The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Recalled RHP Jonathan Heasley from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Placed LHP John Means on the 15-day Injured List (left forearm strain).

CHICAGO – Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel’s season has once again taken a turn for the better. He got a save in the recent Seattle series – just his second save since late April.

After going thru a six-game slump where he dealt with upper back soreness and gave up seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, his last four outings looked a lot like his first 10.

In those first 10 innings, through April 22, he allowed one run with one walk and 16 strikeouts. Then he briefly was yanked from his closer’s role while staying on the active roster and dealing with the back issue.

Now, over his past four games he has not allowed a hit or run with no walks and six strikeouts.

It’s like he has had three different seasons. His last save was No. 426 of his career in his 800^th career appearance. He is No. 6 on the all-time saves list.

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• Added LHP Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk to serve as the 27^th man for today’s doubleheader.

ST. LOUIS - The Orioles and Cardinals will wrap up their three-game series today at Busch Stadium, completing last night's suspended game and then playing the regularly scheduled third and final game of the set.

The O's have struggled to hit thus far this series, going 3-for-31 in Monday's 6-3 loss. Last night's game was suspended by rain in a 1-1 tie before the beginning of the last of the sixth inning. The O's went 2-for-21 in that one, getting doubles from Kyle Stowers and Jorge Mateo.

Mateo's two-base hit to left, stung at 107.7 mph off his bat into left field, scored the Birds' only run last night. It tied the game 1-1 in the fifth after Nolan Gorman's RBI double in the second had put St. Louis ahead.

The O's Gunnar Henderson hit his 16th homer here on Monday night, a three-run shot. He has hit four in the last four completed O's games and 13 in the last 30 games. According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Henderson is the fifth player age 22 or younger to hit at least 16 homers in his team's first 45 games. He joins Washington's Bryce Harper in 2015, Seattle's Alex Rodriguez in 1998, the Washington Senators' Harmon Killebrew in 1959 and the Milwaukee Braves' Eddie Matthews in 1953. 

If Henderson hits one in what is left of last night's game, he will have homered in five consecutive games. The last Oriole to do that was Jonathan Schoop in 2018. The team record is six games in a row with a home run, co-held by Reggie Jackson in 1976 and Chris Davis in 2012.

ST. LOUIS – The Orioles have had many nights this year where they have been an aggressive hitting team. And many nights where that works out well for them.

They began last night leading the American League in runs per game. But they also ranked 14^th and next to last in walk rate and they are 28^th in the majors with a walk rate of 7.0 percent. American League average is 8.2.

The O’s hitters, on average, see 3.80 pitches per plate appearance to rank 11^th-most in the league and league average is 3.88 per PA.

Yes, they rate low in walks, but high in runs scored and they rank first in the majors in slugging and sixth in MLB in team OPS where they are also third in the AL.

In an extended answer before last night’s game, manager Brandon Hyde explained why many nights the O’s are an aggressive hitting team that sometimes hunts pitches early in counts and why they like it that way.

Most of Trey Mancini’s swings are now done with a tennis racket. He’s living in Miami with wife Sara Perlman, his last baseball game played in spring training with the Marlins before they granted his release on March 23. Interest from other teams hasn’t really percolated and he’s fine with any outcome.

The Cubs are paying Mancini through the rest of the season after signing him to a two-year, $14 million deal in January 2023. They released him seven months later after he batted .234/.299/.336 with 12 doubles and four home runs in 79 games, and he spent a week in the Reds organization, appearing in five games with Triple-A Louisville and going 6-for-19 with two doubles and two home runs.

That release was followed by a minor league deal with the Marlins in January, a 9-for-35 spring with a double and home run, and the opt-out after being told that he wouldn’t make the club.

Mancini, 32, has a World Series ring with the Astros but his finest seasons and fondest memories are with the Orioles, who drafted him in 2013 and brought him to the majors three years later. They traded him at the 2022 deadline while in contention, an unpopular move with fans but not unexpected with free agency pending.

Nothing is more important than what follows here: Trey Mancini has been cancer-free for four years.

