what might be expected.

The same has not happened yet for infielder Ramón Urías.

After producing an OPS of .774 in 296 plate appearances last year – which was 12 percent above the American League average – his OPS now is .541. That is 41 percent under the current AL average.

Urías homered on Tuesday versus the Yankees, but then went 0-for-8 in the last two games of that series and is just 3-for-23 over his past seven games. In 32 games this season he is batting .196/.246/.295. Last year his line was .279/.361/.412.

“I’m going through a tough situation and I haven’t been hitting good,” he said this afternoon before the series opener with Tampa Bay. “But I’m staying positive, I’m still working, I’m still coming in every day and thinking that I can hit well that game. I’m just trusting the process and still working hard, and hopefully we are out of that soon.

If some of the young pitchers at higher levels on the Orioles farm right now – hurlers on a list include Mike Baumann, Dean Kremer, Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells to name a few – want to find someone who had struggles and turned it around, they can look at someone they once shared a rotation with.

They can look at lefty Keegan Akin, someone they know well, because they came up about the same time as he did. Now he is where they want to be – not just in the majors but pitching with success in the big leagues.

It was just Aug. 1 when Akin had an ERA of 8.14. Then 10 days later, he gave up six runs to the Tigers and his ERA was 8.23. But the Orioles kept giving him chances. Over his final six 2021 starts, he took a step forward. With his overall numbers and struggles last year, it may have been hard to notice that he pitched to an ERA of 4.02 his last six starts.

Then he showed up this year healthy and with a strong mindset to attack the zone at all times. And he is thriving.

Akin is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA and 0.770 WHIP over 24 2/3 innings. He has a 1.8 walk rate, 0.4 homer rate and 7.3 strikeout rate. He's thriving versus lefty and righty batters, at home and on the road.

Before Anthony Santander could hit the Orioles first walk-off homer since Aug. 11, 2019 as they beat the New York Yankees today 9-6, there were some other players that camp up big as the Orioles ended a six-game losing streak.

Like right-handed reliever Dillon Tate, who somewhat quietly is having a solid year.

He put up a zero in the seventh to preserve what was then a 6-5 Orioles lead. They got a win after losing three in a row in this series to the Yankees and by a single run the last two nights.

“This one was huge,” said Tate, who has a 2.33 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 17 games. “I think it’s a big weight off the guys’ shoulders. You know, came up short a few games and it really did sting because we were playing good baseball and it’s just good to get back in the win column.”

Tate came on for the seventh, right after the O’s had scored three runs to take a 6-5 lead. He allowed a single to No. 9 hitter Marwin Gonzalez and then got leadoff man DJ LeMahieu, who would later tie the game with two outs in the ninth, on a foul fly ball to right.

When the Orioles hosted the Yankees in mid-April they won two of three in the series, allowing six total runs. But first-place New York is playing much better ball this series in Baltimore. With a win this afternoon, the Yankees would complete a four-game sweep of the Orioles.

New York won 6-2 Monday night and has now posted two straight one-run wins, by 5-4 and 3-2 scores.

The Orioles (14-24) have lost six in a row and seven of their past eight games. They fell behind 3-0 in the first inning last night and are 4-20 when their opponent scores first. The Yankees (28-9) are now 19-2 when they score first in the game.

The Orioles are 2-7 and have lost six in a row to the Yankees since that first series at Camden Yards. They are now 9-10 at home, 5-7 in one-run games and 4-11 versus the AL East.

The O’s offense has produced just eight runs on 19 hits in this series. Baltimore batters have scored two runs or less six times in the past eight games. In those eight games, they have scored 15 runs total and have gone 4-for-40 with runners in scoring position.

The high Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds have gotten off to a hot start, producing the best record of any minor league team in full-season ball. That covers 120 clubs. There are many reasons for that and just one is the play of shortstop Collin Burns.

