ANAHEIM - Most of the time this year, but not all, when the Orioles won the first two games of a three-game series, they won the third game to complete the sweep.

While the Orioles have gone 84 straight series without being swept, they have nine sweeps of their own. They have seven three-game sweeps and one of two games in the 2023 season. 

They can add to their list of sweeps tonight at Anaheim against the Angels after posting wins by 6-3 and 5-4 in 10 innings at Angel Stadium.

On their recent homestand, the Orioles twice won the first two games of a series, but they lost the third both to Colorado and the Chicago White Sox.

For the year the Orioles are 7-4 in the third game of a series where they won the first two and had a chance for a sweep.

The Orioles will try for their ninth sweep of the season tonight with Adley Rutschman serving as the designated hitter, Ramón Urías playing second base, and Jordan Westburg moving back to the bench.

Aaron Hicks is in center field, putting Cedric Mullins in a reserve role.

Gunnar Henderson is slugging .727 against Angels' fastballs this season and .362 against other opponents’ fastballs, per STATS. He’s the third baseman tonight.

The Orioles registered their 44^th comeback win last night, tied with the Reds for most in the majors. They’ve won four games in a row and 10 of 13 to improve their record to 87-51, and they maintain a 3 ½ game lead over the Rays.

Kyle Gibson makes his 29^th start. He’s 13-8 with a 5.15 ERA and 1.340 WHIP in 162 2/3 innings. His 172 hits lead the American League.

Because my mailbag hates dry heat and cross-country flights, I’m answering more questions today from home and waiting to join the Orioles in Boston.

I go where it goes.

You understand how this works after 15 years. How it’s a sequel to the beloved 2008 original.

You want heavy editing? Go to a movie. I don’t tamper here. We’re crazy with clarity, sinful with style, bold with brevity, loony with length, ga-ga over grammar.

Also, my mailbag expands like a September roster and yours splits like the back of Ye’s jacket.

The Orioles have two three-game sweeps in their past eight series. On the homestand that ended Wednesday afternoon, it was close to being four of the last eight.

They won the first two games against Colorado but did not sweep and won the first two by a combined 18-3 score against the Chicago White Sox but did not sweep. 

But they won all three series and went 6-3 on the homestand. As they headed for a flight to Phoenix after yesterday's game, their lead was two games over the Rays pending Tampa Bay's result last night. 

Their lead was two games when the homestand started. The Rays are playing good baseball right now, but so are the Orioles.

"I think you look at a 6-3 homestand, we won all three series, so never going to complain about that, you feel good about that," said Orioles' manager Brandon Hyde.

A third fly ball landed on the other side of the fence today and an angry fan sitting near the Camden Yards press box couldn’t contain his emotions. Didn’t want to try.

“It’s the White Sox!” he yelled, the exit velocity of his words immeasurable.

A team that didn’t bring much energy to the series, lost the first two games by a combined 18-3 score and fired two senior members of the front office last week.

A team that fell behind by four runs this afternoon in the bottom of the first inning.

Kyle Gibson surrendered four in the top of the second and three more in the third, and the Orioles lost 10-5 before an announced crowd of 17,723 to deny them the sweep.

With victories by 9-0 and 9-3 in this series, the Orioles can record a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox with a win this afternoon at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (83-49), who matched last year's win total with last night's win, lead the American League East by 2 1/2 games over Tampa Bay.

Baltimore has won all three series on this homestand and would finish 7-2 with a win today. They are seeking their ninth series sweep and their eighth in a three-game series. 

This season, the Orioles have three-game series sweeps versus Detroit, at Toronto, versus Kansas City, at Minnesota, at home against Miami, versus the New York Mets and at Oakland. A sweep today would give the Orioles their third sweep in the last eight series.

The Orioles are now 27-13-3 in series play for the year and 14-7-1 in home series.

Kyle Bradish is named the starter for tonight’s game against the Rockies, the line moving again while the Orioles wait on Jack Flaherty.

