OAKLAND – When I talked with Trey Mancini before Monday's road trip opener, he - like much of Birdland - was hopeful that the eighth inning on Sunday would be a turning point for the Orioles offense.

They scored five runs and got three big hits with runners in scoring position in beating the Yankees 5-0. But whatever good was created there didn’t make it to the West Coast, at least for the series opener. The Orioles lost 5-1 at Oakland and were held to seven hits and went 1-for-7 with RISP. They have yet to have hits in double digits in a game in 2022.

On the plus side, the O’s pitching has obviously far exceeded expectations at this early stage. But we are seeing some quality stuff from several arms - in both velocity and secondary assortments - and the Orioles are executing their pitching game plans extremely well through 10 games.

The staff ERA went down Monday night, to 2.86, which is fifth-best in the majors and a far cry from the 5.85 team ERA for the 2021 season.

Mancini is, of course, impressed with the pitchers, including one he noted that pitched last night and continued to get noticed.

OAKLAND – For the Orioles, the opening game of this long road trip in Oakland had a familiar look.

For five innings it was close and low-scoring. The Baltimore offense was scuffling for runs again but the Baltimore pitching was getting the job done. Yet again they were.

On a night when the Orioles reduced their team ERA from an impressive 3.04 to an even better 2.86, they still lost. Four unearned runs in the last of the sixth doomed them to a 5-1 defeat at Oakland.

But right-hander Spenser Watkins was the latest O’s starter to throw well. He allowed two hits and one run over five innings on 67 pitches. He made a bid to stay in the rotation.

“That is always up to Skip on those (rotation) decisions,” Watkins said in the Orioles clubhouse. “But, I’m ready to take the ball whenever they give it to me and I’m going to compete.”

OAKLAND – In the first game of a 10-game road trip, right-hander Spenser Watkins, trying to hold onto the fifth starter’s spot, gave the Orioles a big effort.

Watkins allowed a first-inning run and nothing after that. He got rolling in the middle innings behind a frequency to throw a lot of first-pitch strikes. He did that to 10 of the first 13 batters he faced.

Watkins would go five innings, allowing two hits and one run with two walks and one strikeout. He threw 67 pitches, 44 for strikes. He threw 30 sliders or cutters among his pitches, and his fastball, which averaged 90.8 mph last year, was at 92.2 mph tonight.

Meanwhile, would the O’s offense and defense be able to back him?

The hitters once again could not get much going and the O’s infield defense unraveled when Oakland produced a big four-run inning in the last of the sixth.

OAKLAND – The Orioles begin their second road trip of the 2022 season tonight a long way from home and it’s the first trip featuring multiple series. The Orioles (3-6) play at Oakland (5-5) to start a four-game series and 10-game trip that also takes them to Anaheim to play the Angels and to New York to once again face the Yankees.

The Orioles' 5-0 win Sunday gave the team its first series victory of the year and first at home over the Yankees since Sept. 4-6, 2020, when they took three of four.

The Orioles pitching staff, which posted an ERA of 5.84 to rank last in the majors in 2021, is off to a stunning start that included allowing just six runs in the Yankees series and pitching the club’s second shutout of the year. The only three teams in the majors with more than one shutout already are the Orioles and Yankees with two each and the Mets, who have three.

More pitching notes:

* O’s team ERA is 3.04 (second in AL, fifth in MLB)

OAKLAND – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde is not ready yet to name his starting pitcher for tomorrow’s game at Oakland. Right-hander Spenser Watkins (0-0, 3.00 ERA) will get the ball tonight in the series and road trip opener.

The starter could very well come from two pitchers who are here on the Orioles' taxi squad in right-hander Chris Ellis and lefty Alexander Wells, who are joined by catcher Beau Taylor.

Wells was just optioned out after Friday's game, so he could not come back to the active roster before 10 days without replacing an injured player, but the same does not apply to Ellis.

Ellis made one start this year for Triple-A Norfolk, throwing four scoreless innings without allowing a hit last Wednesday. He pitched to an ERA of 2.49 in six games for the Orioles last year. If needed tomorrow, he would be working on five days’ rest.

“We have a few options, but I’m going to wait until tomorrow to give it out,” Hyde said this afternoon in the visitor’s dugout at the Oakland Coliseum.

OAKLAND – While we are awaiting first pitch between the Orioles and Athletics tonight for Oakland’s home opener to start the road trip, here are a few minor league notes around Birdland.

The Triple-A Norfolk Tides are off to an 8-4 start, their best mark after 12 games during their time as a Baltimore affiliate since 2007.