With some more high-profile names on that IronBirds' roster, Burns can fly under the radar. But the 21-year-old lefty batter is hitting .333/.381/.422/ with an OPS of .803 in 24 games. Burns has six stolen bases, eighth doubles and 12 RBIs. He has low walk (5) and strikeout (15) totals.

A sixth-round pick out of Tulane from the 2021 draft, Burns has been solid for Aberdeen.

“He’s another guy that has had a lot of quality at-bats, is getting on base and hitting balls hard,” Orioles director of player development Matt Blood said in a recent interview. “And he’s playing quality defense. A nice pickup for the org. He plays shortstop and even some left field. We like to get guys moved around.”

Burns, 21, hit .305 in 24 games after the draft last season between the Florida Complex League O's and low Single-A Delmarva.

After a more lackluster loss on Monday by 6-2, the Orioles lost 5-4 to the New York Yankees Tuesday night in a game where they had the winning run on second base against closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth. They had scored once and were in position to pull off a walk-off victory, but Chapman got Cedric Mullins on a popout to preserve the win.

Tonight the clubs play the third game of this four-game series with right-hander Jordan Lyles (2-3, 4.38 ERA) making his eighth start and facing right-hander Gerrit Cole (3-0, 2.95 ERA).

New York (27-9) has the best record in the majors and leads the American League East by 5 1/2 games over Tampa Bay. New York’s record is three games better than the team with the No. 2 record in the big leagues, which is the Los Angeles Dodgers at 24-12. The Yankees have won eight of nine and 20 of 23 games, going 13-5 in road games and 14-6 within the AL East.

New York's 27-9 start matches the best 36-game start by any team in the majors in the last 38 years, since 1985. They join the 2016 Cubs (Won WS), 2005 White Sox (Won WS), 2001 Mariners (Lost ALDS), 2002 Red Sox (second in AL East) and 1998 Yankees (Won WS). And this matches the third-best 36-game start in the bigs in the last 75 years, trailing only the 1984 Tigers (31-5) and 1977 Dodgers (28-8).

The Orioles (14-23) have lost five in a row and six of seven. They are now 9-9 at home, 8-9 in the past 17 games and 11-15 over 26 games since April 20. They are now 5-6 on the year in both one-run and two-run games. They are 4-10 versus the AL East, going 4-4 at home and 0-6 on the road.

His pitches found the strike zone last night against the New York Yankees. Now if O's right-hander Logan Gillaspie could just find the mementos he took from his big league debut when he pitched two scoreless innings.

“I don’t know, I have to find them," he said with a laugh in the clubhouse today. "I got the first-pitch strike (ball) I threw out, and then I got my first K ball. I don’t know where they’re at, though."

Hard to find a happier player in that room today than 25-year-old pitcher who had just made his debut in his sixth pro season. A pro career that began in 2017 in independent league baseball, where he actually had some time as both a pitcher and position player.

His record from the 2017 season shows 22 games on the mound for three different teams, and also a few games at first base and catcher, and even one at shortstop. He went 4-for-23 as a hitter.

The Milwaukee Brewers signed him in 2018 and released him in 2019. The Orioles signed him on June 9, 2021, and on May 17, 2022 he was on the mound at Camden Yards.

If anyone was worried about right-hander Grayson Rodriguez when he recently gave up eight runs over 7 1/3 innings about two and a half weeks ago in back-to-back starts versus Gwinnett, call off the dogs.

No reason for worry, concern or anything of the sort.

Right now the opposite is true. After his latest outing last night - a dominant performance at Charlotte - the best pitching prospect in baseball is rolling again. He looked like the top-of-the-line Grayson last night as I watched on MiLB.TV.

Is it crazy to say after just eight Triple-A starts that he looked like a pitcher that is ready for his Major League debut?

He did look like that last night at Charlotte. If the Orioles wanted to pitch him on Sunday at home versus the Tampa Bay Rays, I could see strong logic to do just that. Why waste more bullets as they say at the Triple-A level?

The Orioles have not scored more than three runs since beating St. Louis 5-3 a week ago today in that series-opening game. Since then they have lost five of six games, scoring nine runs and the search for offense continues tonight in Baltimore.

