Would they dare?

Would the Orioles toss a life raft to a rival’s drowning bullpen rather than offering a glass of water?

OK, the Yankees aren’t in such dire straits, since they still have Clay Holmes closing, but an important bridge to him collapsed Friday night on the mound at Camden Yards. Michael King fractured his right elbow and was lost for the remainder of the season.

Aroldis Chapman retired one of four batters, throwing two wild pitches, surrendering Anthony Santander’s prodigious three-run homer, and hearing more boos from the Yankees’ contingent after his removal. He has a 5.75 ERA and is averaging 7.5 walks per nine innings.

Can’t be trusted.

A series lost to close out the first half was followed by last night’s defeat and an early deficit tonight. Baseball’s surprise team was threatening to slip two games below .500. And the question loomed whether it could tap the brakes and avoid a serious crash.

The competitive nature of the Orioles, the non-stop motor, figures to pull them through some of the most difficult stretches. There’s no rest stop until perhaps Cincinnati – if a team that tied for the worst record last year is granted entrance. They must keep going.

Aaron Judge doubled twice, singled and drove in two runs within the first four innings. Gerrit Cole weathered a fifth-inning storm, when the Orioles scored twice with two outs, came back out for the seventh north of 100 pitches and lost the lead after two batters.

This was going to be typical Orioles. Count them out, watch them rally and wait for the final result, knowing it would be close.

The bottom of the order rose to the occasion again, the bullpen did its usual work, and the Orioles defeated the Yankees 6-3 before an announced crowd of 36,361 at Camden Yards, their largest non-opening day gathering since 2018.

The Orioles have completed the composition of their rotation through the first turn following the All-Star break.

Austin Voth starts Monday against the Rays at Camden Yards and Spenser Watkins starts Tuesday. No changes to the rotation beyond its order.

Tyler Wells and Jordan Lyles are lined up to start the last two games of the series.

Ramón Urías is batting .372/.413/.628 (16-for-43) with two doubles, three home runs, 14 RBIs, three walks and eight runs scored in 13 games since being reinstated from the 10-day injured list on July 4. He has five multi-hit games during that stretch, and the 14 RBIs are tied for fourth in the American League and fifth in the majors.

Urías leads the Orioles in hard-hit percentage (50 percent) and ranks second in average exit velocity at 90.8 mph, according to Statcast. His hard-hit rate places him in the top seven percent in the majors.

Adley Rutschman is batting second again tonight as the Orioles try to win their first game after the All-Star break.

Rutschman is catching, which puts him on the bench or makes him the designated hitter Sunday afternoon.

Manager Brandon Hyde posted the same lineup as last night.

Jordan Lyles is working on an extra day of rest following the All-Star break. This is his fifth start against New York in 2022, posting a 4.56 ERA in 23 2/3 innings.

The last two starts have been quality by definition, with two earned runs in seven innings and three in 6 2/3. He struck out a combined 16 batters.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hasn’t confirmed his second-half rotation beyond Tyler Wells, Jordan Lyles and Dean Kremer for the Yankees series, which began last night with a 7-6 loss.

Unless there’s a late intruder, the first two games of the Rays series next week should feature Spenser Watkins and Austin Voth in whatever order.

The process of elimination is at work here. But also some suspicion.

DL Hall started last night for Triple-A Norfolk and came out after one inning, a planned removal to shorten up the young pitchers coming out of the break. Didn’t necessarily mean anything more than that, but it stirred up the local media for a few minutes.

There’s shortening and then there’s really shortening. One inning and 17 pitches?

The Orioles burst into the unofficial second half of the season with four days’ rest and a streak of 11 wins in their last 13 games. They were energized, and they were playing at home. A perfect pairing on a sweltering night.

The Yankees were swept yesterday in a day-night doubleheader in Houston, boarded their charter flight and arrived in Baltimore this morning. Losers of seven of their last 10 games. They were tired and perhaps a bit irritable.

Holders of the best record in baseball, tormentors of teams below them in the standings, put in an unenviable position.

“Doesn’t matter at all,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said before heading outdoors for batting practice. “It’s the New York Yankees. It’s a really good team, it’s a huge payroll, superstars up and down. They’re pros. They’ll be ready to play.”

All of it true. Nothing that the Orioles could do about it, no matter how hard they fought.

The All-Star break did wonders for the Orioles’ collective health.

Outfielder Austin Hays needed to rest a sore right wrist, and reliever Félix Bautista is available tonight after the exercise band mishap at Tropicana Field last weekend that bruised his right hand.

Tyler Wells, who’s starting tonight, has a restriction on his innings this season, a task made easier with him idle since last Friday against the Rays.

Manager Brandon Hyde said Hays "rehabbed" the wrist for four days, exactly what needed to happen to reduce the level of discomfort.

"He played banged up at the end of the break," Hyde said. "Saw him last night, it felt better. It feels great today, so the break came at the right time."