Norfolk has scored 76 runs in the 12 games and has a run differential of plus-27, which is third-best in the International League that features 20 teams. The Tides lost via a 1-0 walk-off in Game 2 of Sunday’s doubleheader at Scranton to snap a five-game winning streak.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish was the winning pitcher in Norfolk’s Game 1 5-1 win, when he allowed just two hits and one run over five innings. Nick Vespi and Cole Uvila each threw a scoreless inning to complete the combined two-hitter.

Bradish is 1-0 with an ERA of 1.00 in two starts to begin his season. He is doing his part to get noticed for a call-up to the Orioles roster. Over nine innings, he’s allowed four hits and the one run with two walks, nine strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.67.

OAKLAND – The Orioles will play in Oakland tonight to start a 10-game road trip that will take them to both coasts and produce series against the Athletics, Angels and Yankees. It will be challenging, but at least they start it on a high note after Sunday’s 5-0 shutout win over the Yankees in Baltimore.

If you were among the large number of fans wondering how much longer they could go without getting clutch hits, the answer was seven more innings as Sunday’s game began. But after going 3-for-30 in the three games before yesterday with runners in scoring position and 7-for-77 for the year through eight games, they finally came through.

And it was the oft-criticized Rougned Odor whose two-run single opened the floodgates, so to speak, and the Orioles got three straight hits with RISP after being 7-for-83 for the year as Odor stood in to pinch-hit in the eighth of a 0-0 tie.

The Orioles beat the Yankees in the series, also winning in 11 innings Friday night. Who knows what might have happened this weekend at the Yard without the hail on Saturday night, which altered the O’s pitching plans.

Speaking of pitching, since Friday, when we pretty much found out lefty John Means would be out for a significant period of time, O’s starters have allowed one earned run. So far – yes, in the smallest of samples – they stepped up.

The Orioles and New York Yankees have exchanged wins at Camden Yards this weekend. The Orioles won 2-1 in 11 innings Friday night in a four hour, 15-minute game. And the Yankees won 5-2 last night in a game twice delayed by rain.

The Orioles (2-6) continue to struggle to produce offense. They have scored two runs or fewer six times in eight games and scored just 16 runs for the year. They are 2-3 on this homestand that ends today and have scored 12 runs in those games. The O’s season high for runs in a game is the four they scored in the second game of the Milwaukee series, in a 5-4 loss.

They scored their runs last night on one swing. Cedric Mullins absolutely crushed a two-run homer to right against New York right-hander Jameson Taillon in the O’s third inning to produce a 2-0 lead. Mullins drilled No. 2 on the year and it went 433 feet with an exit velocity of 107 mph. The blast came on a 3-0 pitch.

Right-hander Tyler Wells gave the O’s a good start last night before the pitch count got him lifted. He threw four scoreless innings on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 64 pitches and lowered his ERA to 6.35.

Lefty Bruce Zimmermann, who was on the mound when this homestand began Monday, will be on the mound when it ends this afternoon.

O’s left-hander Keegan Akin had a poor spring training, but when the bell rang and he was on the Orioles' opening day roster, things quickly took a turn for the better.

So I had a simple question for Akin earlier on this homestand: What happened? What made the difference between his previous struggles and his throwing so well in his first two games of 2022, against Tampa Bay and Milwaukee?

Akin allowed five runs and six walks in 5 1/3 innings in spring training. But in his first two regular season outings he threw 5 2/3 scoreless on just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. His WHIP right now is 0.35. Big difference.

Akin relates that he continues to become healthier the longer he is removed from the core surgery he had early in the offseason after last season. And since this season started he has been in attack mode, going right at hitters. Easy to say, harder to do. He’s doing it. And with success to date.

“A little bit of it was just trying to get over the hump, get back into things coming off the injury in the offseason,” Akin said. “I knew I had to get over that hump, getting back into game speed. And we knew there would be some discomfort to start, the nature of the beast, you can’t get that adrenaline going in the offseason. It was moreso, my main goal was to come out of spring healthy. Obviously, the numbers were not what I wanted and it was a poor showing the first two outings. I put one good one together there at the end.

The Orioles won their series opener on Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers. But they lost the next two games to lose that series. They won the series opener at Camden Yards last night against the New York Yankees and now need one win the next two days to win their first series of 2022.

For the fourth straight game, there was a low-scoring contest at Oriole Park as the Birds won 2-1 in 11 innings. Neither team homered and the Yankees had seven hits, going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The O’s had six hits and went 1-for-15 with RISP. But when Ramón Urías drew a two-out, bases loaded walk in the 11^th from Aroldis Chapman, the O’s got a walk-off victory.