The Orioles (14-22) host the New York Yankees (26-9) in the second game of a four-game series and seven-game homestand.

Over a longer stretch, the Orioles are still playing at or around .500 ball and in fact are 8-8 over the last 16 games. They are 11-14 their past 25 games. They are 9-8 at home and 4-3 in home games versus AL East opponents.

They produced two solo homers – both by Anthony Santander last night – when they were held to three hits in the series opener at Oriole Park. Santander homered from both sides of the plate, becoming the first Oriole to do that since he did it on Aug. 31, 2019 at Kansas City. Santander leads the Orioles with six home runs. Cedric Mullins has five and Ryan Mountcastle has four homers.

The Birds were held to three hits last night, their fewest of the year and they had four each in the previous two games. They do have outfielder Austin Hays returning to the lineup tonight.

A long road finally ended for left-handed reliever Nick Vespi today. Now that he got on the road, he will try to stay on it.

But it’s a great day in the life of this eighth-year Oriole.

The Orioles selected Vespi in the 18th round of the 2015 draft and he saw all the stops on the O’s farm along the way over 149 games. Two years in short-season ball and three years at low Single-A Delmarva. Just when he was ready to make a move up, the season was cancelled in 2020. But after pitching to an ERA of 4.19 between Double-A and Triple-A in 2021, Vespi really elevated his game this year with an ERA of 0.00 for Norfolk over 12 games.

Now he is finally in the major leagues.

The club selected his contract today from the Tides and he will wear No. 79. In a corresponding move, lefty Logan Allen was designated for assignment.

The Orioles recently went through a six-game stretch in which they scored 33 runs. That run ended in the first game of their series at St. Louis, which they won 5-3. Since that game last Tuesday, they have scored one, three, two, zero, one and two runs. That is nine runs in six games. They are 1-5 in that stretch.

The O’s lost the opener of this week-long homestand 6-2 to the New York Yankees last night as New York took the opener in the four-game series.

While the Yankees improved to 26-9 and are 19-3 their last 22 games, the Orioles fell to 14-22 and have scored five runs during a four-game losing streak.

At 14-18, before this losing streak, the Orioles were on a 71-win pace. Now they are playing .389 ball. That's a 63-win pace.

There are still things to like about this season – the improved bullpen, Bruce Zimmermann’s start, the arrival of Kyle Bradish and the team’s winning record at home to name a few – but the last few days have produced dismal results.

Following a 2-4 road trip during which they won two of three in St. Louis and were swept at Detroit, the Orioles are back at Oriole Park tonight to start a week-long homestand. They host the New York Yankees for four games and then the Tampa Bay Rays will be in town for three over the weekend.

This starts a difficult stretch of two weeks of games within the American League East, with seven this week versus the Yankees and Rays and eight next week at New York and Boston.

The Orioles have played two home AL East series and won them both, over the Yankees and Red Sox. In fact, they are the only team to take a series from New York this year. The O’s have gone 4-8 within the division – they are 4-2 at home and 0-6 on the road.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-1, 4.24 ERA) will make his fourth big league start tonight in the series opener. He is coming off a strong outing at St. Louis on Tuesday. He gave up four hits and two runs over seven innings, with no walks and 11 strikeouts. He threw 90 pitches and got nine swings and misses on 20 swings against his slider.

Bradish has thrown his fastball 51 percent thus far, at an average velocity of 94.7 mph, and uses his slider 31 percent, curveball 10 percent and changeup eight percent. He is getting a 43.2 groundball rate.

With a lineup tonight that is still without Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle and will also be without shortstop Jorge Mateo, at least at the start, the O’s could use another solid game on the mound. They will send out rookie right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-1, 4.24) for his fourth career start.

And he is facing the first-place New York Yankees (25-9), who have the best record in the majors and have won six of seven and 18 of their last 21 games.

This is sure a challenge for a young pitcher facing a team that is tied for the American League lead in homers and OPS and is second in runs scored. A team on a 119-win pace.

