The penultimate road trip of the season concludes later today in Detroit, which limits my usage of the word "penultimate." At least until the next-to-last regular season game.

The Orioles are off Monday and host the Giants and Tigers before wrapping up the regular season in the Bronx and Minnesota.

Those last six games could be meaningful. Don’t you think?

The roster will keep changing as more injured players return. Well, more players will return from the injured list. Phrasing!

Here are some mailbag extras that were stuck at the bottom of the bag. My tube of hair gel leaked. I have no idea how it got in there, so hopefully that isn't one of your questions.

DETROIT - The Orioles are just 1-3 on their two-city road trip and have scored 11 runs in four games against Boston and Detroit.

Baltimore (83-65) has lost five of six and six of eight and is 9-12 the last 21 games. The O's are 25-27 since the All-Star break and 30-34 since July 1.

Detroit came up one out short of the 10th no-hitter in Tigers history on a night when skipper A.J. Hinch started an opener and used four pitchers. Gunnar Henderson's triple with two outs in the ninth ended the no-hit bid. The Orioles had had seven no-hitters pitched against them in team history, but no combined no-hitters.

Friday night right-hander Beau Brieske was the opener and got four outs. Then lefty Brant Hurter went 5 2/3 innings and struck out eight to get the win. Righty Brenan Hanifee pitched an inning and lefty Tyler Holton picked up his eighth save.

Hurter became the 10th reliever in major league history to throw 5 2/3 or more no-hit innings while getting eight or more strikeouts. The last to do that was Boston's Nick Pivetta, on July 17, 2023 at Oakland.

DETROIT – As the losses mount while the runs do not, if feels like the American League East is slipping away from the Orioles.

Their 1-0 loss at Detroit - in which they narrowly missed being no-hit - was their fifth in six games and sixth in the last eight. The Orioles are 25-27 since the All-Star break and 30-34 since July 1.

They are now three games behind the Yankees for first place at 83-65. It’s their largest first-place deficit since they were 3 1/2 games back on June 14. Their biggest deficit of the year is 4 1/2 games on June 6.

The Orioles still have three games left with the Yankees and could win the tiebreaker. But now they just need some runs and wins to make that tiebreaker matter. Or to have a chance when they face the Yankees for three games in the Bronx starting Sept. 24.

The Tigers used four pitchers last night and they had a perfect game going through seven innings. When Adley Rutschman became the Orioles' first baserunner with a walk leading off the eighth, Detroit’s bid for the first combined perfect game in major league history had ended. But they still had a chance for Detroit’s 10^th no-hitter, and it would have been the eighth pitched against the Orioles and the first since Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma got them on Aug. 12, 2015.

DETROIT – The storyline for the game tonight at Detroit in the series-opener for the Orioles was not just would their offense finally get going.

It was would they get a hit or even a baserunner?

Their batters who had scored just 15 runs their past seven games, were going down quickly and too many times taking called third strikes. They were getting nothing going.

And they almost never did.

Gunnar Henderson's two-out triple down the right-field line in the ninth ended Detroit's combined no-hit bid. But one strikeout of Anthony Santander later, the O's had lost this game 1-0 in the series opener in front of 25,253 at Comerica Park.

DETROIT - The Orioles tonight play game No. 148 and for the first time in 2024, they will play the Tigers. The clubs open a three-game series at Comerica Park.

The teams will meet six times in the next nine games, playing back-to-back weekends in Detroit and Baltimore.

While the O's have not played well for most of the last couple of months really, the Tigers are a pretty hot team right now despite their 4-2 loss Thursday to the Rockies.

Detroit has won its last two series versus Oakland and Colorado and is 5-1 in its past six series.

At 75-72, the Tigers begin play tonight 3.5 games back of the Twins for the last American League wild-card berth and the No. 6 AL seed.

DETROIT - As he began his pregame media session in the visitor's dugout ahead of tonight's series-opening game in Detroit, O's manager Brandon Hyde was asked to provide an update on his various injured list players.

“Is this a two-hour program?" Hyde quipped.

Then he used the next few minutes to provide numerous updates on this list of players.