The Orioles are 92 games into the season and resume it tonight after a brief pause for the All-Star break, the first seven against the top two teams in their division. Twenty of the next 30 played within the American League East.

Bad news in the past. Nothing to celebrate in 2022. But the Orioles are 16-21 versus the East after going 20-56 last year, 24-52 in 2019, 23-53 in 2018.

The 2017 team that remained in contention at the beginning of September finished two games below .500 in the division.

You must go back to the 2016 season to find the Orioles above .500, when they went 40-36. The current division record is more impressive when placed alongside the others.

The Orioles are 12-12 versus three teams in the East. The 4-9 record comes against the Yankees, who arrive tonight after the Astros swept them yesterday in a doubleheader.

Maxwell Costes has no memories of the old Memorial Stadium, the site just a couple of miles from where he grew up. But the trips to Camden Yards are priceless to Costes. So vivid. And far too many to count.

His membership in the junior fans club. Throwing out the ceremonial first pitch after his freshman season at the University of Maryland, where he batted .266/.397/.547 with 15 doubles, 15 home runs and 49 RBIs and earned first-team All-Big 10 honors, and after his Orioles 16-18 RBI team won its regional tournament and moved on the first-ever World Series for that age group.

Did he throw a strike?

“I did not, but it’s OK,” he said, laughing. “There was a lot of pressure. I’m not going to lie.”

The story of how Costes made his way from his Pen Lucy neighborhood in northern Baltimore City to Gilman School to four-year starter with the Terps – where he hit .298/.458/.560 with 37 doubles, 40 home runs and 145 RBIs - would provide a wonderful read, but the local kid keeps making good. And there’s more to him than the sport he plays.

The Orioles have an agreement in place with prep shortstop Jackson Holliday, the first-overall pick in the MLB Draft. The next step before his official signing.

Holliday is getting a record deal for a high school player, slightly more than the $8.185 million bonus that outfielder Druw Jones received from the Diamondbacks as the second-overall selection, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

The first selection is slotted at $8,842,200. The Orioles are holding $16,924,000 in their bonus pool.

The left-handed hitting Holliday 18, set a national record with 89 hits in 41 games at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma, passing J.T. Realmuto, while batting .685 with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs, 79 RBIs, 74 runs scored, a .749 on-base percentage and a 1.392 slugging percentage.

Holliday was the No. 2 overall draft prospect by MLB.com and No. 3 by Baseball America. The four-year starter batted .500 (62-for-124) with 16 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 57 RBIs, 54 runs scored and 19 stolen bases in 37 games as a junior and was named to USA Baseball’s 18U National Team in 2021.

Selecting pitcher Jared Beck in the 13^th round on the final day of the MLB Draft wasn’t a reach for the Orioles. And that’s just one of the many references to his height that will accompany his journey through the minors if he signs a professional contract.

Beck must be used to it. There’s no hiding at 7 feet tall.

The Orioles chose 12 pitchers. Only one is left-handed. And only one can clean out the gutters without a ladder.

The Saint Leo University baseball website includes a note on Beck transferring from Illinois State and also spending time at Heartland Community College and Eastern Iowa Community College. A long road traveled to the Division II University near Tampa.

Yes, long. Can’t escape it.

Today feels like an actual break in the 2022 baseball season.

The MLB Draft is over, the All-Star Game was played last night and there’s only Trey Mancini’s inevitable – I’m calling it, anyway – ESPY tonight for Best Comeback Athlete.

WNBA player Diamond DeShields, the daughter of former Orioles infielder Delino DeShields, had a tumor removed from her spine in December 2019 that threatened to leave her paralyzed, and she later suffered tremors and spasms that led to months of rehabilitation. She didn’t share her ordeal until two months ago. In any other year, I’d say she was the runaway favorite.

The Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson has returned from a torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals and torn Achilles leading into the 2020-21 season. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during his rookie season and played in this year’s Super Bowl.

Impressive comebacks, but I can’t place them ahead of Mancini’s colon cancer and DeShields’ spinal tumor. Fear of death or paralysis is hard to beat, as it were.

Jorge López’s first All-Star Game experience was brief. Took him longer to warm up than to pitch. But it was perfection.

López faced two batters in the bottom of the seventh inning and retired them on two ground balls.

Total number of pitches: Three.

One blink and you risked missing it.

Replacing former Orioles Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes Jr., López made Kyle Schwarber ground to shortstop Corey Seager on a first-pitch, 98 mph sinker.

The MLB Draft has concluded with the Orioles taking 20 college players and two high school players.

The final count is 11 right-handers, one left-hander, two catchers, four infielders and four outfielders.

