Manager Brandon Hyde isn’t ready or willing to contribute to the publication of his team’s obit. Not with more games to play, possession of the first wild card and champagne to chill. He’ll keep trying to clear the air of any negativity.

Hyde isn’t blind to the season’s downward turn, but he retains full confidence in the Orioles' ability to get hot again.

Beyond the usual injury and rehab updates, Hyde spent most of his nine-minute pregame media session rehashing what’s gone wrong during a sub-.500 second half and slippage in the division race. Exactly when he began to worry. Why slumps are lasting for long periods.

Hyde finished with a quip about his players occupying the top of Triple-A Norfolk’s lineup, rose from his chair and returned to his office. And the Orioles backed his trust.

A blown save in the top of the ninth inning was followed by Anthony Santander's two-run walk-off homer and a much-needed 5-3 win over the Giants before an announced crowd of 23,181 at Camden Yards. Bedlam ensued. The Orioles were eager to release their frustration and it spilled all over the dugout, track and home plate.

DETROIT – An Orioles starting rotation that had been pitching well recently kept it going tonight behind their ace.

With the team losing and not scoring many runs in dropping six of eight games, it was harder to notice the solid rotation outings. But in the last three games, O’s starters had an ERA of 1.37. Over their past seven games their ERA was 2.57 with five quality starts.

Right-hander Corbin Burnes, the 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner and 2024 All-Star game starter for the American League, took that up a notch today.

Burnes allowed two singles over seven scoreless innings tonight as the Orioles beat Detroit 4-2 to bounce back after their one-hit loss Friday night.

Baltimore improved to 84-65 and moved to within two games of first-place New York, which lost today. The win keeps the O’s two games ahead of Kansas City for the top AL wild card spot.

Dean Kremer’s arm was fine tonight. And it had nothing to do with the disappearance of his welt.

The effectiveness returned along with the appearance, and in it was no-hit stuff that threatened to grew to historical proportions.

Kremer carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before Rays top prospect Junior Caminero lined the first pitch into left field for a single. What remained was winning the first game of the series. Back to the basics.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Caminero and Dylan Carlson and Ryan O’Hearn’s fielding error. Kremer left to a standing ovation after 88 pitches and Yennier Cano brought the crowd to its feet again with two strikeouts and a popup in the Orioles’ 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 25,439 at Camden Yards.

The Yankees also won today to stay a half-game behind the Orioles (82-60), who clinched their third plus-.500 season in a row - the first streak of this length since 2012-14. Tonight’s game marked their ninth shutout.

DENVER – Seranthony Domínguez has converted his seven save opportunities with the Orioles following the trade that unfolded near the deadline that sent outfielder Austin Hays to the Phillies.

The ride can’t be described as smooth, but he usually gets the team where it wants to finish.

The occasional bumps have resulted in all of the scoring against Domínguez. He’s allowed five runs in 15 innings on solo homers by José Ramírez on Aug. 3, Rob Refsnyder on the 18^th, Francisco Alvarez on the 19^th, Jesse Winker on the 21^st and Brendan Rodgers Friday night.

Alvarez and Winker had walk-off homers for the Mets at Citi Field to stick Domínguez with both losses. Four of the home runs were hit in a span of seven appearances.

In 16 games, Domínguez has registered a 3.00 ERA and 0.933 WHIP with 10 hits, four walks and 19 strikeouts.

LOS ANGELES – In front of a sellout crowd on the road, with a chance to gain a game on the Yankees, against a hot team with the best record in baseball, the Orioles pitching made three runs stand up. 

The Orioles bullpen – the much-maligned O’s bullpen – stood tall.

They had repeated chances to give up the big hit, the soul-crushing hit, the hit to blow the game. But they did not.

The same bullpen that had struggled so badly in recent weeks? Yes, that bullpen.

In what had to qualify as one of the O’s best and most impressive wins of the year, they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Tuesday to open a big three-game series.

Anthony Santander didn’t save the Orioles season.

So why does it feel that way?

They were on the verge of falling 2 ½ games behind the first-place Yankees, with zero momentum or offensive thrust. The bullpen was a mess, whether middle, late or closing. Teams in the wild card chase were gaining ground.

I don't recommend panicking but I would have understood.

The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth inning Friday night on a couple of singles and a brain cramp from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu, who fielded a comebacker and bypassed the force at second base or easy out at first. Up stepped Santander, who whipped a crowd of almost 40,000 into an absolute, playoff-feel frenzy with his fourth career grand slam to erase a 5-2 deficit.