Speaking of walks, the O’s drew 10 last night. That included six from the No. 8 and No. 9 spots in the batting order. Those last two spots went a combined 2-for-4 with six walks. It is the first time the O’s have drawn three walks from the nine spot in the order since Andrew Velazquez drew three on Sept. 14, 2020 against Atlanta.

The Orioles drew 10 walks for the first time since May 6, 2012 at Boston and for the first time at home since May 7, 2011 versus Tampa Bay. The Orioles now rank second in the American League with 34 walks, behind only Seattle with 39. They are sixth in walks in the major leagues. The club drew just four walks in the season’s first two games, but has 30 over the last five games. They were 13^th in walks in the American League last season.

The Orioles have not given up a home run in four straight games at Oriole Park, marking the first time the Orioles have not allowed a homer in four in a row at OPACY in a single season since July 10, 2016 versus the Los Angeles Angels and July 22-24, 2016 against Cleveland.

Sometimes you don’t need the hit with runners in scoring position. Sometimes a walk will do. It did for the Orioles late last night.

We’ve seen many games at Oriole Park over the years that were close between the Orioles and Yankees, games when New York made the key play late to beat the Orioles. Friday was not that night.

The Orioles' unheralded bullpen was sensational and it was Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman who cracked, issuing the bases-loaded walk to Ramón Urías as the O’s beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings.

Chapman is the seven-time All-Star who has record 30 or more saves the last three full seasons. The power lefty with a career ERA of 0.54 and WHIP of 0.690 in 34 career games versus the Orioles. His K rate against the O’s is 18.6.

Yep, it was that pitcher who cracked to the delight of most of a crowd of 32,197. This time Camden Yards didn’t sound like Yankee Stadium south at the end of the night.

The Orioles' pitching was stellar throughout. The night kept getting longer, though, and their offense kept coming up short. 

Until it finally didn't. Well, sort of.

On a night of outstanding pitching by both teams, a great pitcher finally cracked. It was Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.

Chapman got ahead of Ramón Urías 0-2 and then walked him with the bases loaded, throwing four straight pitches out the zone as the Orioles beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings in front of 32,197 at Camden Yards.

The O's 11th began with Austin Hays placed at second base and the team facing New York righty Clarke Schmidt, their sixth pitcher. Jorge Mateo lined out, but Schmidt walked the No. 8 and 9 hitters in Anthony Bemboom and Kelvin Gutiérrez. That set the stage for Cedric Mullins to win it, as Chapman came on to try and pull off a great escape. He almost did, as he fanned Mullins.

The Orioles will play their third series of the season and second versus an American League East opponent starting tonight. They host the New York Yankees at Oriole Park to start a three-game weekend series before a West Coast road trip.

The Orioles (1-5) lost 4-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday and lost the final two games of that series. The O’s are 1-4 in games decided by two runs or less against two 2021 playoff teams in the Tampa Bay Rays and Brewers.

The Baltimore offense has produced just 12 runs on 39 hits this season and the Orioles have gone 5-for-55 (.091) with runners in scoring position with 28 strikeouts.

The Orioles have hit three home runs to rank last among the 15 teams in the AL, but the club has drawn 24 ranks to rate third in the AL.

In the season-opening series against Tampa Bay, the Orioles scored four runs on 21 hits in the three games, going 2-for-24 with RISP. Against Milwaukee, the O’s scored eight runs on 18 hits, going 3-for-31 with RISP.

The Orioles have lost their opening day starter, lefty John Means, for an undetermined length of time. Now, as they await further word on Means' injury, manager Brandon Hyde will try to piece his rotation together and decide the next steps for a pitching staff minus its ace.

Means left his start on Wednesday night against Milwaukee at Camden Yards after four innings and 51 pitches with what was announced that night as left forearm tightness. He had an MRI yesterday.

“He has a forearm muscle strain,” Hyde said during his pregame press conference today at the ballpark. “We need some additional tests to look at any structural damage to his elbow. We’re just continuing to look at it right now, so it's still to be determined how long (he’ll be out).

“I did talk to him earlier. He’s fine. John is not a real up and down guy and he’s just trying to stay positive with this whole thing. And optimistic. But I think he’s handling it fine.

“We don’t have much experience in our rotation and losing your opening day starter. We’ll see how long it’s going to be. But for some time now, it’s going to be hard. Do need guys to step up. John’s one of the guys that people look up to on our pitching staff. So to have him out is going to be challenging.”

A few observations from the Orioles’ first six games. They went 1-5, but played close, competitive games against two 2021 division winners in the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.

