If you just look at the stat sheet, you can't help but be impressed by Double-A Bowie outfielder Henry Urrutia. The Cuban defector signed by the Orioles last July is swinging a good bat for the Baysox during his first 15 games in the Orioles organization.
The 26-year-old Urrutia is batting .317 with eight doubles, two homers, 15 RBIs, a .550 slugging percentage and .929 OPS. Urrutia is 7-for-19 (.368) with runners in scoring position and has six multi-hit games.
But the Orioles realize that,...
Matt Wieters didn't throw any pitches tonight, but he took responsibility for one that went over the left field wall in the top of the fourth.
Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer hit two-run homers in that frame to beat Freddy Garcia and the Orioles 6-2 at Camden Yards.
"The ball Hosmer hit, you can put that one on me," Wieters said. "That was the wrong pitch at the wrong time. It was a pitch that kind of was a power pitch for him and the ball to Gordon was just a little bit up. I think...
Orioles starter Freddy Garcia gave up just five hits tonight, but four of them came consecutively in the top of the fourth and two were homers as the Kansas City Royals beat the Orioles 6-2 to salvage the final game of a three-game series.
Winning pitcher Jeremy Guthrie was facing the Orioles for the first time and extended his consecutive unbeaten starts streak to 18. He is 10-0 since his last loss, which came last Aug. 8.
Guthrie, an Oriole from 2007 through 2011, went six innings, allowing...
After taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his Orioles debut Saturday at Anaheim, what does Freddy Garcia have in store for an encore?
We find out tonight when the 36-year-old Venezuelan makes the start opposite former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie.
"Real excited (to get back out there)," Garcia said Wednesday. "Nice to be back in the big leagues and I'm trying to do the best I can to stay here. Was real happy with that first start, but that is in the past now.
"I don't need to change...
Jeremy Guthrie pitched for the Orioles from 2007 through 2011, a total of five seasons. For most of the last four years he wore an O's uniform, when he took the mound, Adam Jones was playing behind him in center field.
But tonight they compete against each other for the first time. They will be friends off the field, but Jones said he'll be putting that friendship aside once game time hits tonight.
"We were teammates four years. Was his teammate," Jones emphasized. "It's the business....
The blister that first showed up on Miguel Gonzalez's right thumb two starts ago and forced him out of his last start after just 80 pitches is now sending Gonzalez to the 15-day disabled list.
He was placed on the DL today, retroactive to May 4, and cannot return to the O's active roster until May 19. Alex Burnett was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk and is expected to work out of the bullpen. The O's will need someone to replace Gonzalez on Saturday at Minnesota.
"We talked about it, Rick...
Here is a strange stat: The Orioles have been outhit in their last three games, but won each game. Those are the O's only three wins of the season when their opponent has more hits.
Despite that, their offense continues to be productive and the Orioles rank second in the American League with 168 runs, behind only the Athletics with 177.
Who's hot at bat right now:
* Let's start with the kid. Manny Machado is batting .382 (26-for-68) and has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games with seven...
After the Orioles had won their game last night, the result came in from Boston where Minnesota beat the Red Sox 15-8. Former Oriole Pedro Florimon knocked in a career-high three runs and help his former O's teammates move into a first-place tie with Boston at 21-13.
While the Orioles have won four in a row, Boston has lost five of its last six games.
After Chris Tillman got the win last night against Kansas City, he took some time to talk about teammate Jim Johnson, who tied Randy Myers'...
Getting Jim Johnson to talk about himself at any length may be harder than trying to hit Jim Johnson, who tonight tied the Orioles' club record with his 34th straight save.
But in a rare moment for him, Johnson was asked about his pitching tonight and his evolution into a top closer. He is better at the job now, he feels, than he was when he first got the ball in the ninth.
"I think it is more about knowing what kind of pitcher you are," Johnson said. "I do it differently than other...
Jim Johnson put his name in the Orioles' record book tonight and Chris Tillman provided a fourth straight quality start in a 5-3 win over Kansas City at Camden Yards.
Johnson pitched the ninth inning to record his 13th save in 13 chances on the year. It is his 34th consecutive save conversion, which ties the Orioles team record set by Randy Myers in 1997. Johnson's last blown save was July 30, 2012. Johnson has 71 saves since Sept. 7, 2011 to easily lead the majors in that span.