“As I mentioned yesterday, we really liked our options as far as the pitching, especially on Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft,” said Orioles director of draft operations Brad Ciolek. “Our scouting and analyst team did a fantastic job did a fantastic job of identifying guys and having unique traits, as far as the arsenal that we’re looking for. Really excited about the crop that we got today and yesterday, and really looking forward to getting them down to Sarasota and working with our player development staff.”

The streak of consecutive college players, following Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday at first overall, ended at 11 today with 11^th-round prep pitcher Zachary Showalter.

Twenty-two players were selected over three days, including 10 this afternoon with rounds 11-20. These players can sign for up to $125,000 without counting against the bonus pool.

Reasons why the 2022 version of the Orioles bears little or no resemblance to models of the recent past have been articulated inside the clubhouse and during manager Brandon Hyde’s media sessions. The confidence, the unity, and most of all, the improved pitching.

Another example played out in the 11^th inning of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Rays, on a field with fake grass and real complications for the Orioles, who had lost 10 straight under the dome.

Rougned Odor, the automatic runner, broke late for third base as Jorge Mateo missed on a bunt attempt, and he was thrown out. An absolute back-breaker on previous teams during the rebuild. A game they certainly would have lost.

Mateo tripled into left-center field, the bunt no longer in play. Cedric Mullins drew a seven-pitch walk and stole second base. Ryan Mountcastle fell behind 1-2 with two outs, fouled off a curveball to stay alive and punched a 95 mph inside fastball into right field for a two-run single.

Not your same rebuild Orioles.

TAMPA, Fla. - A few takeaways from the first night of the MLB Draft:

Jackson Holliday’s father, former major league outfielder Matt Holliday, knew about the selection 30 seconds ahead of the announcement because he received a call from Scott Boras.

I didn’t make the immediate connection. Boras used to represent Matt, and he negotiated his client’s seven-year, $120 million deal with the Cardinals back in 2010.

Of course, Boras would rep Jackson.

From the moment that the Orioles drafted Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman one/one rather than prep shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in 2019, they were destined to have their careers tracked side by side. It won’t be the same with Holliday and Druw Jones, who went second to the Diamondbacks, because they weren’t universally seen as the top two prospects in the class. But there will still be comparisons as they embark on their professional careers.

The Orioles had five players on their board through the final weeks leading to tonight’s MLB Draft. They stuck to it, deliberated with scouts and front office personnel in a series of meetings, had a Zoom call with manager Brandon Hyde to bring him into the loop and settled on Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday.

Holliday committed to Oklahoma State, but he’s ready to turn professional. Like his father, former major league outfielder and seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday.

The left-handed hitting Jackson, who’s 18 and listed at 6-feet-1 and 175 pounds, set a national record with 89 hits in 41 games at Stillwater High School, passing J.T. Realmuto, while batting .685 with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs, 79 RBIs, 74 runs scored, a .749 on-base percentage and a 1.392 slugging percentage.

He has a knack for putting the barrel on the ball, as noted just about everywhere.

It's no wonder that Holliday was named Oklahoma's prep player of the year.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – This isn’t how the Orioles planned to enter the All-Star break, a .500 team that just lost another series at Tropicana Field.

The record should satisfy an organization without a winning season since 2016, and that’s picking first tonight in the MLB Draft. But the 2022 Orioles aren’t wired that way.

They wanted more. And unlike past years, they expected it.

Randy Arozarena hit a two-run homer off Jordan Lyles in the first inning, Brett Phillips bolted out of his slump with a three-run shot in the third, and the Orioles couldn’t complete their rally in a 7-5 loss to the Rays.

The Orioles are 46-46 as they scatter for a few days, players rushing to get home or back to Baltimore. They’ll regroup and host the first-place Yankees next weekend.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles reliever Félix Bautista might not be available to pitch until after the All-Star break after injuring his right hand yesterday in a freakish accident prior to batting practice.

Bautista said he was using a rubber exercise band to loosen his muscles, part of his usual pregame routine, and a hook detached from the fence and struck his hand.

“The band pretty much snapped,” Bautista said via interpreter Brandon Quinones.

Bautista didn’t know whether he’d be ready for today’s game that closes out the unofficial first half of the season.

“I’m going to go through some drills and some testing today and try to see how that feels,” he said. “But in the meantime, I’m going to do everything I can to get ready for after the All-Star break and be ready to go.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – So here we are, the final game before the All-Star break. The Orioles already have 46 wins, the same amount they reached last season in their 140^th game on Sept. 10. One fewer than their entire 2018 total.

They can do no worse than .500 in the unofficial first half.

Adley Rutschman is catching today. His pinch-hit home run yesterday was the sixth for the Orioles in the last 27 years that tied a game in the eighth inning or later.

It was the third on the road, joining Luis Sardinas on April 18, 2018 in Detroit and Rafael Palmeiro on Sept. 22, 2004 in Boston.

Trey Mancini was the last Orioles rookie to hit a pinch-hit home run, on June 7, 2017 in Pittsburgh.