TORONTO – The Orioles split a four-game series at Cleveland that ended Sunday. Tonight, their three-city, 10-game road trip continues with the opener of a three-game series at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Orioles scored 16 runs on 30 hits and went 12-for-31 with runners in scoring position in wins Saturday and Sunday at Cleveland. They have scored 39 runs their past six games and are averaging 6.4 runs per game with a team OPS of .859 their last 12 games, scoring six runs or more seven times in those dozen games.

The Orioles have now won four of six and six of their past nine. They are 9-8 since the All-Star break. Their team ERA in the second half is 4.95 and they are batting .276 as a team since the break with an .829 OPS and scoring 6.0 runs per game in the 17 games.

In five games since rejoining the team, rookie infielder Jackson Holliday is 7-for-18 with a double, two homers and seven RBIs. His OPS is 1.254 in those games.

Gunnar Henderson had three hits Sunday, including a two-run homer. He had gone 15 games without a homer and had just one his last 24 games until he connected for No. 29. Henderson hit 28 homers last season, when he averaged one every 20.00 at-bats. This season he gets one on average every 15.21 at-bats.

Sometimes you can "turn and burn" but sometimes "you take rather than rake."

When I interviewed Ryan O’Hearn in spring training and we talked about his strong 2023 and hopes for the 2024 season, he knew he may still have some doubters out there.

“I’m sure there are people saying, ‘He’s a one-hit wonder or a flash in the pan’ type of thing. You know, I’m eager to prove that is not true,” he said in that March interview in Sarasota.

Then O’Hearn spelled out some specific plans to improve this year and they have played out on the field pretty much exactly as he had hoped.

He wanted to walk more. He is. He wanted to do a better job in 3-2 counts and he is big time.

The 29^th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games record arrives on Sept. 6, with time seeming to fly at warp speed.

The best way to celebrate the occasion? By sending baseball’s Iron Man into the Bird Bath.

The club posted a video earlier today on the former Twitter announcing that Ripken, one of the minority owners in David Rubenstein’s group, will serve as guest splasher for the Sept. 6 game against the Rays at Camden Yards.

Ripken is shown receiving the news at his desk inside the B&O warehouse, with “Mr. Splash” informing the Hall of Famer that his new office is in Section 86 next to the bullpen area where fans get drenched after an extra-base hit, or sometimes just on a whim.

“Finally,” Ripken says before pulling out an inflatable pink flamingo and floppy hat from his desk.

The Orioles, after an extended stretch of losing, may now be trending up again. Their offense and their won-loss record.

In the last two games at Cleveland, they scored 16 runs on 30 hits with nine doubles, a triple and two home runs. They went 12-for-31 (.387) batting with runners in scoring position. They created a lot of scoring chances and cashed a few of them in. They scored two or more runs in five different innings the last two games at Cleveland.

With those two wins, the Orioles now have the third-best record in the majors.

.604 – Cleveland (67-44)

.595 – Philadelphia (66-45)

CLEVELAND – Five runs scored against Corbin Burnes today, his most with the Orioles. Any chance at a 19^th quality landed in the center field seats in the fifth inning. An abnormal result from the reliable ace.

Eloy Jiménez was in the lineup against a right-hander and collected three hits in his first three at-bats, including a run-scoring single in the third. Didn’t see that one coming, either.

Baseball’s unpredictability surfaced again today and the Orioles were happy to settle for a split of their four-game series against the Guardians, with home runs by Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson contributing to a 9-5 victory before an announced crowd of 33,628 at Progressive Field.

"It’s tough to be consistent offensively, but the quality of the at-bat was much better these past two days," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Give our guys a lot of credit for getting a split out of here. That’s a tough place to play, a tough team to play. Kind of getting our butts kicked the first two games, the way we responded and swung the bat the last two games has been nice.”

Henderson’s two-run shot in the fourth inning was his 29^th homer and first since the break, and the Orioles raised their record to 67-46 heading into an off-day in Toronto.

