ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles won’t begin the second half with a sweep.

Former Orioles minor league catcher Jonah Heim hit a three-run homer off Dean Kremer today in the fourth inning and the Rangers avoided an early crash to post a 3-2 victory before an announced crowd of 31,808 at Globe Life Field.

The Yankees lost again today to remain two games behind the Orioles in the American League East.

An offense that built 4-0 leads in the first and second innings the past two nights couldn’t hurt left-hander Andrew Heaney, who entered with 10 losses but also a 3.79 ERA. They went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded five during his five scoreless innings.

Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer off David Robertson in the eighth after Adley Rutschman walked to reduce the lead to 3-2. Santander’s 27^th left him one behind team-leader Gunnar Henderson, and he totaled eight RBIs in the series.

Even though the Orioles' first half ended with that crazy win over the Yankees last Sunday in Baltimore, they did go 1-5 on that homestand and were 9-13 in their past 22 games heading into the break.

But today, after wins by 9-1 and 8-4 at Globe Life Field, they have a chance to begin the second half with a three-game sweep of the Rangers.

For the second time in a less than a month, they have a chance to sweep the team that swept them out of the 2023 American League playoffs. They took the first three games of a four-game series in Baltimore late last month, but they lost the fourth game. Now they have a shot for a three-game road sweep.

The Orioles have swept five series of three or four games this year: They've had three-game sweeps at Boston (April 9-11), versus Minnesota (April 15-17) and at Cincinnati (May 3-5). They have four-game sweeps in Chicago against the White Sox (May 23-26) and in St. Petersburg, Fla., versus the Rays (June 7-10).

The Orioles are 5-1 against the Rangers this season, scoring 6.33 runs per game in the season series. They have hit 14 homers versus Texas, batting .273 with an .879 OPS. They have a team ERA of 3.83 in the six games.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Ryan O’Hearn has his left knee wrapped after being hit last night by a 95.1 mph fastball from Rangers reliever Daniel Robert. He’s out of the lineup but would have been on the bench with the Orioles facing left-hander Andrew Heaney.

O’Hearn stayed down as head athletic trainer Brian Ebel and manager Brandon Hyde rushed onto the field in the seventh inning. O’Hearn finally rose to his feet, walked to first base and refused to come out.

“Got a lot of family here, I don’t get to play here very often,” said O’Hearn, a Florida native who grew up in Texas and attended Sam Houston State. “Had probably 15 people in the stands, so I wanted to stay in the game, and glad I did.”

The other reason was the home run that O’Hearn hit off José Leclerc in the ninth inning. He lifted a slider 387 feet to left-center field and made it around the bases.

“Felt good,” he said. “I’ve been driving the ball to left field pretty well lately. I know in Camden that’s probably an out, but to be able to get it out opposite field here, it feels good.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles go for the sweep of the Rangers this afternoon with Adley Rutschman leading off, Austin Hays in left field and Ryan Mountcastle at first base.

Gunnar Henderson is on the bench.

Hays is 5-for-12 with two doubles and two home runs against Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney. Mountcastle is 4-for-8 with two doubles and two homers.

Jordan Westburg is batting second and playing second base. Jorge Mateo is the shortstop. Colton Cowser is in center field and James McCann is catching.

Dean Kremer is the No. 3 starter in the rotation coming out of the break. He’s gone four and 4 2/3 innings in his last two outings.

Orioles right-handed reliever Yennier Cano is a pretty important pitcher in the Baltimore bullpen. He has three saves this season but has made most of his appearances as a setup man in the eighth inning.

While some numbers for him are not as good as last season when he was an American League All-Star, he recently made a few tweaks that helped him find his sinker again. He’s now put together six straight scoreless outings through last night’s game. (Although he did allow two inherited runners to score and gave up a double when he entered with two on in the eighth last night.) 

His ERA (2.11 to 2.75), WHIP (1.00 to 1.32) and his opponent's OPS (.600 to .703) are higher this year. But Cano does lead the AL with 24 holds. And his 116 appearances since the start of 2023 are tied for fourth-most in the major leauges.

But from June 14 to 28, he allowed five runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings. However, in his last six games over 5 2/3 combined innings, he has allowed just three hits with a .158 batting average and .449 OPS against.