Jordan Westburg: “His hitting progression is progressing. He’s doing better, doing all baseball activities. Swinging the bat in the cage now. All positive. No setbacks as of right now. But when you haven’t swung a bat for a while and you are coming off a broken hand, it takes a little while to gain strength in your hand. So they are building strength in the hand and he is getting used to swinging the bat."

Ryan Mountcastle: “Mountcastle? Unsure, honestly. He is in Sarasota. I’m hoping he is going to start swinging a bat here in the next few days. That’s going to be a hitting progression too. Trying to stay optimistic that we will see him by the end of the season.”

DETROIT - Looking for wins and now two games back in the American League East race, the Orioles play at Comerica Park tonight. They open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball's winningest club since Aug. 11.

The O's lineup tonight shows Gunnar Henderson leading off, Cedric Mullins batting third and Adley Rutschman hitting fourth. Eloy Jiménez is the DH and Jacskon Holliday is batting ninth at second base. 

Yes, the Tigers (75-72) are a hot team and they are pushing for wins too. They begin play tonight 3.5 games behind the Twins for the final American League wild-card playoff spot.

Detroit has won four of five and 13 of 19 games. The Tigers lead MLB in going 20-9 since Aug. 11.

Best MLB records since that date:

The Orioles will wrap up their next-to-last road trip of the season this weekend when they play three games in Detroit at Comerica Park.

The Orioles have not played the Tigers all year and now they will see them in back-to-back weekends and in six of their next nine games.

While the Orioles have struggled lately going 1-2 at Boston to start this trip and they are now 1-4 the last five games and 2-5 their past seven, Detroit is doing the opposite.

The Tigers had a four-game win streak snapped Thursday when they lost 4-2 at home versus Colorado. The O's will miss ace Tarik Skubal who allowed one run in six innings in that game.

So Detroit is now 75-72 and are 3.5 games behind Minnesota for the last AL wild card spot. Detroit needs a bunch of wins to make a late run and if they get them at the Orioles expense, it could be quite damaging to Baltimore's AL East title hopes.

The Orioles had an off-day in Detroit yesterday because Passaic, New Jersey was booked.

OK, let’s get serious.

The penultimate road trip of the season is close to a wrap – I’ll be on the next one - and the Orioles are two games behind the Yankees. They have three against the Tigers beginning tonight and three more next weekend at Camden Yards after hosting the Giants.

This could be the penultimate mailbag, but they aren’t on a set schedule. I can only promise today.

Here’s the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. No need to edit myself for clarity because I’ve been quite clear about my disdain for editing.

ABERDEEN, Md. – Selected by the Orioles in the fifth-round of the 2024 MLB Draft, catcher Ryan Stafford out of Cal-Poly, quickly found out that defensive versatility is important to his new organization. 

If a player can play multiple positions and move around the diamond, the Orioles will have them do it on the farm.

“One thing for me that I was really surprised about, I was getting to play other positions,” Stafford told me recently at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen. “Like the third day I was in (Low-A) Delmarva I was playing second base. I had no clue I was going to have opportunities to play other positions like the Orioles let guys do. So that is one of the coolest parts.

“I wouldn’t say that was completely new. I played up the middle throughout my childhood, at shortstop and second base is similar. Some similar reads and it is natural for me. But what was new was first base where I played the other day. Played five spots so far, corner outfield, first, second and catch.”

Stafford said he first noticed he might need a few different gloves during the O’s orientation for draft picks in Sarasota.

BOSTON – After spending 27 years with the Orioles in various capacities, Dave Schmidt isn’t returning to the organization in 2025.

Schmidt was told Monday that his contract wouldn’t be renewed, according to sources.

The most recent title bestowed upon Schmidt was “complex pitching and rehab coordinator,” which allowed him to be based near his home in Sarasota. He set up or followed the schedules depending on the player and worked with the physical therapist, “making sure our guys are heading in the right direction, getting better,” Schmidt said in a 2022 interview with MASNsports.com.

Among the pitchers under his supervision in 2022 was Grayson Rodriguez, who rehabbed a Grade 2 right lat strain sustained over the summer with Triple-A Norfolk. Rodriguez was out for three months.