The Orioles send ace righty Corbin Burnes (11-4, 2.47 ERA) to the mound this afternoon for his 23^rd start. The Orioles are 15-7 in his outings this year, winning the last three in a row.

After Saturday's 7-4 win, they can split this four-game series with a win today. The Orioles had 15 hits and went 8-for-20 with runners in scoring position yesterday and look to continue their success at the plate.

Baltimore recorded 15 hits for the eighth time this season, tied with Texas and Arizona for the most games with 15+ hits in MLB this season, but the team's first since July 6 at Oakland. O's pinch hitters went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, and three RBI.

Jackson Holliday has allied back-to-back multi-hit efforts after not having one in his first 12 career games; he's scored a run in five consecutive games, including all four since being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on July 31. In four games since his return to the majors, he is 5-for-14 with a double, homer, four runs and six RBIs.

The Orioles remain tied for the American League East lead with the Yankees. Both clubs are 66-46.

CLEVELAND – The Orioles go for the series split this afternoon with their largely left-handed lineup that includes Colton Cowser batting leadoff. He’s built a 16-game hitting streak, one shy of Trey Mancini’s club rookie record.

Cowser is batting .383 (23-for-60) with three doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and a 1.075 OPS during his streak. He’s also reached base in 18 consecutive games, the longest active stretch in the American League.

Jackson Holliday, who’s 5-for-14 since returning to the majors, is batting ninth. Coby Mayo remains at third base and searching for his first major league hit.

Right-handed hitting Eloy Jiménez is the designated hitter, with Ryan Mountcastle on the bench.

Adley Rutschman is catching. His pinch-hit triple last night was the first for the Orioles since Austin Hays on Aug. 28, 2021.

Anthony Santander is having quite the season for a player about to enter free agency. He is a pretty invaluable player for the Orioles – productive on the field while being a leader in the clubhouse.

He is one heckuva Rule 5 draft pick. The O’s selected him from the Cleveland organization in the December 2016 Rule 5 draft.

Heading into Saturday’s game at Cleveland, over 106 games he was batting .246/.311/.534/.846 with 17 doubles, two triples, 32 homers and 75 RBIs.

He's on pace to finish with 47 homers and 109 RBIs. Chris Davis and Brady Anderson are the only Orioles ever to hit 50 homers. Tony taters has an outside shot.

We thought his June was great right, where he hit 13 homers. That month he batted .264 with a .960 OPS. But in July, he batted .303 with a .987 OPS and nine home runs.

CLEVELAND - Ryan Mountcastle doesn’t feel old. He’s just a product of his environment.

Mountcastle at age 27 is the respected elder of the Orioles redesigned infield. He scans the diamond and sees 20-year-old second baseman Jackson Holliday, 23-year-old shortstop Gunnar Henderson and 22-year-old third baseman Coby Mayo. Muscles begin to ache and he fights the urge to drive with his blinker on or write a check at the grocery store.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Mountcastle said. “For how young they are, how talented these kids are, it’s pretty remarkable. I guess being 27, the old guy in the infield, is pretty crazy.

“I guess I’m the mentor. I was coming up to bat (Friday) and I was like, ‘All right, you guys better drive papa in today.’”

I shared a STATS note Friday that the quartet was the fifth-youngest in Orioles history at 23 years and 169 days. The leaders are shortstop Ron Hansen (20), third baseman Brooks Robinson (21), second baseman Jerry Adair (21) and first baseman Bob Hale (24) at 22 years and 47 days on Sept. 28, 1958.

From June 24-26, the Orioles lost two of three at home versus the Cleveland Guardians. This series at Cleveland has started with the O's losing the first two games of this series by 10-3 and 8-4 scores.

The Baltimore pitchers have allowed 18 runs and 11 walks at Progressive Field and the starters - Trevor Rogers and Dean Kremer - have allowed nine runs and 12 hits over a combined 9 1/3 innings.

Cleveland, which holds the best record in the majors and best home record in the majors, leads the American League Central by six games over Kansas City and 6 1/2 games over Minnesota.