“I’ve been able to recover my sinker,” he told me during the last homestand through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I think a few weeks ago I lost it a little bit. And then these last few outings I have back that feeling with it and it’s a huge factor in my recent success.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Reliever Vinny Nittoli has become a collector of baseball memorabilia.

He didn’t set out to make it a hobby. His professional career led him to it.

“In my man cave I have probably every hat from every team,” he said yesterday afternoon from the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field. “It’s been like 30 with minor leagues and major leagues.”

The Orioles reached agreement with Nittoli, 33, on a minor league contract on July 2 after the Cubs signed the veteran reliever and designated him for assignment the following day. Nittoli refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Iowa and became a free agent.

Nittoli appeared in seven games with the Athletics this season and allowed two runs in eight innings. He appeared in one game with the Mariners in 2021, two with the Phillies in 2022 and three with the Mets last summer.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles were a little more patient tonight before pouncing on a Rangers veteran starting pitcher. They actually waited until the second inning.

For the post-break Orioles, that’s considered slow out of the gate.

Nine batters came to the plate against three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and four runs scored to match last night’s total in the first against Nathan Eovaldi.

Scherzer was removed before the third, Texas native Grayson Rodriguez celebrated his homecoming with a quality start and the Orioles continued to thrive at Globe Life Field with an 8-4 victory before an announced crowd of 38,410.

Cedric Mullins hit his 10^th home run, Jordan Westburg his 16th and Ryan O'Hearn his 12th, and the Orioles posted their 60^th win, a total they reached last season on July 22. Their lead in the division increased to two games.

After mashing four more home runs, to lead the majors with 153, the Orioles opened the second-half with a 9-1 romp over Texas last night. They improved to 59-38 and could open a two-game lead atop the American East with another win tonight.

Lefty Nestor Cortes allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings this afternoon as the New York Yankees (59-41) lost 9-1 to Tampa Bay. The Yankees are now 17-20 in AL East games. They have lost 9 of 14 games and are 9-19 since June 15.

The Orioles ended the first half going 1-5 on a homestand and had lost five of six, six of eight and seven of 10 heading into the Texas series. Now they are 10-13 since June 21 with Friday's win.

Anthony Santander hit two of their four homers, driving in five runs. With his first home run last night, Santander reached 25 home runs and he's the ninth player in O's history to do so in at least three straight seasons. He matches Frank Robinson (1969-71), Lee May (1976-78), and Manny Machado (2015-17), and trails Eddie Murray (1982-85) and Rafael Palmeiro (1995-98), who did so in four consecutive years, Chris Davis (2012-17) and Cal Ripken, Jr. (1982-87), who had six, and Adam Jones (2011-17), who hit at least 25 homers in seven straight years. He now has 15 multi-homer games, eighth-most in club history.

Since the start of June, Santander is slashing .280/.322/.640 (45-for-161) with five doubles, one triple, 17 home runs, 24 runs, 34 RBIs, and 11 walks across 41 games. His 17 homers and 103 total bases are the most in MLB during that span, while his 23 extra-base hits are tied with teammate Gunnar Henderson for the most in the AL in that time.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Kyle Stowers walked through the outfield early this afternoon, pausing to chat with a few teammates. He returned to the clubhouse, put on his street clothes, grabbed his backpack and headed out the door again.

Stowers was optioned for the second time this season, the predictable counter move to Heston Kjerstad’s reinstatement from the seven-day concussion injured list.

The Orioles recalled Stowers on May 13, optioned him June 19 and brought him back July 13 after Yankees closer Clay Holmes drilled Kjerstad on the ear flap and emptied both dugouts and bullpens.

The movement and roster construction have limited Stowers to 37 plate appearances with the Orioles. He’s 11-for-36, including a pinch-hit single off Holmes Sunday that fueled a three-run rally and walk-off win.

That’s the only at-bat for Stowers during his return to the majors. He was a defensive replacement last night.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated OF Heston Kjerstad from the 7-day concussion Injured List.
• Optioned OF Kyle Stowers to Triple-A Norfolk.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles reinstated outfielder Heston Kjerstad from the seven-day concussion list today and optioned outfielder Kyle Stowers to Triple-A Norfolk.

Kjerstad had a full workout yesterday and was cleared to play. He’s in right field tonight.

Stowers is 11-for-36 with four doubles and a home run in 19 games with the Orioles. He had one at-bat after replacing Kjerstad on the roster, and his single off Clay Holmes ignited Sunday’s ninth-inning rally against the Yankees that produced a walk-off win.

