KANSAS CITY – The Orioles today acquired catcher Luis Torrens, a veteran of 264 major league games, from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for cash considerations. He has not yet reported to the team and manager Brandon Hyde said he wasn’t sure what day that would happen. To make 40-man roster room, reliever Joey Krehbiel was designated for assignment.

Hyde said this afternoon that this move is not about the health of either of his two catchers, confirming that both Adley Rutschman and James McCann are fine physically. However, Triple-A catcher Maverick Handley went on the injured list today with a hand contusion. Mark Kolozsvary was seen here this week and it's assumed that he is the taxi-squad catcher for this series. 

For now, the Orioles may be about to again carry three catchers. Hyde was asked if that was the plan.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Haven’t seen much of him (Torrens),” Hyde said during his pregame media update. “Saw him against Seattle last year. But just know that he is a guy that has hit left-handers well in his career (with a .725 OPS) and done a nice job behind the plate. Besides that, don’t know much about him. Looking forward to getting to know him.

KANSAS CITY – On a night when an O’s former American League East nemesis, lefty Ryan Yarbrough, rolled through the Orioles to retire nine straight in the first three innings, the ability to foresee an O’s rally, much less an offensive explosion, might have been challenging.

But these are the 2023 Orioles, a club that rolled off 19 wins in the first 28 games and one that had produced nine comeback wins in that span. Also, a club that had not lost a series-opening game all year, going 9-0.

That streak stayed alive tonight.

Down 3-0 going to the fourth inning, the Orioles use a pair of Ryan Mountcastle two-run homers and Cedric Mullins’ huge two-run single to storm back and beat Kansas City 11-7 tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

They are now 20-9 overall and 10-0 in series-opening games. The Orioles have won five of six, 12 of 14 and 16 of their past 20 games. They improved to 11-5 in road games.

KANSAS CITY – The Orioles have played 16 of their last 19 games against teams with current losing records – going 13-3 in those games – and that stretch will continue tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

The Kansas City Royals (7-22) host the Orioles tonight to start a three-game series. After winning 15 of 19 since April 10 against mostly losing-record clubs, outside of the Red Sox, the Orioles face a struggling K.C. team tonight, one that has lost nine in a row at home. In fact, Kansas City is just 1-12 at home this year. They are going to start beating someone soon, and the Orioles just hope that all starts after they leave town Thursday.

But the Royals have really struggled and have a minus-64 run differential, the third-worst currently in the American League. Baltimore's run differential of plus 25 is fifth-best in the AL.

The Royals have lost four of the last five and 13 of 16 games. They just completed a 3-7 road trip to the Los Angeles Angels, Arizona and Minnesota. They are 1-8 in series play, 0-4 at home.

Kansas City went 65-97 last season and Matt Quatraro was named their new manager on Oct. 30. He was a coach for the last five years for the Tampa Bay Rays.

KANSAS CITY – As the Orioles face the Kansas City Royals tonight to start a three-game series, left fielder Austin Hays is batting leadoff again versus a left-hander.

This will be the ninth time Hays will bat leadoff, and he is batting there for the sixth time in the last 10 games. Former Tampa Bay lefty Ryan Yarbrough (0-3, 6.35 ERA) starts for the Royals. 

Hays' numbers batting leadoff show a .313 batting average and .858 OPS at 10-for-32. They are close to his overall numbers for the year at .312/.900.

“Kind of early in the year and we had trouble with left-handed starters last year. Trying to give us a spark in that way. Tried (Ramón) Urías there in Boston, that didn’t go very well. Think he’s been swinging the bat really well against left-handed pitching, so just rolling with it,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Hays batting No. 1.

He said when he puts a hitter in a spot in the lineup that is different (such as Hays batting at the top), he doesn’t want that hitter to change anything, such as take more pitches or have a different hitting approach.