Schmidt, 67, goes back to the 1998 season with Syd Thrift as farm director. He’s served as pitching ach at pretty much every level, had two stints as pitching coordinator and two as rehab coordinator. He also was tasked with overseeing the Dominican program for a couple of years.

With a chance to move back into first place tonight, the Orioles have 16 games remaining in the 2024 season. They lost at Boston 12-3 Monday night before winning 5-3 last night.

The clubs play the third and deciding game of this series tonight at Fenway Park, before the O’s’ take Thursday off and then head for Detroit.

Cedric Mullins homered in the first and third innings in the Baltimore win, producing his fifth career multi-homer game. Mullins is batting .423 his past eight games, going 11-for-26 with four homers and eight RBIs. Last night marked Mullins' first two-homer game since June 19, 2021 versus Toronto, and it was his first time doing so on the road.

On the mound, right-hander Albert Suárez threw another strong game, allowing one run over six innings. Suárez has allowed one run over 23 2/3 innings in his past four starts against American League East opponents. For the season, he is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA in seven AL East starts.

The New York Yankees (83-62) lead the division by a half-game after losing 5-0 to Kansas City on Tuesday night as right-hander Seth Lugo pitched seven scoreless innings and got 10 strikeouts.

The Orioles gave up 15 hits, four homers and 12 runs. They went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Their bullpen allowed eight runs. They left eight men on base and that was just in the first four innings.

Monday was a mess.

Tuesday was a step in the right direction.

If ever there was a night the Orioles needed to win, this was it.

Not so much for the pennant-race math with games dwindling and being 1.5 games out of first, but they needed to clean it up. They had lost three in a row and fans were wondering if the AL East was slipping away. They were losing confidence in their team. Some confidence in the clubhouse maybe even was eroding a bit.

BOSTON – Cedric Mullins won’t be moving down the lineup anytime soon against right-handed pitching.

Albert Suárez might not leave the rotation against anyone.

Mullins homered in his first two at-bats tonight to power the Orioles to a 5-3 victory over the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 30,898 at Fenway Park. One came cheaply, the other earned. They both counted.

Suárez allowed one run in six innings, and the Orioles improved to 83-63 with a chance to win the series Wednesday night before flying to Detroit. The Yankees lost and are only a half-game ahead in the division race.

Mullins’ multi-homer game was the fifth of his career and first since June 19, 2021 against the Blue Jays. The previous four happened in his 30/30 season.

Now 1 1/2 games out in the American League East, the Orioles (82-63) play the second game of their three-game series in Boston tonight. It's also the second game of a six-game road trip that later moves on to Detroit.

The Orioles have lost four of five games and are 8-10 their past 18 games. They are 24-25 since the All-Star break and 29-32 since July 1.

The Orioles did not lose any of their first eight AL East series this year, going 6-0-2 in those series and 19-7 in those games. Now they are 2-3-1 their past six series, heading into this one and are 10-11 in their past 21 division games.

The Baltimore offense has scored one, two, one, zero and three runs during the past five games, and their seven runs in this span is last in the major leagues. They have 28 hits in those games for a .178 batting average and .539 OPS. They are 3-for-31 with runners in scoring position in this stretch.

The Orioles are 7-4 against the Red Sox and Baltimore has clinched the season series for a second straight year after going 7-6 in 2023. This marks the first time the O's have won the season series with the Sox in back-to-back years since doing so in four straight from 2012-15. One more win would guarantee a winning percentage of at least .600 against the Red Sox for the 15th time in team history and the first since 2012 (.722, 13-5). The Birds swept a three-game series in Boston from April 9-11, the 14th road series sweep of at least three games against the Red Sox by the Orioles club history and the first since April 2-4, 2021 (three games).

BOSTON – Jordan Westburg did some throwing in the outfield this afternoon, moved to the dirt and began taking ground balls at third base and at second. He made throws across the infield and flipped the ball as if starting a double play.

The Orioles can’t wait to get the real thing from Westburg, who’s on the injured list since fracturing his right hand on July 31.

