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.

CLEVELAND - A sense of calm finally settled over Cleveland yesterday. Two professional wrestling events over the weekend drew huge crowds at the arena and football stadium. Comedian Martin Lawrence’s standup tour made a stop at the arena. The city hosted the 2024 World Yo-Yo contest, which had its ups and downs. The Guardians inducted pitcher CC Sabathia into their Hall of Fame and welcomed back team legends like Mike Hargrove, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton and Andre Thornton. And an hour’s drive away were the NFL Hall of Fame inductions in Canton.

Hotel space was limited. Rooms cost the approximate amount of a home mortgage.

Interesting to learn that Cleveland is the entertainment capital of the world.

There’s also the craziness of the Guardians losing Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery and James Karinchak to a shoulder injury and being the only .600 team in baseball. And the Residence Inn a few blocks from the ballpark being perhaps the only hotel in the U.S. that doesn’t have a water dispenser to refill bottles – not even in the “fitness center.” Wanna hydrate? It’s gonna cost you.

What else did we find out?

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.

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.

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.

CLEVELAND – The standings and lineup didn’t look right.

A Yankees victory earlier in the day dropped the Orioles into second place in the division. Manager Brandon Hyde attacked Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo by giving Austin Slater and Eloy Jiménez their first starts since the trade deadline. Slater led off, bumping Colton Cowser down to seventh.

Hyde was hoping that Slater could give his club “a little spark” and might “get us going.”

Slater doubled into the left field corner in the first inning and reached on a bunt single in the fifth. Jiménez lined a run-scoring single into left field in the fourth and singled to begin the sixth.

The newcomers left their mark, including starter Zach Eflin, who posted another quality start. But Hyde also knew when to turn to the holdovers. Pick specific players for matchups and push the right buttons.

CLEVELAND – Austin Slater is leading off for the Orioles tonight in a right-handed version of their lineup.

Ryan Mountcastle is batting second. Eloy Jiménez makes his first start as the designated hitter. Coby Mayo is at third base.

Adley Rutschman is on the bench. Jackson Holliday stays at second base.

Zach Eflin makes his second Orioles start after allowing three runs and 10 hits in six innings against the Blue Jays in his debut. His only career start against the Guardians, on Aug. 13, 2023, was a struggle as he gave up six runs and nine hits in three innings. Andrés Giménez homered.

Eflin has never pitched at Progressive Field.

CLEVELAND – Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias phoned Coby Mayo on Wednesday morning after the trade deadline passed to review the club’s handling of their No. 3 prospect. To go over again why he remained at Triple-A Norfolk and to make certain that he understood the club's thinking and how much the front office believed in him. Stay patient and the call will come.

Mayo got it the following night.

Have your passport handy for the upcoming Toronto trip and hop on a morning flight to Cleveland.

Mayo insisted yesterday that he didn’t know about his promotion before manager Buck Britton told him Thursday night. He wasn’t alerted in the morning or able to figure it out after his removal from the game.

“Sometimes, you can make sense of the situation and what’s going on,” he said, “but I definitely did not know that I’d be here today.”

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.

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.

CLEVELAND - Gregory Soto thought he ruined his chance. Fire a pitch too close to Gunnar Henderson and forget about playing for the Orioles.

The anecdote is more amusing when told in front of his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field, where the Orioles played the Guardians last night.

Soto was acquired from the Phillies last Friday for right-handed pitchers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace. He met his teammates and drew a crowd of media at his locker.

There was a lot of it going around with five newcomers at the scene. Trevor Rogers wasn’t bothered until later because he was the starting pitcher. Can't break the unwritten rule.

A three-game series in Baltimore in June gave Soto more chances to observe and study the Orioles.

When Coby Mayo came out of Triple-A Norfolk’s game tonight in Charlotte in the bottom of the eighth inning, it wasn’t just to empty the Tides’ bench in an 18-10 win.

Mayo is joining the Orioles in Cleveland, according to two industry sources.

The trade deadline passed and the Orioles made the call to Mayo, the No. 3 prospect in the organization per MLB Pipeline and the 15^th in baseball.

Their infield has undergone drastic changes with Jorge Mateo and Jordan Westburg set for lengthy stays on the injured list with a dislocated left elbow and fractured right hand, respectively. Westburg, an All-Star, was hit by a pitch Wednesday.

Mayo is ready for the opportunity, with no reason to stay in the minors beyond padding statistics. He went 4-for-6 tonight and is batting .301 with 22 doubles, two triples, 20 home runs, 61 RBIs and a .961 OPS.

CLEVELAND – Trevor Rogers walked into the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field this afternoon with bags in hand and met his new teammates, manager and staff. The plan called for some small talk and heavy preparation for his first start with the Orioles. The time to get acclimated was scarce. Save it for later.

“Those things happen,” Brandon Hyde said this afternoon. “I’ve seen it many times before.”

Hyde watched as Rogers fell behind early, appeared to find his rhythm and lost the slim margin that separated the teams with the best records in the American League.

David Fry hit a three-run homer in the third inning, Rogers didn’t get out of the fifth and the bullpen didn’t get enough outs in the Orioles’ 10-3 loss to the Guardians before an announced crowd of 26,194.

Anthony Santander belted his 32^nd home run in the fourth inning, one short of his career high, to reduce the lead to 5-2. Ben Lively’s sinker traveled 416 feet to right field at 111.2 mph off the bat, moving Santander into a tie with Shohei Ohtani for second-most in the majors.