As the Orioles host Boston tonight in Game 2 of a three-game series, they will send out right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-0, 0.00) to make his third start. Those first two starts came 16 days apart because he was hit by a liner in Texas and went on the injured list between those two.

The second was last Wednesday in Washington. Bradish threw six scoreless innings on five hits and 92 pitches versus the Nationals. So he has pitched 7 2/3 scoreless to begin his year.

A case could be made that Bradish has been the Orioles' best starter since late last July. Going through his last 15 starts, beginning July 29, 2022, Bradish is 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA and the Orioles are 11-4 in those games. He has five quality starts. In 79 innings in that span he has recorded 1.15 WHIP, allowing just a .211 batting average and .597 OPS.

This year, lefty batters are 2-for-16 (.125) against him and right-handers are batting (.308) at 4-for-13.

But Bradish has never recorded a win against an American League East opponent, going 0-7 with a 7.21 ERA and .904 OPS against in 14 games.

For the first time since April 9, the Orioles will face an American League East team tonight. They open a three-game home series versus the Boston Red Sox.

The O’s (14-7) opened the 2023 season at Fenway Park, winning 10-9 before losses by 9-8 and 9-5 scores. They allowed Boston at least nine runs in three consecutive games.

Contrast that with the pitching lately, where the Orioles have allowed just seven runs during a six-game win streak. O’s pitchers have allowed just three runs over their past 54 innings and three runs the last five games, allowing, in order, 0, 0, 1, 1 and 1 against Washington and Detroit.

But Boston (12-11) just took two of three at Milwaukee, and the Red Sox, since beginning this season at 5-8, are 7-3 and have won three of their past four. They are 2-5 versus AL East clubs, going 2-1 against Baltimore but 0-4 against Tampa Bay.

The current AL East standings

At the end of a baseball season, when a team like the Orioles hopes to have enough wins to make the playoffs, victories like Sunday may really seem important. They took a game where they didn’t have a baserunner until the seventh inning and didn’t score until the eighth and they won that game.

Adam Frazier scored the winning run and afterward talked about the importance of turning a potential 1-0 loss into a 2-1 win to sweep the Detroit Tigers.

"Those kinds of wins at the end of the season, they add up," Frazier said Sunday. "That's how you make the playoffs. A lot of good teams can win a series, but to sweep a series is hard to do.”

Frazier pinch-ran for the placed runner at second base to start the bottom of the 10th inning. He advanced to third on a sac bunt and then, with Jorge Mateo batting, scored on a wild pitch thrown by Mason Englert to end the day with the third O’s walk-off win in their past four at home.

“Guy (Eduardo Rodriguez) was throwing a perfect game, so anytime you can steal one like that it means a lot,” Frazier added this afternoon, speaking of the O’s 14^th win. “Those little wins where it looks like you might not win start adding up later in the year.

For Orioles rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, it was one very welcome sight. That was seeing his changeup with great movement and getting the swings and misses it got last Sunday at Chicago.

As he goes into his next start tomorrow at home versus Detroit – his fourth in the majors – he feels having that pitch be as effective as it was his last time out will be huge for him going forward.

When the Orioles selected Rodriguez with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Central Heights High School in Nacogdoches, Texas, he could throw with big velocity. But he didn’t have much of a changeup to go to.

On the O’s watch and in their player development system, not only did he develop a good one, but over the years it became his best secondary and helped him become the top pitching prospect in baseball.

He worked hard on it before that start at Chicago and then had it really going that day as, after allowing four runs in the first inning, he threw scoreless ball from the second through the fifth innings against the White Sox in a 93-pitch outing.

The Orioles (11-7) have a couple of streaks going heading into tonight’s game, a series-opener against the Detroit Tigers to start a six-game homestand at Oriole Park.

They are 6-0 this year in series-opening games and their pitching staff has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the second inning last Sunday at Chicago. The team record for the Orioles is 54 straight innings without allowing a run. That was done by the 1974 team from Sept. 1-7.