For the second game in a row, the contest was moving to the later innings. The O’s offense had been very quiet but the Orioles loaded the bases in the sixth down 2-0 looking for that one big swing.

They got it again today.

Jackson Holliday’s pinch-hit, bases-clearing double turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead today in the last of the sixth. Another big Camden Yards crowd was roaring as the kid ended an 0-for-20 slump in a huge way.

Holliday attacked the first pitch from reliever Tayler Scott, who entered the game with a 1.92 ERA, an OPS against of .543 and a batting average against of .196 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

But Holliday lined Scott's splitter into the gap in right-center at 105.9 mph off the bat to score three for the lead.

NEW YORK – What to do with the rotation is a major issue for the Orioles that yielded for a spell this afternoon to a slightly bigger concern.

Would they get a hit?

Would they put a runner on base?

Mets starter Sean Manaea retired the first 17 batters before nailing Jackson Holliday with a 94.7 mph fastball. Manaea tried a first-pitch sinker to Austin Slater, who homered to right field to tie the game.

The worrying spun back to another area, a bullpen that’s unsettled and can’t earn complete trust. Peaceful stretches aren’t permissible in 2024. Stress lurks around every corner.

NEW YORK – Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez sat on a fastball last night like it was a clubhouse sofa.

Alvarez got ahead 3-0 against Orioles reliever Seranthony Domínguez – oh, let’s just call him the closer and stop hedging – and unloaded for his first career walk-off hit of any kind. And man, did he enjoy it.

Well, what he saw of it.

Alvarez made contact, held up the bat with one hand, released it and turned to the Mets dugout. He never looked back at the ball, gesturing to teammates with both hands and slapping his chest multiple times before beginning to round the bases. His jersey was pulled below his left shoulder after reaching home plate and being mobbed.

Domínguez struck out the first batter he faced. He struck out three Red Sox in the ninth inning the previous day. But he’s also surrendered home runs in back-to-back appearances.

NEW YORK – The rain delay lasted only 10 minutes tonight, and the Orioles fell behind quickly as well after the tarp was peeled back and rolled. An offense that was laboring again covered for Trevor Rogers, who didn’t make it out of the fifth inning.

The rally happened fast, with a balk from David Peterson scoring Ryan Mountcastle in the seventh and Ramón Urías hitting a game-tying homer on the next pitch.

The ending also came suddenly.

Francisco Alvarez homered off Seranthony Domínguez with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mets a 4-3 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 26,874 at Citi Field.

The Yankees are idle tonight and lead the Orioles (73-53) by a half-game.

NEW YORK – Former major league reliever Andrew Miller visited the Orioles clubhouse this afternoon at Citi Field. He isn’t making a comeback. He was here on business with the players’ union.

Miller’s career with the Orioles was brief, a mere 23 games in the regular season in 2014 and five more in the playoffs that resulted in 7 1/3 scoreless innings. He’s a reminder of much better bullpen days with Miller, Zack Britton, Darren O’Day, Brad Brach and Tommy Hunter.

Craig Kimbrel spent a portion of his pregame this afternoon throwing in the 'pen, doing more tinkering with his delivery and hoping to figure out why he can’t regain a first-half form that made him an All-Star candidate.

“I think it’s a little bit mechanical, so he’s just out there trying to work on some things. And it sounds like it really went well,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

“With where we are with our bullpen here, we’re gonna need guys to step up, and we need him to, as well.”

The first Red Sox batter to put a ball in play this afternoon lined it directly into Albert Suárez’s glove. It wasn’t a screamer at 64 mph. It was, however, a good indicator of what the Orioles were getting again from their rotation replacement.

Suárez would keep denying Boston’s hitters and he’d do so in his usual quiet fashion.

The Orioles’ offense was every bit as quiet again until Adley Rutschman, returning to the lineup after being scratched Friday, hit his first home run since July 19.

The former first-overall draft pick coming to the aid of the journeyman with seven years between major league appearances and eight between starts.

Suárez increased his career-high scoreless streak to 17 2/3 innings with six more today, Gunnar Henderson homered for the fourth time in five games, and the Orioles gained a split of the series with a 4-2 victory before an announced crowd of 27,104 at Camden Yards.

Of the six Orioles that joined the team during the deals leading up to the trade deadline, we can pretty much say that four of them are doing well thus far. One is trending up and one is trying to stay out of O’s fans' doghouse.

The struggling new Oriole is obviously lefty reliever Gregory Soto. In his first four O’s appearances, he gave up nine hits, eight runs, one homer and three walks in just 2 1/3 innings. He allowed nine hits in 15 at-bats with an ERA of 30.86.