No one who is new to the rotation is anticipated at this point. The same crew, one of the distinct differences from the past.

The Orioles have used only eight starting pitchers this season, the third-lowest total in the majors. And that includes Keegan Akin, who worked one inning as an opener on May 31 against the Guardians. He’s on the 60-day injured list.

The other starters are more memorable: Bradish, Flaherty, Kyle Gibson, Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer, Grayson Rodriguez and Cole Irvin.

The Blue Jays and Nationals were tied for fewest with seven heading into the weekend. The Twins, Brewers, White Sox, Cubs and Angels were ahead of the Orioles with nine.

Anthony Santander broke into the majors as a Rule 5 pick in 2017, playing in only 13 games. He appeared in 33 the following season, again making him a brief teammate of Adam Jones. Crossing paths more than settling into a deeper relationship.

Jones was gone by 2019, when Santander hit 20 doubles and 20 home runs to begin his ascension to impact player, but an impression already was made.

It didn't take long. Jones never needed a lot of time to leave an imprint.

The memories come back to Santander with today’s news that the five-time All-Star is returning on Sept. 15, presumably on a one-day contract, to retire as an Oriole.

“As a teammate, great, and his personality, awesome,” Santander said. “Thank God I got an opportunity to get to the big leagues and have him here, learn from him. How he prepared for the game to be able to compete every night. I think he brought a lot here to the Orioles and I was so happy having him as a teammate. I call him ‘The Jefe.’ He was really good with us.”

The Orioles are looking for another series win tonight as they host the Toronto Blue Jays to wrap up a three-game series. Toronto won in 10 innings 6-3 Tuesday night while the O’s won 7-0 last night on a four-pitcher, five-hitter.

It started with the starter.

Right-hander Dean Kremer pitched six scoreless on five hits with five strikeouts. He improved to 12-5 with an ERA of 4.31. He has an ERA of 3.06 over his past nine starts. Jacob Webb, Yennier Cano and Shintaro Fujinami finished the outing retiring nine in a row. Webb has thrown 8 2/3 scoreless on two hits with 12 strikeouts in nine games as an Oriole.

AL wins leaders:

13 - Zach Eflin, TB
12 - Dean Kremer & Kyle Gibson, O's, Chris Bassitt, Toronto

Adam Frazier returns to the Orioles lineup tonight after being unavailable due to a sore right thumb.

Frazier is batting ninth and playing second base.

Ramón Urías is the third baseman and Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop.

Anthony Santander, who homered twice last night, is in right field. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter.

The Rays won this afternoon and are 1 ½ games behind the Orioles.

Cole Irvin and Kyle Gibson see nothing wrong with it. Never to be accused of reliever bias in Cy Young Award voting.

Give it to the best pitcher, whatever role he fills. Whether he’s on the mound to start the first inning or the ninth.

Orioles closer Félix Bautista is aware of the chatter surrounding his candidacy. Irvin dresses only a few lockers away and gladly will lead the conversation.

“The fact that he’s in the discussion just points to how good he is,” Irvin said. “It’s impressive what he’s done this season. I mean, he’s averaging nearly two strikeouts an inning, and this is the best of the best in this league. So, for him to be doing that speaks to the quality of pitcher he is, and he’s been this season, and he’s most certainly deserving to be nominated, or even a candidate for the Cy Young.”

Bautista warmed and then sat last night, leaving him at 32 saves, a 1.52 ERA and 0.944 WHIP in 54 games, and 16.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He retired the side in order in the ninth the previous game, only the fourth time he hadn’t recorded a strikeout.

OAKLAND – Using an opener tonight didn’t work for the Athletics. Bringing in a rookie behind him didn’t work.

The idea of a Jerry Garcia tie-dye promotion also backfired, with the Orioles truckin’ around the bases.

The Orioles scored three times in the first inning, built on their lead with Gunnar Henderson’s long two-run homer in the second, and defeated the Athletics 9-4 before an announced crowd of 8,942 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Henderson had three hits and three RBIs by the fourth inning, and the Orioles improved to 75-47 overall, 39-24 on the road, 27-13 in series openers and 16-5 in openers away from Camden Yards.