The Orioles have their first three-game win streak of the season heading into tonight’s game, and they have won five of six and seven of their last nine games since the start of the Oakland series at Camden Yards.

Detroit (7-10) has a losing record but had won five in a row until Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Cleveland, which snapped that streak. Detroit has actually played more American League East games so far this year than the Orioles, but is just 1-8 in those games and been outscored 59-21. The Tigers went 0-3 against Tampa Bay and Boston and 1-2 versus Toronto. Their staff ERA is 6.75 and OPS against is .839 in those AL East games.

The Tigers and Guardians combined for 4 hours, 13 minutes of playing time in Tuesday's doubleheader. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the shortest major league doubleheader in which both games went at least nine innings since July 29, 1984, when the Cubs and Mets combined for 4:10. It was the quickest Tigers doubleheader in which both games lasted at least nine innings since Aug. 1, 1980 vs. Seattle, which also lasted 4:13.

It doesn’t have its own name like “Homer Hose,” in fact it doesn’t have any name, but Bryan Baker’s little backward dance off the mound Wednesday night after getting a strikeout in Washington had the texting on his cell phone pretty active for a while.

He said he heard quite a bit about it after he had pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to preserve what was then a 3-0 O’s lead. Using his changeup, which was on point in that game, he got strikeouts of CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas.

In the early going this year, the changeup has become a big pitch for Baker. It’s often been a big pitch for the Orioles as a pitching staff. Baltimore pitchers threw the second-most changeups in the American League in 2022. And this year, at 13.7 percent usage, the Orioles rank third in the league behind the Los Angeles Angels (14.4) and New York Yankees (14.2) in throwing changeups.

“I feel like I finally kind of found it against the Nationals the other day,” Baker said earlier today of his change. “Made a little bit of a tweak with my grip. But just need to maintain consistency with it. Kind of the hardest pitch to do that with, because it’s such a feel pitch. So, yeah, will just try to hold on to what I had the other night.

“The action was good. And it wasn’t too slow to, like, where I was telegraphing it and letting them know it’s coming, and sometimes I do that. Yeah, just try to maintain that going forward.”

As the rotation turns for the Orioles, it took a turn for the better beginning with the second inning Sunday at Chicago. Grayson Rodriguez allowed a pair of homers in the first and the Orioles were down 4-0 to the White Sox.

But they would rally to win that game and two teams have not scored off Baltimore starters, or any Baltimore pitcher, since. Starting with the second inning Sunday, the Orioles staff has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings. The starters since that point have thrown 16 2/3 consecutive scoreless.

The back-to-back shutouts at Nats Park reduced their team ERA to 4.68, which is ninth now in the American League and still not as good the league average of 4.32. But trending up.

The Orioles doubled their total of quality starts from two to four in the series in Washington. They are 4-0 in those games. But they rank 22^nd in the majors with four QS. Boston, Detroit and St. Louis are at the bottom of the bigs with just two. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh have 11 and Cleveland is next with 10.

But the O’s hope their young starters are turning a corner and starting to lock in as they did late last year. Right now the rotation features Rodriguez, 23, Kyle Bradish, 26, Dean Kremer, 27, and Tyler Wells, 28.

WASHINGTON – The Orioles got one of their starting pitchers back tonight, and it was a welcome sight for them to see right-hander Kyle Bradish on the mound. He was activated off the injured list and pitching for the first time since taking a liner off his right foot April 3 at Texas.

And they got back the Bradish that pitched to a 3.28 ERA in his last 13 starts of the 2022 season.

Tonight, he threw six scoreless innings as the Orioles beat Washington 4-0 to sweep a two-game series by throwing back-to-back shutouts.

O’s pitchers have thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the second inning on Sunday versus the White Sox in Chicago. Their rotation ERA was 6.75 to start this series, but Bradish and Dean Kremer combined for 12 2/3 scoreless innings against the Nationals.

They also saw the home run ball return to their offense tonight, and that was a welcome sight as well.

