The Orioles, after losing 3-0 at Washington last night, need a win tonight in the second and final game of this series to avoid being swept in a regular season series for the first time since May 2022.

The Orioles went sweepless the entire 2023 regular season and through their first 11 series of this season. But their record run of going 102 straight regular season series without being swept could end tonight at Nats Park.

The Orioles were swept three straight in the American League Division Series last October. But their last sweep in the regular season was at Detroit from May 13-15, 2002.

Their current run of 102 straight series of at least two decisions (no ties) is easily the longest in O’s history, blowing by a run of 46 straight sweepless series during the 1971 and 1972 seasons.

This is the fourth-longest streak in major league history.

WASHINGTON – Grayson Rodriguez has advanced his throwing program to today’s bullpen session at Nationals Park.

Rodriguez, on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation, was playing catch before the Orioles cleared him to throw off a mound. He totaled about 15 pitches and spun a few rather than going strictly with his fastball.

“It was good. Everything felt good,” he said.

“Very encouraging. Obviously anytime you go on the IL, not good. But to be feeling good like I am, I guess pretty positive.”

The Orioles haven’t laid out the rest of the plan, but Rodriguez is getting back on the mound. He’ll face live hitters soon and a decision will be made whether he needs a brief rehab assignment.

WASHINGTON – Kyle Bradish makes his second start tonight since his reinstatement from the injured list, and the Orioles are attempting to avoid being swept in a regular season series for the first time since May 2022.

The streak of 102 series is on the line.

Bradish allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings Thursday against the Yankees in his 2024 debut. He’s started twice against the Nationals and racked up 14 scoreless innings.

Keibert Ruiz is 3-for-5 against Bradish.

Cedric Mullins moves down to ninth in the lineup tonight against the latest opposing left-handed starter. Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter while James McCann catches.

He may have stumbled during the 2023 playoffs, but in 41 regular season games since the club acquired him last Aug. 7 heading into last night, right-handed reliever Jacob Webb has a 2.70 ERA, 1.036 WHIP and 10.1 K rate.

This year, in 17 games counting last night, he has an ERA of 1.76 with five walks to 19 strikeouts over 15 1/3 innings. Opponent batters have hit just .176 off him and lefty batters are just 1-for-19.

In the Yankees series, he fanned Aaron Judge in big spots in two separate games and fanned six in two games over just 2 2/3 innings. He was dominant at times.

While Webb said his changeup has been really good this year, another factor in his success is pitching with a lot of emotion. The fire burns within and the pitches move more, find their spots more and get more swings and misses it seems when passion is also part of his outings.

“Every time I go out to pitch, I try to create that emotion and that feeling,” Webb told me recently. “But I feel like some (games) are bigger than others, certain situations. I would just say I try to lock in like that every time and get myself pumped up as much as I can.

WASHINGTON - Dean Kremer was following the rotation’s lead of hanging up zeros, being extra stingy Sunday afternoon with only one hit allowed, and the bats broke out to remove any potential drama. A sweep in Cincinnati was a certainty, with only the final score pending.

Anthony Santander provided the game’s first run with his RBI single in the first inning, but he had one more damaging swing in him. It didn’t influence the outcome, but he needed it.

Facing right-hander Emilio Pagán in the ninth, Santander laid into a four-seam fastball and drove it 402 feet to right-center field for his third career grand slam.

Santander had five hits since April 21 before going 3-for-4 to raise his average from .200 to .218 and his OPS from .668 to .722. He was slashing .179/.225/.381 against right-handers before last night, increasing the important of the blow against Pagán.

The only other five-RBI game in Santander’s career was May 5, 2023, against the Braves and he also hit a grand slam.

It was a week ago yesterday when the Orioles started a four-game series with the New York Yankees. The day before, they'd blown a ninth-inning lead for the second time in three games versus Oakland and lost 7-6. They lost two of three in that series.

They have lost one game since, due to a run of stunning pitching.

In the seven games beginning with the Yankees series, they have allowed, in order, zero, two, two and two runs. Then in Cincinnati, they allowed zero, one and one run as they outscored the Reds 16-2 during a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.