Anthony Santander is the designated hitter tonight. Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base and Ryan Mountcastle is on the bench.

Colton Cowser is in left field and Cedric Mullins is in center. Ramón Urías is playing third base, with Jordan Westburg at second.

For the first time since they drafted him No. 1 overall in 2022, you hear fans open to trading one of baseball’s best prospects in Jackson Holliday.

I don’t have a vote or say here in anything and neither do fans, but I do have an opinion. And I still see Holliday as an untouchable.

While he may have lost his No. 1 prospect status with some outlets, that is fine. He did go 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts for the Orioles in April.

Once it started going south for him with the O's, it stayed that way.

He looked overmatched for whatever reason. This will sound like an excuse but some players coming up from Triple-A Norfolk agreed with an opinion that while Holliday was getting every pitch out of the zone called a ball against him in Triple-A with the ABS system, that changed in the majors. He seemed to be down 0-2 every at-bat. He took some pitches that may have been called balls by the computer but were strikes in the bigs. 

ARLINGTON, Texas – Ryan O’Hearn dealt with the disappointment of losing the All-Star vote at designated hitter and failing to make the American League team as a reserve. He enjoyed the time home instead, got some rest and arrived at Globe Life Field ready for the second-half grind.

O’Hearn joined the viewership for the Home Run Derby and the game. He hung on every swing.

“Fun to watch all the way around,” he said yesterday. “Obviously, I would have loved to have been a part of it, but fun for me to watch our guys and pull for our guys, cheer for them on that big stage.”

Gunnar Henderson was the top seed in the Derby with 28 homers but hit only 11, the lowest total in the eight-player field.

O’Hearn has his own Derby experience going back to 2015 in the South Atlantic League while playing for the Lexington Legends in the Royals system.

With a one-game lead atop the American League East, the Orioles have played 96 games with 66 to go. They begin play after the All-Star break tonight at Texas to start a three-game series on the same field that hosted the All-Star Game on Tuesday night.

Last season at the break, the Orioles were 54-35 (.607) and two games out of first. Now they are 58-38 (.604) and leading the division by a game.

When last seen the O’s pulled out that crazy 6-5 win in the last of the ninth Sunday versus the Yankees. Had they not won that game they would have gone 0-6 on their homestand.

So even with that victory, one that gave them sole possession of first place in the American League East, they have lost five of six, six of eight and seven of the last 10 games.

Since June 21, the Orioles are 9-13 with a minus-45 run differential. In that span they have scored 3.8 runs per game with a team ERA of 5.69.

As the Orioles begin the second-half tonight, they take the field in Texas at 58-38 and are leading the AL East by one game over the New York Yankees and 4.5 over the Boston Red Sox.

It looks like the division race could be tight all year and it’s now a three-team, not just a two-team chase.

The O’s .604 win percentage has been dragged down by the 1-5 homestand they finished on Sunday and by going 9-13 since June 21.

On June 20 they were 49-25 and a ½-game out of first in the division, playing .662 ball and on a 107-win pace.

But even in going 9-13 they gained 1.5 games on the Yankees to now lead the division as New York is 7-14 in that time. The O’s are now playing at a 98-win pace.

The Orioles today announced their 2025 regular season schedule. Baltimore will open the 2025 season on Thursday, March 27, in Toronto against the Blue Jays. The O’s will celebrate their Home Opener on Monday, March 31, against the Boston Red Sox.

Following an off day on Tuesday, April 1, the Orioles play two more games against the Red Sox before embarking on a six-game road trip to face the Kansas City Royals and Arizona Diamondbacks from April 4-9. Baltimore’s first true homestand is the team’s longest of the season, featuring three games each against the Blue Jays, Cleveland Guardians, and Cincinnati Reds from April 11-20.

DIVISION RIVALS: The Orioles will play four series each against American League East foes, two at home and two on the road, for 13 games against each divisional rival. Baltimore will host the Red Sox and New York Yankees at Oriole Park for seven games and the Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays for six. Thirteen of the Orioles’ final 16 games are against divisional opponents, including the final 10, which includes seven at home against the Yankees (September 18-21) and Rays (September 23-25), and the final series of the season coming in New York (September 26-28). 