The win also assured that they would go 79 consecutive series without being swept. They still lead the Rays by two games in the division.

After an off-day, the Orioles' road trip moves on to Oakland tonight for the start of a three-game weekend series. 

The Orioles (74-47) lead the American League East by two games over Tampa Bay, which also plays on the West Coast tonight against the Los Angeles Angels. 

The Orioles lost their last two games at San Diego. But over longer stretches they have won four of seven, 11 of 17, 17 of 27, 25 of 37 and 26 of 40. Playing .612 ball, the Orioles have the best record in the AL and third-best in MLB behind the Braves and Dodgers. 

Oakland (34-87) has had a miserable season pretty much since the start of the year. They began the season going 3-16 and 5-23.

It has gotten a bit better recently, with Oakland going 22-37 (.373) over the last 59 games dating back to June 6 after going 12-50 (.194) over the first 62 contests. Oakland is playing .281 baseball after 121 games. At this pace they would finish the year at 46-116. The last two Major League teams to finish with a winning percentage under .290 are the 2003 Tigers (43-119, .265) and 1962 Mets (40-120, .250).

SEATTLE – The story of the first game of an important O’s road trip was not hard to put a finger on. Right-hander Kyle Gibson, who had been on a six-start roll, hit a brick wall and that roll was stopped.

As the Seattle Mariners hit three homers off him and extended their winning streak to eight, Gibson and the Orioles got beat 9-2 in Seattle. Their AL East lead is now down to two games over Tampa Bay.

“First game of a long road trip, an important road trip for us. And I just didn’t give the team a chance to win,” said Gibson, who had an ERA of 3.86 in his previous six games with five quality starts.

He pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed 12 hits to tie his career high. Gibson gave up nine runs to set a career high. He had only given up five runs or more four times this year out of 24 games. And for his career, he had never given up more than eight runs in any of his previous 285 career starts.

But a five-run fourth gave Seattle a 7-1 lead and they were on their way to a comfortable win. Gibson allowed a two-run homer in the first to Cal Raleigh, a three-run shot in the fourth to Julio Rodríguez and a solo blast in the fifth by Ty France. Each homer was hit 100 mph+ with Raleigh’s shot having a 112.6 mph exit velocity.

SEATTLE – When O’s right-hander Kyle Gibson faced the Seattle Mariners on June 23 in Baltimore, he had one of his toughest nights of the year. He had another tough one against the same team on Friday night.

Seattle scored twice in the first and five times in the fourth and hit three homers off Gibson as they beat the Orioles 9-2 to start the three-game series and to start the O’s nine-game West Coast road trip.

Catcher Cal Raleigh hit a two-run shot in the first, 2022 American League Rookie of the Year Julio Rodríguez hit a three-run shot in the fourth and Ty France hit a solo blast in the fifth.

Gibson had another tough night facing Seattle. Over 5 1/3 innings he gave up 12 hits to tie his career-high and allowed a career-high nine runs. His previous most in a start was eight done five times. He had not allowed more than six runs in any start this year.

Seattle was hitting hard from the star tonight. Through five innings, the Mariners had hit seven balls in play over 100 mph and 10 balls at 99 mph or more.

SEATTLE – The Orioles begin a three-city, nine-game West Coast road trip tonight with the first of three games against the Seattle Mariners. The trip later takes them on to San Diego and Oakland before they return home on Aug. 22 versus Toronto.

The Orioles (71-44) began today leading the AL East by three games over Tampa Bay after they won Thursday while the Rays lost. The Orioles avoided being swept yet again with a 5-4 win over Houston.

It was the sixth time this year they lost the first two games of a three-game series but won the third game. They also did that versus Texas, at Milwaukee, at the Chicago Cubs, versus Minnesota and against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oriole Park.