Over the last seven games that is two runs or fewer given up each game. It is the longest such run by an O’s team within a single season since an eight-game streak from Aug. 1-Aug. 8, 1980.

The Orioles have allowed eight runs total and posted a team ERA of 1.14 the past seven games, along with an opponent batting average of .154 and a .455 OPS against.

One of the many great things about the Orioles having so many good young players is that many of them came up together. Not only are they great friends – which no doubt helps them win on the field – but they know each other’s games so well.

They can provide insights and scouting reports on each other that might rival what a scout might see or report.

Take Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson. Westburg once described himself as the older brother in the relationship. Now he knows younger bro is all grown up.

The 2023 American League Rookie of the Year is now playing like a future MVP. There is little Gunnar Henderson can’t do on a baseball field. He’s doing it all this year for the Orioles, batting .274 with a .914 OPS and 10 homers. 

“It doesn’t surprise me. To me it just seems like he’s taking that natural progression,” Westburg told me over the weekend in Cincinnati. “And he’s getting older, having more experience, maturing. But his strong game has always been there. I have always had the confidence in the ability that he is showing now. So, it doesn’t surprise me.

The rotation received a roundhouse shot in the arm with the Feb. 1 trade for ace Corbin Burnes. It absorbed a couple of blows with the spring training news that Kyle Bradish, the Orioles’ Game 1 starter in the Division series, and former All-Star John Means would begin the season on the injured list, and then lost Tyler Wells last month to elbow inflammation. The unit grew stronger with the returns of Bradish and Means but also lost Grayson Rodriguez to shoulder inflammation.

The calm keeps clashing with the storms, but the Orioles headed into their off-day with the fifth-lowest team ERA in the majors at 3.31. The starters’ ERA fell to 3.18, sixth in the majors and fourth in the American League. The staff’s 1.08 WHIP ranked fourth in the majors and third in the AL.

The Orioles have allowed two runs or fewer in seven consecutive games, their longest single-season streak since Aug. 1-8, 1980, when they reached eight. The ERA is 1.14 during this stretch.

Starters plowed through the Reds’ order over the weekend, failing to surrender a run in 19 1/3 innings. And they did it without Burnes and Bradish, who are on deck in D.C. and trying to extend the starters' streak of six-plus shutout innings to five and tie the club record from Sept. 2-6, 1974 and Sept. 26-Oct. 1, 1995.

How’s that for pitching depth? Wait for Wells and Rodriguez and keep hanging zeros.

The Austin Hays workouts are turning into an injury rehab assignment.

The Orioles announced that Hays will begin playing for Double-A Bowie on Tuesday night against the Akron RubberDucks at Prince George’s Stadium. First pitch is 6:35 p.m.

Hays is on the injured list since April 22 with a left calf strain. He was 5-for-45 with no extra-base hits and a .311 OPS in 19 games.

The recent at-bats were producing more solid contact and he collected a hit in each of his last two games. He tweaked the knee running from first to third base against the Royals on April 20 in Kansas City and decided he couldn’t cover the necessary ground in left field, which led to Colton Cowser as a defensive replacement and a trip to the IL.

Hays ramped up baseball activities Thursday at Camden Yards, sprinting between bases and taking batting practice on the field.

CINCINNATI - Before Sunday’s game, first-year Orioles pitching Drew French met with reporters, who of course asked about the recent great run of O’s pitching.

Then they went out and recorded another scoreless start and held the Cincinnati Reds to three hits and one run in Sunday’s 11-1 win to complete a three-game sweep.

In the series in Cincinnati, O’s starters pitched 19 1/3 scoreless allowing just six hits. In the series, O’s pitchers gave up two runs and 11 hits with five walks to 26 strikeouts.

The team ERA is down to 3.31. That ranks fifth-best both in the American League and in MLB.

What has been the key to this amazing run, French was asked?

In the unpredictable world of baseball, it’s been fascinating to watch Jorge Mateo go from bubble non-tender guy to trade bait to integral part of the Orioles’ lineup planning.