WASHINGTON – The Orioles (10-7), winners of six of their past eight games and with a record of 3-1 on this road trip, can sweep this two-game series if they win tonight at Nationals Park.

Washington (5-12) allowed just a run and five hits in Tuesday’s 1-0 loss. The Nats, who began this series averaging just 3.88 runs per game this season, were held to three runs or fewer for the ninth time, and they are 0-9 in those games.

The Nats have lost five of six games, are 2-8 at home and are 0-4-1 in five series in 2023.

Right-hander Dean Kremer and three relievers teamed on the Orioles' second shutout of the year, joining their 2-0 win April 3 at Texas. Kremer, now 1-0 with a 6.16 ERA, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing just four singles and no walks while notching six strikeouts on 95 pitches, 66 for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of 25 batters in the series opener.

Speaking of series openers, the Orioles are now 6-0 in such games this year.

WASHINGTON – The Orioles are getting closer to gaining reinforcements for their well used bullpen. Manager Brandon Hyde said today he is hopeful that both Mychal Givens and Dillon Tate can begin rehab assignments sometime next week.

Both right-handers have officially been on the injured list since Opening Day. Givens is out due to left knee inflammation. He pitched in four spring games, allowing one unearned run in four innings. His last spring game was March 16. Tate, on the IL with a strained right forearm, did not pitch at all during spring.

Some already thought that Givens was a bit ahead in his rehab and might push up his return date, but now it appears both pitchers could return sooner than anticipated.

“Hopefully, both of those guys are going to go out at some point next week for rehab assignments,” Hyde said.

Hyde said timelines for the return of both are “pretty similar and it’s all going to depend on how they feel. And we’re hoping to get them both out of Sarasota sometime next week.”

BOWIE, Md. – The Orioles may be pointing to next Wednesday for right-hander Kyle Bradish to re-enter their starting rotation. He took a liner off his right foot in the second inning April 3 at Texas, went on the injured list and made a rehab start tonight at Double-A Bowie against Akron. 

It was a big step for Bradish, who is eligible to rejoin the active roster on Wednesday when the Orioles play the second of a two-game series in Washington against the Nationals.

Bradish was rolling early on tonight, throwing scoreless ball through three innings, but then the RubberDucks hit a three-run homer against him as part of their four-run fourth inning.

For his night he allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits in five innings. He walked one and fanned five on 82 pitches, 51 for strikes. His fastball, per a scout's radar gun, worked between 94 and 96 mph in the top of the first at Prince George's Stadium. 

After his outing, Bradish said he had absolutely no issues with his foot tonight and if the O's want his next turn to be with the Orioles, he's ready.

After their first road trip was followed by their first homestand of the 2023 season, the Orioles are back on the road starting tonight. They play three games at Chicago against the White Sox this weekend and play two games in Washington next Tuesday and Wednesday at Nats Park.

Baltimore went 3-3 on that first trip, going 1-2 at Boston and 2-1 at Texas.

The White Sox are 5-8, after going 81-81 last year with a second-place finish in the American League Central. Right now they are trailing Minnesota (9-4) and Cleveland (7-6) in the standings in third place.

They began the year going 2-2 at Houston and since have gone 1-2 versus San Francisco, at Pittsburgh and at Minnesota, where they lost the last two games of that series by 4-3 and 3-1 scores on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Chicago ranks third in the AL in team batting (.263) and eighth in OPS (.728). Their team ERA of 5.79 ranks 13^th in the AL. The White Sox rotation ERA stands at 5.00 (which is 10^th), while their bullpen ERA of 7.01 is the worst in the league.

The Oakland Athletics scored four late runs last night to break a 4-4 tie and beat the Orioles 8-4 at Camden Yards. The Orioles have taken two of three in this four-game series, which wraps up this afternoon.

O's pitching has allowed eight runs to Oakland in back-to-back games after Monday's series-opening 5-1 win.