ST. LOUIS – A storm producing heavy rain that rolled through Busch Stadium tonight just after 8 p.m local time has forced the suspension of tonight’s Orioles-Cardinals game.

The game will resume Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. local time (12:15 p.m ET) with the teams tied 1-1 and St. Louis coming to bat in the last of the sixth. When that game ends, and 30 minutes later, they will play Wednesday's regularly scheduled nine-inning game. 

Tonight, right-hander Kyle Bradish made his fourth start since coming off the injured list. Just like Dean Kremer last night, he had to pitch early on with no run support.

But he got the job done allowing one run over the first four innings on 61 pitches and twice stranding runners at second and third. He did that in the third and fourth innings by getting big outs.

The Orioles didn’t score until the sixth inning last night and not until the fifth tonight.

ST. LOUIS – By Orioles standards and based on their play so far this year, last night’s road trip opening game was just not good enough. And the Birds will look to get back in the win column tonight with improved play in the second of a three-game series at St. Louis. 

Being held to three hits was a season low for the Orioles, the sixth time that has happened. They lost at St. Louis 6-3. 

Gunnar Henderson’s three-run homer in the sixth inning got them back into the game, but they never could get even or move ahead after the Cardinals opened a 5-0 lead in the last of the fourth.

But Henderson gained the major league lead with his 16^th homer. He is the first Oriole since DJ Stewart in September 2020 to homer in four consecutive games. He has six in his past 10 games and 13 in the last 30. That is also the most in the majors in that span of games during which his OPS is 1.062.

But Monday night, the Cardinals' No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, Masyn Winn and Michael Siani, combined for four hits, two runs and all six RBIs as the home team won for the sixth time in the past eight games.

ST. LOUIS – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde could not have been thrilled to see the Cardinals steal four bases last night in their series-opening 6-3 win.

The four steals matched a St. Louis season best done one time before. The four allowed is an O's season high, now done three times, once each by Washington, Kansas City and now St. Louis.

Adley Rutschman caught 22 percent of the runners trying to steal last year and that number is 21 percent this year.

“I think the majority of the time, it’s usually on the pitcher,” said Hyde today in the visitor's dugout. “You know, look at those four against him last night, there is absolutely nothing you can do about those four. You’re going to have to balance it with: Did he have a chance or not? And the majority of the time he really hasn’t this year.”

Hyde and the Orioles are very aware, of course, of which of their pitchers are good at holding runners and which ones have challenges. Last night’s starter, Dean Kremer, had seen his opponents steal one base on him all year and St. Louis got two bags.

Ryan Mountcastle is in tonight’s lineup at first base, as the Orioles try to even their series in St. Louis.

Mountcastle came off the bench last night. He hadn’t been in the lineup for two of the last three games.

Kyle Stowers is in right field. Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter.

Anthony Santander, playing with a bruised left knee, is on the bench.

Jordan Westburg is batting cleanup again.

ST. LOUIS – The Orioles remarkable Gunnar Henderson can always seem to make his special play sound like it’s not that special. But we all know better.

He can say he made an adjustment here, or a tweak there, got with the coaches and now feels more comfortable.

But however he wants to say it, he just keeps bashing baseballs out of ballparks. St. Louis right-hander Sonny Gray was no-hitting the Orioles into the sixth inning when Henderson struck. A 417-foot shot to center and a 5-0 deficit was now 5-3.

Henderson hit his MLB-leading 16^th homer. He is now on a pace for the year, rounding up here, for 58 homers.

Gunnar, you pretty locked in at the moment?

ST. LOUIS – After going 5-3 on the season’s longest homestand, the Orioles are in St. Louis tonight to begin a three-game series and seven-game road trip that moves to Chicago on Thursday.

The Seattle pitching staff began the weekend at Camden Yards ranked fourth in the American League in team ERA at 3.33 and fifth in rotation ERA at 3.36.

But the Orioles scored 18 runs on 28 hits off the Mariners, including six doubles, three triples and four homers, while going 2-1 in the weekend series. The team average was .277 and OPS .839, and they went 9-for-28 with runners in scoring position against Seattle.