With the...
Maybe something has to give here tonight. Chris Tillman has pitched very well over his last three starts, but he has not pitched very well at all in three career starts against Kansas City.
Tillman makes his seventh start of the year tonight. He is 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA. Over his first three starts, his ERA was 7.07. Over his past three, he is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.31, allowing just 14 hits and three runs over 20 2/3 innings.
In his career against K.C., Tillman is 0-2 with an ERA of 10.93. He's...
After pitching for five seasons and for nearly 1,000 innings in an Orioles uniform, Jeremy Guthrie will take the mound at Camden Yards tomorrow and pitch against the Orioles for the first time ever.
Will that be strange for him?
"Not too much," he said this afternoon in the Kansas City clubhouse. "I think enough time has passed and having seen them last year, to be able to say hello and congratulate them on the way they are playing, now it feels like just doing what we do every five...
For the third time this season and the second time in the last eight games, Nick Markakis will serve as the Orioles' designated hitter tonight.
"It's different," Markakis said about being the DH. "You just have to stay loose, stay stretched and wait for your turn to hit. Haven't done it much, but it's good. It gives me a chance to get my feet back under me. It's a different mindset. It's good every once in a while.
"I had talked to Buck (Showalter) earlier in the year and he said he...
Orioles players have long since moved on from the 2012 season. They know it was the year that put the Orioles back into the playoffs and ended a long run of losing seasons. They also know it won't do them any good this year and they have to play well again to have two successful seasons in a row.
But while they have moved on to the new season, there is one aspect of the team that has carried over and Adam Jones talked about it before yesterday's game.
"To my calculations, I think it is...
The last two seasons, right-hander Matt Hobgood, the Orioles' 2009 first-round pick (fifth overall), went 0-6 with an 8.76 ERA over 37 innings.
This season with Single-A Delmarva, the 22-year-old Hobgood is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.90 over 20 innings, allowing just nine hits on two runs with 10 walks and 13 strikeouts. South Atlantic League hitters are batting just .136 against him.
Hobgood underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last April 2 and now, just over a year later, he may be in the...
Before tonight, Brian Matusz had stranded all 26 inherited runners when coming out of the bullpen. The streak ended tonight when Alex Gordon homered off him with a man on in the seventh to tie the game 3-3.
But the Orioles untied it on Matt Wieters' RBI double in the eighth to win 4-3 over Kansas City and improve to 20-13.
Adam Jones, who drew his sixth walk of the year to lead off the winning rally, said it was another night where the Orioles won as a team. On a rare night when Matusz saw...
The Orioles have done this before this season - give up the lead, but still win the game. And they did it tonight at soggy Camden Yards as Matt Wieters knocked in three runs in the Orioles' 4-3 win over Kansas City.
Wieters began the evening batting just .197 with an OPS of .572 this season against right-handed pitching, but had a two-run double in the first and a tie-breaking RBI double in the eighth off right-handers.
In a 3-3 tie, Adam Jones led off the eighth with a walk and reached...
After leaving his last start on Friday at Anaheim after six innings and 80 pitches due to a thumb blister, Miguel Gonzalez could have made his next start this Thursday against Kansas City, but now is expected to have it pushed back to Friday or Saturday.
Gonzalez said the blister would not allow him to pitch today, but he figures he will be able to take the mound this weekend.
"It's way better. Is it pitchable right now? No, it's not. They are probably going to push me back one or two...
Four days after leaving a game with a right knee injury and two days after returning to the lineup, Chris Davis has pronounced himself fine. He is in the lineup tonight and said he is not restricted in any way.
Although there were a few moments of concern when he limped off the field Friday at Anaheim.
"It was one of those things where you kind of realize you are not invincible," Davis said this afternoon. "I've never had any injuries in my career that caused me to miss some time. But I...
Among the theories out there about why O's relief pitcher Pedro Strop has struggled this season is that he pitched often in the World Baseball Classic.
Strop pitched six times in a 13-day span between March 7-19 for the Dominican Republic in the tourney and he pitched very well. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and no runs with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Now he has an ERA of 5.79 with the Orioles, has struggled to throw consistent strikes, walking nine over 11 innings, and...