Rotation concerns: It’s too soon for their rotation to be in crisis, but there is some reason for concern. They have uncertainty with what they are doing with the No. 5 starter and now reason to worry about lefty John Means.

Means left after four innings last night with left forearm tightness and didn’t sound too concerned in his postgame interview. An MRI could show the club and fan base if there is any real reason for concern. But how can there not be some worry about a pitcher that has had shoulder issues in the past and is having this issue after just two starts?

Means is not only very talented but is a leader on the pitching staff. Losing him for any length of time would be a blow.

The Orioles have both Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish in the rotation right now at Triple-A Norfolk and both threw four scoreless in their season debuts. Tonight is Rodriguez’s second Triple-A start. The Tides had listed right-hander Kyle Brnovich to start tomorrow night and southpaw Kevin Smith on Saturday.

Trying to catch a break or at least a few clutch hits, the Orioles came up with sort of a partial loaf tonight. They finally scored some runners in scoring position to tie the game 2-2. But when Milwaukee pushed across two runs in the top of the ninth versus righty Jorge López, they beat the Orioles 4-2 at Camden Yards.

But it was a night where the Orioles’ top starting pitcher, lefty John Means, exited the game early due to injury.

Means, who missed time last year with a shoulder issue, retired seven straight batters through the top of the fourth tonight and was trailing Milwaukee 2-0. But he was settling into a good groove, retiring the Brewers in order on nine pitches in the third and 12 pitches in the fourth.

And then he was suddenly out of the game due to left forearm tightness.

When right-hander Joey Krehbiel started warming up in the home fourth, it was clear something was up. Means was at 51 pitches through four and he was rolling. But he would also soon be out of the game.

It is a marquee pitching matchup to wrap up the Brewers-Orioles series tonight as O’s lefty John Means (0-0, 2.25 ERA) faces Milwaukee right-hander Corbin Burnes (0-0, 5.40 ERA) at Camden Yards. Tonight’s winner takes the series after Baltimore’s 2-0 win Monday and Milwaukee’s 5-4 victory last night.

Burnes won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award in a close vote over the Phillies' Zach Wheeler and Max Scherzer, who was with the Nationals and Dodgers last year. In the final vote tally, Burnes came up with 151 points to 141 for Wheeler and 113 for Scherzer. The 10-point margin of victory was the closest in the NL and tied for the fourth-closest overall since the ballot expanded from three to five pitchers in 2010. The closest in the American League was in 2012, when the Rays’ David Price outpointed the Tigers’ Justin Verlander 153-149.

Some Orioles fans will certainly remember that the closest election in the AL before that occurred in 1969 with the only tie in Cy Young Award balloting, between the O’s Mike Cuellar and the Tigers’ Denny McLain, the last year when voters could select only one pitcher.

Burnes is the first Brewers pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in the NL. The only other Cy Young Award winners for the Brewers, Rollie Fingers in 1981 and Pete Vuckovich in 1982, did so in the AL. The Brewers moved to the NL in 1998.

Burnes went 11-5 with an ERA of 2.43, best in the NL, in winning the award. Over 167 innings, he recorded a WHIP of 0.94, allowed just 6.6 hits per nine and only seven homers for a homer rate of 0.4. In 2021, he recorded 58 strikeouts before issuing his first walk on May 13. The Brewers went 19-9 in his starts.

It would have been a cool story to watch unfold for the two brothers. When the schedule was released for the 2022 season, both Ramón Urías of the Orioles and his younger brother, Luis, of the Brewers noted the April dates on the calendar. Ramón’s Orioles would host Luis and the Brewers, and their family would made the trek from Mexico to see it.

But in his first spring training game, Luis, 24, suffered a quad injury.

“We felt bad about it. We were waiting for this time. My family would be here for sure if if we both were playing,” said Ramón, the older brother by three years, today in the O’s clubhouse.

Just like his older bro, Luis also plays second, shortstop and third base. He moved around the infield for the 2021 division-winning Brewers, slashing .249/.345/.445 with a .789 OPS, 23 homers and 75 RBIs.

“When we were growing up together, we talked a lot of baseball,” Ramón said. “We prepared together this offseason in Phoenix. I am proud of him, he’s a good player. We are very close.”

Cedric Mullins

So they have started the year going 1-4 and have played four games decided by two runs or less against two teams that combined to win 195 games last year.

In the big picture of looking ahead to the six-month season, the Orioles are saying they expect to make progress this season and win more games. It's time for O's baseball to start trending up - brutal loss last night notwithstanding.