For the fourth time in four starts, Robinson Chirinos is catching the youngster. Chirinos has been impressed by Bradish's start, particularly last week in St. Louis, when he allowed two runs over seven innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts.

I asked Chirinos what impressed him the most about Bradish in that outing.

Captain Obvious has been busy this season, giving me a steady stream of calls and notes. The latest was to remind me that the Orioles may be an improved team but are not yet at the point they can be missing several key players and still consistently win.

The Captain is right again.

The Orioles were without Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays in Detroit and Jorge Mateo left yesterday’s game in the fourth inning. They lost 5-1 and scored just three runs over the weekend. They scored in just two of 27 innings. That will not cut it.

The offense with Hays and Mountcastle was trending up, scoring 33 runs over a six-game stretch. But they have followed that by scoring seven runs over the past five games.

The Captain said that means the offense has been inconsistent.

On Saturday afternoon, the Orioles got another quality start from a starting pitcher and they also got another scoreless outing from their bullpen. But their offense produced just four hits and was held scoreless for the second time this season in a 3-0 loss to the Tigers.

The Tigers have won the first two games of this series with the Orioles offense producing just two runs and 12 hits with a couple of solo homers in losing the first two games at Comerica Park.

The Orioles have been swept in three straight games twice this season – both on the road at American League East rivals. In the opening series, they were swept in St. Petersburg, Fla., by the Rays and outscored 15-4. In late April, they lost three in a row at Yankee Stadium by a combined 27-15 score.

When this series began, the Orioles were coming off a series win at St. Louis and had won four of five, six of eight and eight of the previous 12 games. Detroit was 9-23 and had lost three in a row and nine of its previous 10 games. But the fortunes turned for both this weekend and Detroit, which had lost 16 of 19 as play began Friday night, now looks for a third consecutive victory today.

Orioles right-hander Tyler Wells (1-2, 3.75 ERA), coming off back-to-back strong outings, will try to keep that roll going today in the series finale. It’s his seventh start. For the season, he’s yielded 23 hits in 24 innings with four walks to 17 strikeouts. He has a WHIP of 1.125 with a 1.5 walk rate and 6.4 strikeout rate.

Talk about achieving desired results. Let’s talk about still 20-year-old infielder Gunnar Henderson, a player that is at least three years younger than the average age in the Double-A Eastern League for the Bowie Baysox.

He told me in a preseason interview how he used foam baseballs to improve his plate discipline stats and cut down on his swings and misses. The early returns for him have been remarkable. He is striking out a lot less and walking a lot more. His OPS is well over .900.

He is looking every bit the top 100 prospect that he is.

Before the opening game this year he explained some improvements he was looking to make and how a foam baseball would help him do that.

“Some stuff I said to them (the coaches) that I wanted to work on is flattening out (my swing) just a touch to eliminate some of the miss and fouls balls in a sense that I know I should be hitting,” Henderson said then at Bowie’s Prince George’s Stadium. “One big thing for me was hitting foam balls off the machine that had good ride to them. Felt that was a really good help. It overexaggerates, but it helps. The second thing was just being a little more adjustable and not so stiff, letting my body do the work, so I kind of loosened up. Just relax everything, not trying to be a robot in a sense.

The Orioles have recently won two series where they lost the first game and then won the last two. They did that on the recent homestand against both Boston and Kansas City. Now they try to add Detroit to that list after Friday’s 4-2 loss at Comerica Park.

It was a frustrating night for the Baltimore offense as it stranded four runners over the first two innings and nine over the last three. Yep, they left the bases loaded in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. They went 1-for-12 on the night with runners in scoring position, stranding 14 runners.

In the past three games, the O’s scored six runs total on 21 hits and went 2-for-19 with RISP.

At 14-19, the Orioles are 5-12 on the road and 9-7 at home. They are on pace to win 69 games.

The Orioles went 4-1-1 the past six series with wins over the Angels, Red Sox, Royals and Cardinals.