So the Orioles have now gone 76 consecutive series without being swept since May 13-15, 2022 when they went 0-3 at Detroit. This is the fifth-longest streak in MLB history. The next team to catch on that list would be the New York Yankees from 1922-24, who went 83 consecutive series without being swept.

The Orioles have now won five of seven, eight of 11, 12 of 18 and 22 of their past 31 games. They are 17-9 in the second half.

The Orioles are in Seattle tonight to begin their three-city West Coast road trip, and they’re trying to cool off a Mariners team that’s won seven games in a row and 12 of 14.

Cedric Mullins came off the injured list today and is playing center field, but manager Brandon Hyde is batting him fifth behind right fielder Ryan O’Hearn. Mullins is slotted fifth for the fifth time this season.

Adley Rutschman holds onto the leadoff spot, with shortstop Gunnar Henderson batting second.

Colton Cowser is in left field. Adam Frazier returns to Seattle and is starting at second base.

Ryan Mountcastle will attempt to extend his hitting streak to 13 games and his on-base streak to a career-high 18. He’s batting sixth and playing first base.

SEATTLE – Two right-handers that could prove very important for the Orioles will be pitching this weekend. But while right-hander Kyle Gibson will seek a fifth straight quality start tonight at Seattle, Tyler Wells will take the mound in Richmond tomorrow night, making his second start since he was optioned to Double-A Bowie.

Wells headed for the minors after matching and then exceeding his 2022 season innings total and going thru a three-start stretch for the Orioles where he gave up 11 runs over nine innings.

Earlier this year Gibson, the veteran leader of the O’s staff at age 35, had some words of wisdom for rookie Grayson Rodriguez when he was sent back to the minors. Gibson said he and Wells had a similar talk the day after Wells was optioned to the Baysox.

“Had a really good conversation with him,” said Gibson. “I think his head is in a really good place. I’ve been to the spot where I’ve reached a career-high in innings and I’ve been to the spot where I’ve thrown in September for the first time in my career. And I was tired.

“I know that this organization has a plan for him to be a big part of this team. Here toward the end or whatever it is. Not just Tyler, but some of these bullpen guys and our young starters, who have never played a six-month and now hopefully a seven-month season.

Now that he got his first Orioles start out of the way – and it was a good one last Thursday at Toronto’s Rogers Centre – tonight right-hander Jack Flaherty will make his Oriole Park debut for his new team. 

Acquired just minutes before the trade deadline from the St. Louis Cardinals, the 27-year-old Flaherty, a free agent at the end of this season, got the win at Toronto in his O’s debut. He had a shutout going through five on 58 pitches and gave up one run but pitched out of a jam in the Toronto sixth.

It was a solid six-inning outing where he gave up just four hits and a run with two walks and eight strikeouts on 92 pitches. He was getting whiffs on all his pitches and his 19 swings and misses were his second-highest total in 21 starts between two teams. The eight strikeouts was a total he has produced just four times this year and he allowed one run or less for the eighth time between the Cardinals and Orioles.

The day he pitched against the Blue Jays, right-hander Kyle Gibson talked about his new rotation mate.

“When you can bring in a veteran starter that has that kind of track record of getting deep into games and having swing and miss stuff (it's great),” he said. “Being a guy that has playoff experience and has pitched at the highest level of the game. I think he can bring a lot. He’s still really young."

A capacity crowd stood and cheered players from the 1983 championship team as they walked onto the field in a pregame ceremony, with the loudest ovations aimed at the three Hall of Famers. Fans chanted Eddie Murray’s name like the old days. Rick Dempsey waved a towel over his head, tossed it to the ground, lifted his arms and spelled out O-R-I-O-L-E-S.

He wasn’t a solo act.

The home venue sounded like old Memorial Stadium tonight, the clock spun back 40 years. Murray, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jim Palmer threw out the ceremonial first pitches. Highlights from the season were played on the video board between innings.

The current Orioles soaked in the nostalgia, watching from the dugout along with team executive Mike Elias, then set out again to leave their own mark.

It’s usually black and blue on an opponent.