At 67-42 (.615), Cleveland is the only team in the major leagues with a current win percentage of .600 or better. The Guardians have won five in a row and eight of their past 10 games. They are 9-5 since the All-Star Game and 35-15 at home.

The Orioles (65-46, .586) began today tied for the third-best record in the majors, behind only Cleveland and the Philadelphia Phillies (65-44, .596).

As the Orioles added several players in deals at the trade deadline – including two starting pitchers and two for their bullpen – some promising prospects left the organization.

No doubt for coaches, managers, trainers and all staff on the O’s farm and in their player development system, some players they liked and worked hard to help improve, walked out that door. Relationships were developed and now continue, but the players are no longer with the Orioles.

The O’s traded Connor Norby, Kyle Stowers, Seth Johnson, Moisés Chace, Jackson Baumeister, Matthew Etzel and Mac Horvath, among others, during this process.

On a conference call to announce they had signed top draft pick Vance Honeycutt on Thursday, vice president of player development and domestic scouting Matt Blood was asked if some of the top draft picks the Orioles added this year somewhat offset losing some of the prospects they traded.

“I don’t think they’re related," Blood replied. "We’re just very excited to have been able to select Vance. He’s a player that we’ve liked for a long time. He’s a player that we know is a fantastic person and has a chance to make a big impact at the big league level.”

CLEVELAND – The Orioles circled their infield tonight with players drafted by the organization, including their catcher, the lone member of the group to play in college. Two-thirds of the outfield also was homegrown.

Five prospects ranked in the top 10 have debuted this season. The present has caught up to the future, and it’s going to take a group effort to make a deep postseason run.

They need to get there first.

Coby Mayo drew two walks in his first major league game and Jackson Holliday was productive at the bottom of the lineup, but the Orioles couldn’t climb out of a seven-run hole and lost to the Guardians 8-4 at Progressive Field.

The Orioles are 65-46 and can’t do any better than a split of the four-game series. They began the night tied with the Yankees for first place and nothing changed.

The Cleveland Guardians, the American League Central leaders who hold the best record in the AL, have been tough to beat for the Orioles. Both this year and in recent seasons.

Cleveland hit three homers accounting for eight runs last night as they beat Baltimore 10-3 to take the opener of this four-game series. David Fry and Bo Naylor hit three-run homers and José Ramírez added a two-run shot.

The Guardians are 3-1 this year versus the Orioles and have won seven of the past 11 games between the teams. In their last 45 games, Cleveland is 30-15 against Baltimore.

The Guardians are 66-42 and are 34-15 at home. They have won four in a row and seven of their past nine games. 

The Orioles are 4-2 in the last six games, scoring 42 runs. But over their past 12 games, they are 5-7. And since June 21, they are 16-20.

CLEVELAND – Coby Mayo had his suspicions.

He was told to get his passport sent to him, but that’s common among the Triple-A players. Everyone is supposed to keep it handy. Norfolk manager Buck Britton removed him from the game in the eighth inning. A big lead, though, so perhaps it meant nothing. Mayo didn’t want to make assumptions.

“He told me that I had six at-bats and it was a long game and he just wanted to get me off my feet,” Mayo said this afternoon, back on his feet at his clubhouse locker at Progressive Field. “You always want to speculate a little bit, but you never want to get too ahead of yourself.”

Did he?

“Of course,” he said, eliciting laughter in his first media scrum as a major leaguer.

CLEVELAND – The prospect watch has lost another participant. Coby Mayo officially is in the majors.

The Orioles selected Mayo’s contract today from Triple-A Norfolk, filling the one vacancy on the 40-man roster. Livan Soto was optioned as the corresponding move on the active roster, a day after he was recalled and met with the local media.

Mayo was told yesterday to have his passport overnighted, but he didn’t find out officially about his promotion until his removal from last night’s game in Charlotte. He went 4-for-6, came out in the eighth inning and received the news from manager Buck Britton. He boarded a flight this morning to Cleveland.