He has a role on a first-place team and owners of the best record in the American League that for quite some time appeared to have little use for him. Another good reminder of the dangers of rushing to conclusions.

Mateo was groomed and advertised as more of a super-utility guy, with club promises to test him more regularly in the outfield at spring training. It didn’t happen that much, and he’s settled in as a second baseman.

Jackson Holliday eventually will become the everyday player at the position, but he was platooned during his brief stay in the majors and currently is leading off again for Triple-A Norfolk. He went 1-for-3 yesterday with a double, two walks, two strikeouts and a run scored and is batting .278 with a .928 OPS.

Mateo entered yesterday’s series finale against the Reds with home runs in two of his last three games. Before Thursday, he hadn’t hit a ball over the fence since April 30, 2023 in Detroit. He delivered an inside-the-park homer on Aug. 20 in Oakland.

CINCINNATI – After pitching-led 3-0 and 2-1 wins over the Cincinnati Reds this weekend, the Orioles can sweep this series today with a victory at Great American Ball Park.

The O’s took a 2-0 lead to the ninth last night and hung on for a 2-1 win. They improved to 22-11 and have won three in a row, five of six, 10 of 14 and 14 of the last 19 games. They are now 10-4 in road games.

They have won this series and are now 8-3 in series play for the season and are 4-1 in road series, losing only at Pittsburgh.

Baltimore has two series sweeps, both of three games, this year. They won three straight April 9-11 at Boston by a combined 23-10 score and three in a row at home versus Minnesota April 15-17 by 22-9. 

The Orioles began this series ranking first in the American League in slugging and fourth in OPS. They remain first in the major leagues in team homers and were scoring 5.29 runs per game – third-best in the majors – at the start of this weekend.

CINCINNATI – As the Orioles watched left-hander John Means roll through seven scoreless last night, getting more swings and misses than he had since his 2021 no-hitter, they had to be excited and elated.

Here it was just May 4 and now both Kyle Bradish and Means are back. The team is 22-11 and in first place. A staff that was already pitching well added an All-Star and a pitcher that finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award vote in 2023.

In a span of three days, Bradish and Means looked as good as ever, proved they are healthy and combined to allow one run over 11 2/3 innings.

At one time, John Means Day meant a losing O’s team had something to look forward to. Now Means just wants to fit in with a first-place club and do his part.

“You know, this team is playing so well, you just want to join them, you want to feel that energy they are feeling," he said. "So to be back and be able to feel that, pretty incredible.”

The Orioles wrap up their series against the Reds this afternoon, going for the sweep, and I’m unwrapping three more questions that hang in the air. At least where I’m breathing.

The good news is there’s a definite answer to the first one.

What the heck happened to Terrin Vavra?

Vavra posted photos recently on his Instagram account with a caption about “the most trying 10 months of my career” and offering thanks for the support he’s received. The first photo showed Vavra in his hospital bed holding one of his children.

Was this a new surgery on his shoulder that would perhaps ruin his chances of playing in 2024, or was he celebrating the end of his rehab from his original labrum procedure last fall?

CINCINNATI – It was April 17^th in Jacksonville, Florida, and one-time O’s ace John Means was pitching in his fourth injury rehab game with Triple-A Norfolk.

He didn’t get out of the first inning, threw just 34 pitches and gave up five runs and two homers.

But things were very different tonight. Very different.

Means, who had his best rehab game last Sunday with seven scoreless on one hit for the Tides, picked up tonight where he left off there as the Orioles beat Cincinnati 2-1 to take the first two in this series in front of 33,202 at Great American Ball Park.

There was much drama in the ninth as the Reds, down 2-0, got a run off Craig Kimbrel and had bases loaded and one out. But Yennier Cano got the save with a strikeout and flyout to end this thriller and make Means a winning pitcher.

CINCINNATI – The Orioles are on a real solid pitching roll here and try to keep that going tonight with the return of left-hander John Means to the Baltimore rotation.

The O’s produced a four-pitcher, two-hit shutout last night and beat Cincinnati 3-0 in the series and road trip opener in front of 25,861 at Great American Ball Park.