CLEVELAND - The Orioles held their usual pitchers and hitters meetings prior to the first game of a series. Name tags would have been a smart idea.

Starter Trevor Rogers and outfielders Eloy Jiménez and Austin Slater were activated early this afternoon, and infielder Livan Soto was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles optioned outfielder Heston Kjerstad and left-hander Keegan Akin, placed infielder Jordan Westburg on the 10-day injured list with a fractured right hand, and designated outfielder Cristian Pache for assignment.

Pache lost out to Slater, who can provide more offense as a career .252/.342/.388 hitter. Akin, on the club since Opening Day, is one of the few optionable relievers on the club and became expendable despite his 3.34 ERA and 0.971 WHIP in 56 2/3 innings.

“This is kind of normal for a post-deadline day when you get some new faces in the clubhouse,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “A lot of our guys who have been around for a while now are kind of acclimated to it and understand it.

“I think the guys who have come in here, talked to all of them now, they’re really excited to be here, excited to be part of the team and where we are in the standings. And all of them said, just want to contribute and help out any way they can. So really appreciate the attitudes of all the guys who have come in.”

CLEVELAND – The Orioles made a series of roster moves this afternoon leading into their four-game series against the Guardians at Progressive Field.

Jordan Westburg was placed on the 10-day injured list with a fractured right hand, and the Orioles recalled Livan Soto from Triple-A Norfolk. Westburg could return by late September. Soto is wearing No. 73.

Outfielder/designated hitter Eloy Jiménez has joined the club after the Orioles acquired him from the White Sox at the deadline and he’s wearing No. 72. Heston Kjerstad was optioned again to Triple-A Norfolk.

Kjerstad is batting .301 with a .998 OPS, 14 doubles and 16 home runs and 58 RBIs in 56 games with Norfolk, but his opportunities remain limited in the majors.

Outfielder Austin Slater, acquired from the Reds, was activated and given No. 15. Reliever Keegan Akin was optioned.

The immediate takeaway from the Orioles’ work at the trade deadline is how they went hard after quantity and also feel like they improved the quality of their rotation and bullpen and the depth of their right-handed hitters.

They really didn't skimp on the quantity.

They were as busy adding players as the Marlins were subtracting them. The flurry over the last 15-20 minutes made the evening a blur. Blizzard conditions in 90-degree heat.

The Orioles didn’t get overly aggressive and go for the trade kill, keeping top prospects who would have netted an elite starter. And I’ll say again that they weren’t dealing those guys, no matter how many rumors swirled and reports surfaced about aggressive pursuits.

How aggressive are talks if they don’t include Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo or Colton Cowser?

Liván Soto finally is going to play for the Orioles in his third stint in the organization.

The circumstances, however, are crushing.

Soto will be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk for Thursday night’s series opener in Cleveland as the injury replacement for Jordan Westburg, according to an industry source.

Westburg was hit on the right-hand today by a 95.2 mph fastball from Blue Jays reliever Yerry Rodríguez in the fifth inning. X-rays revealed a fracture.

Westburg circled the bases on Jackson Holliday’s first major league home run, a grand slam onto Eutaw Street in the Orioles’ 10-4 win. Ramón Urías replaced him at third base.

Trade deadlines are supposed to address questions and deficiencies with the roster for a team in buyer mode. There are always questions, however. The work gets done and explanations are sought. Why do this and that? Is the club actually better than the previous model?

And about those rumors.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias met with the media for about 23 minutes today in the home dugout. He’s pleased with the results, which netted starter Zach Eflin from the Rays for minor league pitcher Jackson Baumeister, infielder Mac Horvath and outfielder Matthew Etzel, reliever Seranthony Domínguez and outfielder Cristian Pache from the Phillies for outfielder Austin Hays, starter Trevor Rogers from the Marlins for second baseman Connor Norby – who was optioned to Triple-A this morning – and outfielder Kyle Stowers, outfielder Eloy Jiménez and cash from the White Sox for Triple-A Norfolk left-hander Trey McGough, outfielder Austin Slater, infielder Livan Soto and cash considerations from the Reds for cash considerations, and left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from the Phillies for Double-A pitching prospect Seth Johnson and High-A Aberdeen pitcher Moisés Chance.

According to a source, there won’t be a player-to-be-named later in the deal with Cincinnati. Straight cash.

“Trade deadline’s always tough,” Elias said. “It’s always bittersweet trading players for other players. It’s not a one-way street. You’re losing talent but you’re getting different talent that’s a different fit and more of a short-term concentration for the needs of the team. We added two starting pitchers that are going right in our rotation, we added two really hard throwers with success in the major leagues for a long time – one from the left side, one from the right side. And we added a couple of right-handed bats which were especially necessary in the outfield with Austin Hays being gone. So I think that the roster is very fortified.

The Orioles recalled Jackson Holliday this morning and he’s starting at second base to close out the series against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

Left-hander Gregory Soto was activated and is wearing No. 65. Catcher Blake Hunt and infielder Terrin Vavra were optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Hunt is on the taxi squad.

Also, right-hander Levin Stoudt cleared waivers and was outrighted to Double-A Bowie.

Another slow day for the Orioles.

Holliday took ground balls at second this morning. He’s batting eighth.