The move was inevitable for the No. 3 prospect in the system. Mayo, a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft, was batting .301 with 22 doubles, two triples, 20 home runs, 61 RBIs and a .961 OPS despite missing a month with a rib injury sustained in a collision with a dugout railing.

Injuries pulled Mayo out of the minors. Jorge Mateo has a dislocated left elbow and Jordan Westburg has a fractured right hand, and their absences will extend deep into September. Mayo can play third base, where Westburg made 64 starts this season. He’s another right-handed bat for a team that wanted to correct its imbalance.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Selected the contract of INF Coby Mayo from Triple-A Norfolk. He will wear No. 16 and his first appearance will be his Major League debut.
• Optioned INF Livan Soto to Triple-A Norfolk.

Additionally, LHP Matt Krook has been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

When the Orioles beat Toronto 10-4 on Wednesday and Jackson Holliday hit a grand slam, the high of that win got deflated postgame by the news that Jordan Westburg had fractured his right hand and would miss significant time.

When they got hammered 10-3 by Cleveland last night as lefty Trevor Rogers gave up five runs in his O’s debut, the gloom and doom of that loss was lifted by the news that Coby Mayo is joining the Orioles today in Cleveland.

The news was first reported here on MASNSports.com last night.

Mayo is ranked as baseball’s No. 12 prospect in the top 100 by Baseball America and No. 15 via MLBPipeline.com.

It seemed that when Westburg got hurt, that Mayo might replace him at third base. But Livan Soto was called up yesterday. However now, just like that, the team is turning to Mayo.

After a homestand during which they went 4-3, added seven players to their 26-man roster via trades, added two starting pitchers, recalled Jackson Holliday and lost Jordan Westburg to a fractured right hand, the O's hit the road tonight.

They begin a four-game series at Cleveland to start a 10-game trip that also includes stops in Toronto and at Tampa Bay. 

The Orioles went 3-1 in the Toronto series and they are 4-1 in the last five games, scoring 39 runs with a team OPS of .977 in that span. Over the last eight games, in which they went 5-3, the Orioles have scored 54 runs, batting .295 as a club with an .896 OPS. They are scoring 6.8 runs per game in this span.

Baltimore scored at least one run in the first inning in every game of its four-game series against Toronto. Since the All-Star break, the Orioles own the best first-inning run differential in the majors, outscoring opponents, 14-1.

The Orioles (65-44, .596) and Cleveland (65-42, .607) hold the top two records in the American League. The O's begin play tonight leading the AL East by just a half-game over the New York Yankees and by seven games over Boston. Cleveland leads the AL Central by six games each over Minnesota and Kansas City. Cleveland holds the best record in the bigs right now, with Philadelphia (65-43, .602) second.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Activated DH/OF Eloy Jiménez. He will wear No. 72.
• Activated LHP Trevor Rogers. He will wear No. 28 and start tonight’s game.
• Activated OF Austin Slater. He will wear No. 15.
• Recalled INF Livan Soto from Triple-A Norfolk. He will wear No. 73.
• Optioned LHP Keegan Akin to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Optioned OF Heston Kjerstad to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Placed INF Jordan Westburg on the 10-day Injured List (right hand fracture).
• Designated OF Cristian Pache for assignment.

Additionally, RHP Vinny Nittoli elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A. The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 39 players.

The Orioles this morning announced that they have signed their top draft pick, University of North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt, taken No. 22 overall in round one. Today is the final day for clubs to sign 2024 MLB Draft selections.

According to MLB.com’s Jim Callis, Honeycutt signed a $4 million dollar bonus. The listed slot amount for the No. 22 pick was $3,802,200.

Orioles vice president of player development and domestic scouting Matt Blood, said the club has signed 20 of 21 drafted players.

The lone unsigned selection is 17^th rounder, Cowley County (Kan.) Community College lefty pitcher Iziah Salinas.

“We have one more to go,” said Blood on a team Zoom call, with the deadline to sign picks at 5 p.m. ET today. “Our goal is to sign as many players as we can. We’ll see what happens here.”