The Orioles (29-15) have won three of the last four games, 10 of 14 and 17 of their past 25. They are now 10-3-2 in series for the year and are 6-2-1 in home series. They are now 4-2 in rubber match games.

One of the best developments in recent days for the club might be that some struggling outfielders started to hit. Center fielder Cedric Mullins went 3-for-8 with two RBIs the last two days, and at least that’s a start to turning around his season. Austin Hays has five hits his last 13 at-bats, which actually dates back to before he went on the injured list. And Colton Cowser, whose average was down to .267 in early May, is now batting .310 (9-for-29) with three doubles, four RBIs and an .861 OPS his past nine games.

For long-time fans of the Orioles minor leagues, it might come as a surprise. There were many seasons when the Double-A Bowie Baysox, playing in the shadow of Washington, D.C., struggled to draw fans.

But in the last few years that has turned around. There have been four nights this year when Bowie drew 7,000 or more and for eight Friday and Saturday dates this season, the Baysox have averaged 7,125 fans. 

From 2022 to 2023, Bowie ranked No. 3 out of the 120 full-season minor league teams with an average attendance increase of 34.4 percent. Wichita was No. 1 with a higher increase on average and Binghamton No. 2.

These are better days throughout the minors with overall attendance for all teams up 4.4 percent from 2022 to 2023. Double-A teams were up 5.3 percent and the Eastern League itself, of which Bowie is a member, was up 6.8.

Bowie is nowhere close to the top drawing team in baseball or even in its own league. But the gains are still impressive and ongoing into this season.

Gunnar Henderson has got the routine down to where he could perform it in his sleep. But it makes more sense at the ballpark.

The loud contact leading off the first inning. Touching the bill of his helmet as he approaches second base and looks at the bullpen. The hop after stepping on home plate and slapping of hands above his head. The crouching low-five to the No. 2 hitter. The upright and aggressive double-smack with the next batter in front of the dugout.

Jordan Westburg greeted Henderson first today and Ryan O’Hearn was next in line. The major league co-leader in home runs got his 15^th today and fifth to start off the first inning. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound. Henderson is in attack mode and flashing power that’s Derby worthy.

Henderson’s third homer in three days pointed the Orioles toward a 6-3 victory over the Mariners before an announced crowd of 30,494 at Camden Yards. They went 5-3 on the homestand, with a game rained out, and are 29-15 as they board a flight to St. Louis.

Corbin Burnes held Seattle to one run over six innings, scattering seven hits and tying his season high of 11 strikeouts from Opening Day. He struck out two in his last outing, a career low as a starter.

The Orioles offense broke out Friday in a 9-2 win over Seattle. But after taking an early 2-0 lead last night, the Orioles scored just one more run and lost to the Mariners 4-3. That sets up these teams for a rubber match today to end this series and homestand.

The Orioles are 3-2 in rubber match games and Seattle is 5-3.

The Orioles are 28-15 overall and they are 4-3 on the homestand ending this afternoon before the Orioles head to St. Louis and Chicago for a week-long road trip with the Cardinals and White Sox.

The O's bullpen last night allowed four runs or more in a game for just the fifth time all year and for the second time in the last 23 games.

With last night's game, the Orioles have officially extended their sweepless streak to 106 consecutive regular season series of at least two decisions (no ties), passing the 1903-05 New York Giants for the third-longest such streak in major leauge history.

Anthony Santander can hit if he’s sent to the plate. His swollen and bruised left knee can handle it. But playing the outfield is on hold.

Santander is receiving treatment on the knee after he slammed it into the right field wall in the third inning Wednesday afternoon while chasing Bo Bichette’s fly ball that deflected off his glove and resulted in a two-run double.

The knee already was tender, and Santander aggravated it in the eighth inning while running the bases. He was replaced in right field in the top of the ninth and served as the designated hitter the past two games.

“The knee’s feeling OK,” he said. “It’s still swollen and bruised. A couple more days it’s gonna be fine.”

Santander said the soreness has been “the same” since Wednesday.

Adley Rutschman gets a rare day off this afternoon as the Orioles conclude their series against the Mariners at Camden Yards. They also have reached the end of their three-opponent homestand.

Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter. Colton Cowser is in right field while Anthony Santander receives treatment on a bruised left knee.

Austin Hays stays in the lineup in left field. Jordan Westburg is batting second for the first time in his career.

Ryan Mountcastle returns to the lineup. He hasn’t drawn a walk this month.

Corbin Burnes is working on an extra day of rest. He has a 2.68 ERA and 1.006 WHIP in nine games despite averaging 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings, the lowest of his career.

For Orioles outfielder Austin Hays, it was a familiar ballpark, just one he had not seen in person for quite awhile. From May 7-12, and a few days before that in practice, Hays spent time with the Double-A Bowie Baysox on his injury rehab assignment.

From 2017 through 2019, Hays, on his way up in the Baltimore farm system, spent time with Bowie. Once the Orioles' No. 1 ranked prospect, he batted .283 with 31 homers, 34 doubles and 108 RBIs in 144 total games with the Baysox. His best season in Bowie was in 2017 as just a 21-year-old when he hit .330 with 16 homers, 17 doubles and 54 RBIs in 64 games. He was a finalist that year for Baseball America’s National Player of the Year.

Now years later, he wore the Baysox uniform as a major league vet. A player for the kids now coming up through Bowie can try and learn from.

“I can feel that, as a bit older now, there are a lot more questions asked then when I was there in the past. Just kind of, ‘What’s your approach on this? What does your routine look like?’ Different questions like that,” Hays said the Bowie players asked him.

And he was very happy to help those prospects if he could.

The lineup card is kept in Brandon Hyde’s office, commemorating his first win as a major league manager back on March 30, 2019 in the Bronx. Only his second game after being put in charge of guiding the team through a rebuild.

Hyde takes the occasional glance and can smile and cringe within seconds. He developed an unbreakable bond with those players but wouldn’t want to relive such a dark period in franchise history. Wouldn’t want to keep trying to wake up from the same nightmare.

Dwight Smith Jr. was in left field, Rule 5 pick Drew Jackson in center, Joey Rickard in right and Renato Núñez in the cleanup spot as the designated hitter. Richie Martin played shortstop. Jesús Sucre was the catcher.

The starting pitcher pops more than any other name, especially in comparison to the 2024 Orioles.

Nate Karns lasted two innings and Hyde used five relievers, beginning with Jimmy Yacabonis, to lock down a 5-3 victory. Mike Wright Jr. got the last two outs for the save.

Facing a first-place Seattle team, one that was 20-12 since April 10 with a team ERA of 2.63, the Orioles won the series-opening game last night. And now a win in one of the next two days will give them yet another series victory.

The Orioles offense, one that scored 3.7 runs per game the previous 14 games to rank 21st in the majors in that span, broke out last night in a 9-2 win with 10 hits and five for extra bases. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser all had two-hit games. Henderson and Cowser each drove in two runs as the Orioles went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had five players drive in runs.

The first five batters scored to start the game, the first time the Birds have done that since the first six scored to begin a July 30, 2023 game against the Yankees. Jorge Mateo and Henderson tripled to begin the seventh inning, the first time the Orioles have hit back-to-back triples since July 3, 2008 versus Kansas City (4th inning, Adam Jones and Brandon Fahey). Rutschman and pinch-hitter Austin Hays followed with doubles, marking the first time the team has hit four consecutive extra-base hits since Sept. 23, 2018 at New York (6th inning, Trey Mancini, Tim Beckham, Renato Núñez and Joey Rickard).

Henderson and Jordan Westburg have hit leadoff homers the last two games, the sixth time in O's history the team has hit a leadoff homer in at least two consecutive team games and the first time since Melvin Mora did it June 28-29, 2002. Baltimore leads the major leagues with five leadoff homers this season; Henderson's four leadoff home runs are tied with Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber for the most this season.

The O's have an majors-best 2.12 ERA in their last 15 games (since April 29). During that time, the Birds have surrendered an majors-low 92 hits while holding opponents to a .186 batting average. The 2.12 ERA is the best mark in a 15-game span in a single season by the Orioles since Sept. 6-21, 2014 (2.06).