“I’m happy with how it’s progressing,” he said later while standing at his locker. “Past couple days I feel like I’ve turned a little bit of a corner strength-wise. I’m able to grip some weights more and like really grasp down. It’s something I was having a problem with just putting pressure on that pinky side. But past couple days it’s felt good so I’m encouraged by that.”

And somehow not overly discouraged by the interruption to his season.

“It’s frustrating that I have a broken hand and I’m missing time, but it’s also an occupational hazard,” he said. “It’s been the way that I’ve described it. We know what we signed up for playing baseball. We know the dangers and the possibilities of injury involved with this game. It’s certainly not a contact sport like football, but when somebody’s throwing really hard and you’re in the box and you don’t have a lot of time to get out of the way, that stuff can happen.

BOSTON – Coby Mayo is starting at third base tonight at Fenway Park and Jackson Holliday returns to the lineup at second base.

Cedric Mullins is batting second again.

James McCann is catching, with Adley Rutschman serving as designated hitter.

Albert Suárez needs to bounce back from his last start, when he allowed six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings against the White Sox. He surrendered three home runs to tie his career high, and Chicago snapped a 12-game losing streak.

Suárez shut out the Red Sox over six innings on Aug. 18.

Later this month, the Orioles will present another Brooks Robinson Award to their Minor League Player of the Year. 

Coby Mayo is a strong candidate to get the hardware. Now ranked as the club’s No. 1 prospect with Jackson Holliday graduating from prospects lists, Mayo is ranked No. 9 in the national top 100 for both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com.

In sizing up his 2024 season on the farm, where he played 87 games at Triple-A Norfolk and four on rehab for High-A Aberdeen, Mayo will admit his walk rate dropped a bit but also notes that his production numbers went up. He feels he made progress on defense, taking more groundballs than he can ever remember, he said.

Mayo told me recently that his strong finish at Triple-A in 2023 – he had an OPS of .905 in 62 games – provided confidence he would thrive there this year.

“I think starting in spring training this year, after the season I had last year, gave me a boost that I could have another good year,” he said. “Learned a lot at big league camp and playing well gave me a lot of confidence going into the Triple-A season that I could compete with the best.

BOSTON – Cedric Mullins broke hard on Jarren Duran’s line drive to right-center field, went into full extension on his dive and made a remarkable catch. Anthony Santander raised his fist after Mullins crashed to the ground. Cade Povich raised his cap in appreciation.

Three pitches later, Mullins raced back to the center field warning track, slowed and watched Rob Refsnyder’s ball land in the seats for a two-run homer after Rafael Devers singled.

The third pitch thrown to Tyler O’Neill was 110.1 mph off the bat and launched at 41 degrees to clear the left field wall. The Red Sox went back-to-back against Povich in his 13^th major league start and first at Fenway Park, which can be downright cruel to left-handed pitchers. A higher level of experience isn’t always a shield.

The Orioles grabbed a quick lead, let go almost as fast and began an important series in Boston with a 12-3 loss before an announced crowd of 30,600.

Santander drove in all three runs, the last on his 40^th home run, launched against Josh Winckowski leading off the seventh inning. He’s the eighth Orioles player to reach that mark, the first since Mark Trumbo in 2016, and it’s the ninth occurrence. Chris Davis did it twice. Santander also is the first switch-hitter in the majors with 40 since Carlos Beltran and Lance Berkman in 2006.

In their search for more runs, which they obviously hope lead to more wins, the Orioles are in Boston tonight. They play a three-game series at Fenway Park to begin their penultimate road trip of the season.

They play there remembering that they swept a series at Boston in mid-April, scoring 23 runs on 31 hits. In that set, they were 15-for-37 (.405) with runners in scoring position.

But over their past four games, the Orioles scored one, two, one and zero runs. They lost 2-0 to the Rays on Sunday to lose that series and suffer their sixth shutout. The Orioles have 22 hits in the past four games, batting .179 with a .502 OPS as they went 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

At 82-62 (.569), the Orioles have the second-best record in the American League and fifth-best in the majors. They begin play tonight a half-game out of first place in the AL East with 18 games remaining in the regular season.

The Orioles ended the year going 9-4 versus the Rays and the are 29-17 in division games.