WEEKEND WARRIORS: Baltimore will host 13 weekend series, including three against AL East rivals: the Blue Jays (April 11-13), Rays (June 27-29), and Yankees (September 18-21).

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE: The home schedule features three games played on holidays, including Easter Sunday (April 20 vs. Cincinnati), Memorial Day (May 26 vs. St. Louis), and Father’s Day (June 15 vs. Los Angeles-AL).

Orioles baseball No. 1 in prime time across the Baltimore DMA 

Viewership up over 35 percent 

Amplifying their first-place spot in the American League East, the Baltimore Orioles on MASN are dominating prime time, outpacing every other local broadcast station and cable network by a wide margin, according to the latest Neilsen ratings. Orioles viewership is up by double digits compared with the 2023 season as the team posted a 58-38 record in the first half of the 2024 campaign. 

The Orioles on MASN are averaging 100,000 viewers, per quarter hour, each night across the Baltimore DMA. This is an increase of more than 35 percent over the same period last season. The groundswell of interest is widespread, as the Orioles on MASN are by far the No. 1 viewed program in prime time across the entire demographic spectrum.   

“Marylanders love Orioles baseball, and they are coming to MASN every night to be a part of something special," said MASN senior executive John McGuinness. "This young team is talented, exciting and they play the game with the same grit and enthusiasm fans can appreciate and can identify with. Five Orioles just played in the MLB All-Star Game, the farm system is loaded – the future is indeed bright in Birdland. We expect viewership to only grow as the pennant races heat up.”

After a stretch of days where another MLB Draft has come and gone and we’ve seen Gunnar Henderson start the All-Star game at shortstop for the American League, it is still somewhat remarkable that the Orioles got an MVP caliber talent with the 42^nd pick in 2019.

If you look back at some picks in that 2019 draft just ahead of Henderson’s selection by the Orioles, Tampa Bay took JJ Goss, Pittsburgh selected Sammy Siani, the Yankees took T.J. Sikkema, the Twins took Matt Wallner, who at least has made the majors. With a selection at No. 40 that draft, the Rays took pitcher Seth Johnson, who is now an Oriole.

Those teams could have had Gunnar.

A few days ago in the Baltimore clubhouse, Henderson, from Selma, Ala., remembered thinking as that draft approached that he would go higher than he did.

“Yeah. I had talked to some scouts, and they made it sound like I would definitely be their (team’s) pick if I fell to them,” he said. “But I was also told draft night, always expect the worst. Stuff like that happens. It was definitely a whirlwind of a night for me.”

The latest MLB Draft has come and gone. The Orioles, since Mike Elias and his staff took over, are known for scoring well in the draft.

Once again this year they showed they tap into the college ranks much more than the high school ranks, getting 17 of 21 drafted players from college.

But that is actually twice the number of high school players the club drafted in the last two years, when they took just two high school players among 22 selections in 2022 (including Jackson Holliday) and two last year. Their first high school pick last year came in round 15 and they did not sign Qrey Lott.

This year they selected prep players in rounds six, 12, 16 and 19. They seem quite high on sixth rounder, DJ Layton, the shortstop from Charlotte. He hit .449 and also is said to have a big arm.

From 2019 to 2023, the O’s selected just nine high school players among 91 draft picks in the first 20 rounds. But a few of those nine were high picks and are premium prospects with the likes of Holliday, Gunnar Henderson and Coby Mayo. No one is putting this kid in that class, but he sounds promising. Catcher Creed Willems was another high school pick and he is a top 30 O’s prospect.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Corbin Burnes jogged from the American League dugout to the mound tonight to begin his warmup tosses, paused and conducted a television interview. He smiled, gave the network what it wanted and got down to business.

The 94^th All-Star Game remained a glamorized exhibition, but Burnes tried to find his competitive fire, tossing a scoreless first inning on 19 pitches and retreating to the clubhouse.

A one-out walk to Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper’s two-out double down the left field line extended Burnes’ stay. He fielded William Contreras’ grounder, threw to first and wrapped his arms around his former Brewers catcher as they converged along the line.

It truly is an exhibition.

“It was fun,” Burnes said before the AL's 5-3 win. “I wish I wouldn’t have walked Shohei, but it was fun. I mean, there’s really no words to express just the atmosphere playing around the best players in the game. I told them to be ready, I’m going to let them put it in play, so they were ready out there, and fortunately, we got out of it with a scoreless inning.”