Baltimore's team ERA of 5.37 ranks 12th in the American League right now and is well behind last season's mark of 3.97. The O's rotation ERA of 6.39 ranks 12th in the AL, with the Orioles ahead of just Detroit, Boston and Oakland. 

Through 12 games, the rotation has covered 56 1/3 innings and the bullpen has been needed for 49 1/3. O's starting pitchers five thrown five innings or less in nine games and allowed four runs or more in six games. 

The last two nights, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer have combined to pitch 8 2/3 innings versus Oakland, allowing 11 hits and nine runs.

Manager Brandon Hyde called them “SeaWorld” acts this week. The Orioles have a few different ways to celebrate producing solid offense in their dugout, and fans at Oriole Park, throughout Birdland and now even around baseball are starting to see this is a team with a strong collective personality.

And they are doing just what their manager wants.

They are celebrating player and team success while bonding as a group. A couple of players I talked to this week say that not only are the various celebrations fun for the team, but might they lead to more wins too.

They are showing their talents when they hit the homers or other extra-base hits, and different ways to celebrate after a key hit. They are showing that they are a young, creative and maybe a little brash at times group that has a strong personality and is not afraid to show it off.

“Just shows how creative our pitching staff can be. They’ve come up with some creative celebrations this year,” outfielder Austin Hays said.

After wins by 5-1 and 12-8 the last two nights, the Orioles look to take Game 3 of their four-game series with the Oakland Athletics this evening at Camden Yards. Ryan Mountcastle tied the team single-game RBI record, driving in nine runs in Tuesday’s win in Baltimore.

Mountcastle’s fast 11-game start has him leading the majors in RBIs and tied for the lead in homers. He is batting .289/.320/.711/.1.031 with four doubles, five homers and 18 RBIs. He ranks fifth in the American League and ninth in the majors in slugging. He's tied for 10^th in the AL and 22^nd in the big leagues in OPS.

Three O’s batters rank among the top 10 in the American League in OPS today, with Adley Rutschman fifth (1.118), Austin Hays ninth (1.058) and Mountcastle 10^th.

Two pitchers who have struggled in their first two starts take the mound tonight. Right-hander Dean Kremer (0-0, 10.13 ERA) pitches for Baltimore and lefty Ken Waldichuk (0-2, 14.45) goes for Oakland.

Last season Kremer went 8-7 with a 3.23 ERA, but this season he has allowed five runs in three innings at Boston and four runs in five innings at home to the New York Yankees. So over eight combined innings he has allowed 11 hits, nine runs and 1.875 WHIP.

To consider how special Ryan Mountcastle’s performance was last night as he tied a team record driving in nine runs, consider just how rare that was. Since moving to Baltimore in 1954, the Orioles have played more than 10,800 games. Just three times has a player driven in nine runs.

Just three times has a player driven in exactly eight (Cal Ripken Jr., Chris Hoiles and Frank Robinson) and just 15 times has a player knocked in seven runs in a game. Jim Gentile hit two grand slams in producing the first-ever O’s nine-RBI game at Minnesota on May 9, 1961. Then Eddie Murray hit a slam in driving in nine at the California Angels on Aug. 26, 1985.

Last night, Mountcastle drove a sac fly to center in the first and tied the game 2-2 with his RBI single to center in the third. His three-run homer in the fifth cut the O’s deficit to 7-6. His grand slam in the seventh added to a Baltimore lead, making it a 12-7 edge. A 3-for-4 night with two homers and nine RBIs.

“What Mounty did last night, that was incredibly special,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon. “I don’t know if I have ever seen anyone have that many RBIs. Been asked a few times and I can’t remember. Just a huge game, offensively.

"Love watching some national stuff today and people around the country get to see him because of the highlights. He’s turning into a really, really good hitter and showing the power he has. I love the base hit up the middle with two outs early in the game. Being able to stay on a ball like that and it shows the barrel control he has.”