They are now 21-11 and have won four of five and nine of their past 13 games. They are 9-4 on the road, 8-3 in series-opening games and 4-1 when that series opener is on the road.

In the last five games, O’s pitching has allowed 0, 2, 2, 2 and 0 runs. That is six runs allowed in that span, for an ERA of 1.20, giving up 24 hits in 45 innings with a .157 batting average against and .486 OPS.

Over those five games, Baltimore starters have an ERA of 1.52 and in that stretch, the bullpen pitchers have allowed just one run over 15 1/3 innings with one walk to 16 strikeouts.

CINCINNATI – O’s lefty John Means is back on a major league mound tonight for the first time since Sept. 29, 2023, versus Boston. After not getting in a game in spring training and making six rehab starts at Triple-A, he faces the Cincinnati Reds in Game 2 of this weekend's series.

“Yeah, excited to watch him,” manager Brandon Hyde said today. “Long road back. The long road back was last year and now with the setback that he had it pushed the season back for him a little bit. But he’s excited to get out there. Hoping everything goes well and he finishes feeling good and healthy. We’re all looking forward to watching him pitch.”

O’s pitching has been on a roll recently with two shutouts in the last five games, allowing six total runs and 30 runs allowed the past 12 games with a team ERA of 2.33.

“With the amount of quality arms we have, especially in the rotation right now, the depth we have is huge. And you know, try to keep those guys healthy as much as possible,” added Hyde.

Hyde also today discussed the club’s stolen base success rate. While tonight’s opponent, Cincinnati, leads MLB with 56 steals, the Reds stolen base percentage of 83.6 percent ranks ninth in the majors. Baltimore, with 26 steals in 29 attempts, leads the majors with an 88.9 success rate.

John Means makes his 2024 debut tonight as the Orioles continue their series in Cincinnati following last night’s 3-0 win. And after Cole Irvin ran his scoreless streak to 20 2/3 innings.

Means hasn’t pitched for the Orioles since Sept. 29 against the Red Sox, when he allowed two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings. He faced teammates in a simulated game at Camden Yards prior to the Division Series and experienced discomfort in his elbow/forearm area that led to his exclusion from the roster, a delayed off-season throwing program and stint on the injured list.

Tonight marks his latest comeback to the rotation, and he’s with a club that’s 21-11, has won 13 of its last 18 games and is one ahead of the Yankees for first place.

The Reds are a new opponent for Means, who’s posted a career 3.97 ERA in 13 starts against the National League.

Jeimer Candelario is 3-for-8 with a double, triple, RBI and walk against him. Santiago Espinal is 2-for-2 with a double and RBI.

CINCINNATI - A new season is beginning today for the Orioles' rookie-level Florida Complex League team. Listed below is the roster for this year’s O’s FCL squad.

This roster features a heavy international flavor with 18 players from the Dominican Republic, 16 born in Venezuela and one from Cuba.

The roster includes infielder Luis Almeyda who was signed to the largest bonus for an international amateur in team history at $2.3 million on Jan. 15, 2023.

Almeyda, now 18, was limited to 19 games in the Dominican Summer League last year by first an ankle sprain and then by a left shoulder issue which required surgery in August.

The roster features three players with this club on minor league injury rehab assignments. They are infielders Terrin Vavra and Max Wagner, and pitcher Jake Cunningham.

CINCINNATI – One pitcher has been added and left-hander John Means is next. When the veteran O’s lefty starts tonight at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, he will join right-hander Kyle Bradish as another recent addition to the Baltimore rotation.

Grayson Rodriguez went to the injured list, Albert Suárez went to the bullpen and first Bradish and now Means are back.

If it goes as well for Means as it did this week for Bradish, the Orioles will be pretty excited about that.

Means had Tommy John surgery in April of 2022 and finally made it back to the Orioles for the final month last year. His first game last Sept. 12 was the O’s 144^th of the year. But Means went 1-2 with a 2.66 ERA over four starts and helped the club down the stretch.

He would have likely started an American League Division Series game versus Texas but some elbow soreness that week shut him down. The O’s were cautious with him this winter and slowed played his spring where he did not pitch in one game in Florida.