But the Orioles are obviously not going to bail on him after four outings. Soto was an All-Star in both 2021 and 2022 with Detroit and had a 48 percent whiff rate on his slider when they acquired him. The O’s need to get that pitch going to complement his high-90s fastball.

The O’s acquired Eloy Jiménez from the White Sox and some fans wondered why with his injury history and .642 OPS this year. But he came as a player that had produced a .790 career OPS and a Silver Slugger Award in 2020.

Then Jiménez went 11-for-21 through Friday night, batting .524 with an OPS of 1.143. He did not play in Saturday's win, so he maintains those lofty stats heading into today as an Oriole.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Zach Eflin didn’t receive a prolonged ovation as he walked out of the visiting dugout tonight at Tropicana Field. Rays fans didn’t get sentimental. They didn’t blow the roof off the joint in tribute to the guy they used to cheer. All they had to offer was a smattering of boos and then silence.

Eflin preferred to keep them quiet anyway, tossing seven shutout innings in the Orioles’ 4-1 victory over the Rays before an announced crowd of 20,673 inflated by a “flappy boi” zip-up hoodie giveaway.

The veteran right-hander was stingy, with only four hits allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts that tied his season high. He’s made three starts with the Orioles and they’ve been quality, with a combined five runs in 19 1/3 innings.

His seven innings tonight also matched his season high.

"That’s so good right there," said manager Brandon Hyde. "A little extra motivation pitching against a team that you were just with, and he’s made three outstanding starts for us. That was textbook pitching. He was ahead in the count, great sinker-cutter, changeup. He just really knows how to pitch and he was locating well all night."

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 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?

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 increasingly unusual nature of baseball’s trade deadline, where teams can behave like buyers and sellers depending on which direction the wind blows, sets up the Orioles to do what used to be unthinkable. Shaking up a first-place roster like it’s a snow globe.

The club will undergo changes by Tuesday evening, but just how drastic is the mystery. Flurries or a blizzard?

Austin Hays is gone in a swap of players on the major league rosters. That didn’t used to be a common maneuver, two contenders engaging in this sort of activity. The Orioles reportedly are willing to move Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle in their ongoing pursuit of pitching and perhaps a right-handed bat.

Timing is everything, of course, and they played huge roles in yesterday’s 8-6 win. Mullins had a two-run double to give him six RBIs in his last four at-bats, and he made a spectacular catch to rob Manny Machado in the eighth. Mountcastle drove in four runs and scooped a Gunnar Henderson ball out of the dirt.

Maybe it became less likely that Mullins would be dealt after Hays went to the Phillies, but that’s just more speculation. And would parting with Mullins open the door for Kyle Stowers, a left-handed hitter like Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad? It didn’t seem possible for them to co-exist with the Orioles until recently.

We have seen the Orioles go 20-9 this year versus the American League East. We have seen them produce nine straight winning months, the longest current active streak in the majors. Since the start of 2023, Baltimore is 162-102 (.614), and that is the best win percentage in the majors in that span.

In the span of four series in June we saw the Orioles sweep four in a row at Tampa Bay and win consecutive series against Atlanta, Philadelphia and the New York Yankees.

But since they capped that four-series run by beating the Yankees 17-5, it has turned for the worse. And the Orioles can't seem to turn it back.

Since June 21 they look nothing like a playoff team. They have two five-game losing streaks in this stretch and in their most recent five games, they are 1-4.

That is a mark of 12-17 and a -41 run differential since that June day.

The Orioles traded for another starting pitcher and might not be done. The rotation was targeted as an area of need. Surgeries and struggles left them no choice.

Grayson Rodriguez wanted to provide the latest example that the top portion is in good hands, and he did it for a while. Corbin Burnes registered his 17^th quality start yesterday in Miami and Rodriguez carried a shutout into the sixth tonight, but Jurickson Profar hit a game-tying, two-run homer and manager Brandon Hyde went to his bullpen.

Another area that's under some construction.

Burnes and Rodriguez remain a formidable one-two punch, but the Orioles had to get off the canvas again like they did yesterday in extras. They managed it briefly and went down again, this time unable to scramble back to their feet.

The defense let down reliever Burch Smith in the sixth. The Orioles tied the game in the eighth, but Craig Kimbrel surrendered a two-run homer to Profar with two outs in the ninth in the Orioles’ 6-4 loss to the Padres before an announced sellout crowd of 43,692 at Camden Yards.